I have had birch syrup, it’s own flavor but it was very good I think. But birch is a Eastside tree here, Bob Macs territory
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I’ve heard the Dutch and Danes like to tap birch trees. I have a Frisian friend that their family taps to make beer from the sap and makes a little bit of it into syrup.
Also Marcus I wonder how well Black Walnut would grow over there. It grows like a weed here and the syrup from that has a nutty taste to it.
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I built a Reverse osmosis system last year(4, 150 gpd filters in series…what a game changer!!
It pulls out 50-60% of the water before I even put the sap to boil. Cuts boiling time by over half!
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Every time I step into my shop I walk over my old flux core welder from Harbor Freight. I think I’m going to finally fix it up and add the rectifier to it so it’ll run a proper DCEN. I have a rectifier that matches/exceeds the rated amperage, just need to find one of my heat sinks I have laying around and I can place it near the cooling fan. I still have the top off of it so I can get to the wiring pretty easily. It would be more convenient to have two welders, one for handy small spool needs and a large one that I know for a fact handles the 10lb spools no problem. Both can fit on the welding cart side by side.
I need to add a new carry handle for it, the old plastic one broke from something falling onto the welder. Also might take one of my older brass ground clamps and put that on the ground lead.
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I built two RO’s. One has five 400gpd membranes and the other has three 4"x40" posts that will process 250 gph. We tapped 675 maples this year and will tap 800 birch trees when maple season is over.
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Thats awesome. I just tap enough to get us threw the year(Maybe 50 trees or so)… and hopefully pass on some knowledge to the kids.
There is never enough hours in a day so I’m all for working smarter… or at least more efficiently. I couldn’t imagine having that big of an operation without an RO setup.
I let a few guys use mine last year, some built there own for this year and some just borrowed mine again. They are becoming really popular, even for us with just a few trees.
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I get a kick out of this guy. Sometimes I think he is more like me than I want to be. 
He gets all philosophical at 11:20.
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Finally we made it.
It is 8 kW, two way breathing, steel and bricks home fireplace.
Burns nicely, with warm glow through large front window.
From now on, even if not DOW, at least I keep my house warm on Wood.
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I wish there were scrap yards like that around here Don. Only place left, at least in Leelanau or Grand Traverse counties is a , stuff goes in, nothing comes back out, place. I used to haul old aluminum siding into there. All kinds of angle, and tubing, old water heaters and well pressure tanks piled up mountain high. Didn’t think that much about it back then but now I’d love access to some to that stuff.
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I just scored a 21" two cycle snowblower w/electric start at the township trash day. I have no idea if it works or not. But that also isn’t a nice hunk of steel either.
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What did you guys use for pumps? Did you just hack an undersink one? The closest I get to RO is crossing my fingers for a hard freeze, then getting my hand cold in the bucket pulling out the chunk of ice. 
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@madflower69 I used a Aqua Tec 8852 purchased it from Amazon… I see there quite a bit more money now… I think they were listed for 80 I opted for a returned one for around 59. ( I had to crank the pressure relief up on it to push 105-110psi). The ro membranes are around 25/per for the 150gallon per day. And the housings I picked up on ebay for around $13-16. (They cam with the push lock fittings) other than that it was a 50’ roll of 1/4" tuning and a needle valve. I think at the time I had just under $250 into it.
I had a pressure gauge on the system for a while but after getting use to it. I got ride of it.
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@tcholton717 yeah I hear you… it seams like its getting fewer and fewer that will let you walk around and scroung. Maybe a liability thing or something. This was a smaller yard that is kind of in the middle of know where. It was definitely a cash deal. Keeping uncle Sam’s fingures out of it.
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I know the feeling.
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Was given quite the catch yesterday at work. GM told us to get rid of it, looks brand new. I identified it as a turbocharger for the smaller engines found in the Equinox. I asked my boss if I could take it, he knows I don’t sell scrap and he made an exception.
These turbos are notorious for the nut holding the impeller shaft just disappearing and grenading the entire thing. Doubt I’d ever put it on an engine with that kind of notoriety plus it has computer hookups.
Also not going to sell it, it would be my head if GM found it on eBay.
Maybe I can turn it into an electric blower. Won’t be usable as a turbocharger so I think it fulfils the “get rid of it” order.
Must be a factory recall so I shouldn’t think about using it. Might just take it apart to see how it ticks.
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I use the same pump as you for my 400 gpd RO. I run the pressure between 130-140 psi. The bigger RO I run between 200 and 240 psi. It has a 1hp motor with a carbonator pump.
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I’ve been thinking, if I ever want to build a plenum to have woodgas as my main fuel for the Mazda I might use one of these clone Harley Davidson carburetors. Uses a plain butterfly throttle and it’s just a bit bigger than my primary barrel.
Guys that run these clones say it can handle carb mechanical fuel pumps up to 6lbs so I think I’ll be dandy.
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We celebrate the feast of Easter, when our Savior overcame death and gave us hope of eternal life. I wish you blessings and joy, especially to our suffering brothers in the East.
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I don’t understand how you would use that carb Cody. I’m probably not understanding about the fuel pump either. All the bikes I ever had were gravity fed.
I’d definitely play with that little turbo. The problem with any turbo is the convoluted piping to feed the exhaust into it. That and cost. This is probably wack but what if you rigged up a way to power that with compressed air. On and off boost just when you needed the extra power. Sounds like fun to me.
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Instead of running woodgas through my 300 dollar Weber 32/36 I’ll take that off, build a plenum and put this Harley clone carb on and use a plain throttle body for woodgas. I would have two throttles.
Most gravity feed carbs can still hold up to about 4-6lbs of fuel pressure. Those needles and seats are efficient.
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