romania trip

we arrived @ the airport @ 1 p.m. And landed in chicago @ 3:40. And are taxiing as we speak, or as I'm writing. We now have a six hr. Layover til our flight to munich. I will posts as I can. I hope we have internet access in munich or romania. Stay tuned....

catch up

I've still been working the shop but with reduced hours. We have been working overtime at my fulltime job. With things warming up, i've been spending some much needed time with the family.
My brake delivery has been delayed due to vendor issues, so I'm bummed about that. I've been informed that I should expect it late june or july.... we'll see.  In the mean time I've been making hydrometer cups and filling orders as  I can.

I'm leaving for Romania next Friday and will hopefully be able to post updates/pictures on here from there. I'm really looking forward to it but am a little anxious still. I'll post more when I get time.

work work work

I've been working on some orders that have been trickling in. I have a new batch of metal coming in on Friday, and the new brake should be here sometime next week i'm hoping. I have a helper cutting all my hydrometer cups and am about halfway done with those.  Bob dropped his raised flue pan off the other day and we're scheming on how we're going to tackle making one like it.

The trip to Romania is just around the corner. We leave Friday, June 4th and will be gone until the 11th. Passport in hand, trip paid for, and now just counting down days. Looking forward to what God will do on this trip.

Draw off boxes

I have my draw off box mocked up now. Here's a pic of how it will look when welded on. I didn't weld it on yet because this customer didn't request it. I'm itching to get one welded on. I took a ride to a small sugarbush about 40 miles away and got a look at his waterloo/small raised flue pan he wants me to make one similar. I was glad to get some ideas for my float/ float box. I'm really looking forward to my new brake for doing flue pans.

I will have a draw off fitting welded low enough to get complete draw off.

Preparations for next season

Just because the season is over with and things have slowed down, doesn't mean I've been relaxing much. Ive been working on some improvements, and new designs for next season. I've purchased some new equipment and have been getting the shop ready for another busy year. I will post pictures as I have new equipment, and designs ready. I'm exploring credit card options for processing them. So I'm hoping to be able to accept credit cards by summers end. Stay tuned for new arrivals.

Sugaring weekend

I finally got some time away to do some sugaring. I went to my friends sugarbush about 3 hrs. N.W. of Green Bay. He has about 200 taps in his sugarbush.  I made a 3 x 4 divided pan which he plumbed up and extended his arch for. 

Arch specs: WEGNER METAL WORKS  3 x 4  divided pan in front(3 channel), WEGNER METAL WORKS 3 x 4 divided pan in back (4 channel), preheater over rear pan, bulk tank supplying. Forced air, wood fired arch made by Mark hawkins (in picture).

you can see the progression of light to dark from right to left. This shows how the divided pan work pushing the more cooked syrup towards the end through the channels.

Parker had tons of fun running around the farm and riding on the tractors to collect.

Mud Mud Mud. Most of it came out.

This picture was early morning before we fired for the day.

All in all it was a great weekend to see my pans working in action. I learned a lot and am looking forward to doing it again. I'd like to get some land with some maples on it to start my own sugarbush now.

Second week of March

This week was still a busy week. Been working on some custom pans. My friend Mark needed a 3x4 divided pan for his rig. He's running two 3 x 4 divided pans on a forced air arch. They collected 200 gallons of sap and did their first boils last week.  Working also on a replacement for an old english tin Leader pan for a customer. I still have a finish pan and a 2 x 4 divided pan to get caught up on. 

 I've been working on plans for next season and will be posting new items as I get them done.