Articles Archive
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Make Your Own Vacuum Booster
Vacuum tubing systems have revolutionized maple sugar production, and more and more sugarmakers are getting into the game, drawn by the allure of making an average of .4 gallons of syrup per tap, compared to the .25 gallons in a traditional gravity system. To get this kind of boost, you need 25 or 26 inches of vacuum, not just… (more)
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Build a Bat House
White nose syndrome, a fungus that attacks bats while they’re hibernating, has been devastating to bats in the Northeast. (Editor’s Note: See our story “Bats on the Brink,” Spring 2010). As it’s human nature to want to do something to help, you might put a bat house on your list of winter woodworking projects. The carpentry is easy, making… (more)
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Bore Cutting Basics
To fell trees accurately and safely, you need to know how to do a bore cut, sometimes known as a plunge cut. On trees with forward lean, the traditional “race to the hinge” backcut will sooner or later result in an explosive “barber chair,” in which the tree splits at the base, kicking backwards and falling in an uncontrolled manner.… (more)
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Tricks of the Trade: Understanding Low-Kickback Saw Chain
Some chainsaw chains are designed to minimize the reactive force known as kickback. These chains are found on a wide range of chainsaws made for homeowners, arborists, and loggers and are required to be sold on every new saw with an engine displacement of less than 66 cubic centimeters.
To understand how these chains work, let’s first review how a… (more)
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Corduroy Roads
It’s not unusual for landowners in this part of the world to find themselves on one side of a wet area with a need to get to the other side. This can be a vexing problem. Boggy areas often don’t freeze well despite cold temperatures, and this can be enough to keep even the most adventurous cross-country skiers out.
Corduroy… (more)
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Tricks of the Trade
So you’re planning on doing a crop tree release or a sugarbush thinning this winter. Or perhaps you want to pull firewood out to a landing with your tractor winch, but you’re worried about scarring up boles and making a mess of the woods. Here are some things to keep in mind:
Though it may be obvious, it can’t be… (more)
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Tricks of the Trade: Basic Chainsaw Maintenance
Your modern chainsaw has a precision engine that can be rendered into a worthless chunk of aluminum with just a few careless mistakes, like running straight gas through it, or spending an afternoon trying to force the saw to cut with a dull chain. You can also damage your saw by not properly maintaining the engine’s components.
Most chainsaws have… (more)
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Tricks of the Trade
Did you know that a chunk of green firewood can be over 50 percent water? Of course you did. You’ve tried to burn that wood, and it was no more combustible than celery. So now you season your firewood before you burn it. But just how well are you seasoning that wood?
Burning green wood requires about 30 percent of… (more)
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Tricks of the Trade
Sharpening an ax is not difficult, but it does require a basic understanding of how the business end of an ax works. An ax is almost never used to cut perpendicularly through wood fibers; instead, the tool is used to slice into wood at an angle. When an ax strikes a log, the ax head needs to do two things:… (more)
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Tapping Trees
The act of tapping a maple tree is a fairly simple task, yet it’s one that’s often done incorrectly. Improperly tapping a tree can lead to lower sap production and, worse, poor tree health. It’s always helpful for sugarmakers to remind themselves of the general rules.
A taphole is an open wound. The tree must expend energy to seal it… (more)