Sap Spigots wanted

Jay, For a handful of anything sugaring-wise I would call Bascom’s & have them mail it. I would get the 5/16 tree saver spouts (spout or spile, not spigot) https://www.bascommaple.com/item/sphlats/spout_bucket/. If your buckets have small hanging holes in them that are made for the hooks on the bigger 7/16 spouts, just ream them out w a drill. 7/16 spouts should all be in the recycling, IMO.
Buckets are a different question. Bascom’s has them but fairly pricey. Check Craigslist and http://mapletrader.com/traderclassifieds/
When looking at buckets I stay away from anything that has been painted, and check inside for rust.
At least w this season you are not yet in a BA rush.
Good luck.
Mark

Sure, happy to have the company. Hope to be up and running in a couple weeks.
M

jay, did you ever think about making a few spiles? we used to make them as kids from sumac shoots. a hot piece of wire will ream a hole through the center and you whittle a point and cut them to length. we could get a dozen or so six inch long out of a shoot. you can do it pretty quick with not much effort, and we even tried making some rolled tin ones that didn’t look too bad and worked pretty good. sam and Erika are correct,and mark knows six spiles we become sixty without much effort and you can always add one more to any number. watchout!
mitch

finally was able to get out and start breaking trails tough going on soft horses about 2ft+
snow with a small crust using a double bobsled to break with will drag a log behind tomorrow to help pack and widen tails
I am in no hurry to tap maybe next week if weather goes as predicted still cold today
went to Bascoms yesterday for supplies not much happening there yet
still need to set up
Bill

around 1 pm had horses out again this morning easier going where I broke yesterday was able to get further up into the bush hope to have a once thru the whole bush by sat

Look out Jay, the disease has just set in. When in twenty years you wonder where all your spare time and cash has gone, you can remember this day….

I pushed open some trails in our bush on Wednesday. I plan on using them to cut firewood through the rest of this winter, but also wanted to have the option of hanging a few hundred buckets. We could not upgrade our evaporator last fall, so I am thinking about selling sap to our neighbor in exchange for some syrup. We will boil some too on the little arch.

Snow was soft and sticky and piled in front of the crawler. First time all winter that the snow was not corny and mealy. It all froze by yesterday, and now the banks along the trails are restrictive. In fact the horses were challenged to work easily within those constraints. When I broke out to make a new loop, the snow was deep, but in some ways easier to travel in. I also noticed that the snow is almost a foot deeper at 1300’feet in the sugar bush than it is in the woods at 1000 feet where I have been working in the plantations near the house.

Lots of excitement around here because temps are forecast above freezing next week. Things still seem a little solid for me to get to bunched up over. I am resolved to not spend a lot of money or time I don’t have on sugaring, so that it remains an optional enterprise for us. I may never make much money at it, but I hope to make it a rewarding and effective aspect of our land use.

Good luck, Carl