[Ed Thayer]

Nice job Jen,

I wish I had built one of these before shelling out the big money for my chain harrow.

Who am I kidding, I just would have spent the money on some other horse toy:)

[Ed Thayer]

Jen,

I agree with the thought of having him start the load from the side.

From what you describe, he should have been able to move the tree.

Check his harness…. maybe something on the inside of the collar is pinching/sticking him?

I hitched to a tree that had a frozen leader in the ground a week ago and asked Oz to step up. Upon tensioning the traces, the tree didn’t move but he dug in and tried like hell to get it. Pawed the ground all up in the process.

Reno may have just had one of those bad horse days? It sounds like you ended on a good note with the smaller tree.

[Ed Thayer]

Thanks Mark,

I had regular twin doors on the arch when I first bought the rig and with the blower it got so hot in front of it you could not stand near it.

The air tight front was pricey but well worth the investment. Keeps more heat under the pans and provides better combustion of the wood. Also is safer because the door does not get glowing red.

ED

[Ed Thayer]

I finished tapping yesterday and have gathered twice so far.

I boiled last night for the first time this season. We had a really nice run the last couple of days.

Here are a couple of pics.

Good luck to all of you. Sap seems a little light in the sugar content, I hope that improves.

ED

[Ed Thayer]

We tapped 250 today, mostly buckets and some tubing. I hope to be all tapped out by Wed.

The sap was running like crazy today. The temps look favorable for the next few days.

I still need to put up the stack on the evaporator and then rinse out the holding tank, hope to be boiling by the end of the week.

[Ed Thayer]

I would need a step ladder to put the harness on him.

Congrats on your first horse

[Ed Thayer]

Nice job Jen,

I hate to see a maple tree wasted.

Reno looks good as well.

[Ed Thayer]

@Dave G 15904 wrote:

Has anyone ever tried running flux core wire with the gas shield? I’ve heard this works better than either one alone. I’ve never seen it done so I don’t know. Just something to check into.

The process you are refering to is called OUTERSHIELD and works well for structural projects. It is still vulnerable to the wind issue in the outdoors.

Each process has its place and I do not think any one is really better than the other.

You use what ya got and most do this very successfully.

Honestly, you can make two pieces of steel stick together with just about anything and make it hold. The structural and stressfull welds are what will fail quickly if not prepared and done right.

[Ed Thayer]

@Rod 15864 wrote:

Hi Ed

I wondered about the splatter, thanks. Would it be an issue of too slow a feed rate or too fast?

Usually too fast a wire feed rate will push the molten metal right out of the weld puddle. The result is the spatter balls. Gun angle and direction of travel can also play a role in this.

Fluxcore welding requires clean metal just as mig does. I should have stated that earlier. But it does a superior job, if set up properly, and is much faster for general fabrication.

I still have to stick weld the heavier projects like bucket repair or cast steel jobs.

In school we had to use coathangers for filler metal and flux. How things have changed.

As said here before, there isn’t anything one could not fix with a stick weldor and some patience.

[Ed Thayer]

Rod, I sent you a private message.

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

Jen,

You must have them butchered by a USDA shop if YOU sell them from your farm. I barter pork from the Eccard farm by trading syrup for meat. There is no paper transaction as discussed earlier.

The NH State statutes are Bogus in my opinion but that is what the State has come to.

I want to raise a pig this spring and need your guidance for that.

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

I use an older L-Tec which is a 250 amp mig weldor. I love it and still get parts for it. L-tec was purchased by ESAB, a German company, about 15 years ago. So that tells you how old my welder is.

The new welders are OK. Everything seems to be cheaper built today. But they are what you pay for them.

When I went to welding school in 1987, I attended the Lincoln School of welding in Clevland, OH. I bought everything Lincoln brand.

I have since bought what was affordable and available.

Regarding spatter, if the wire feed speed is adjusted properly, there should be minimal if any spatter.

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

Geoff,

The old tombstone buzz box is a great welder if you have heavier thickness and don’t do alot of out of position welding.

I have a 250 amp miller AC/DC welder for equipment repair and heavier work.

All my general fabrication around the farm is primarily done with a MIG welder.

As John noted if you use the mig process you need to be inside or have no wind because of the sheilding gas issue. However, there is another wire feed process that does not use sheilding gas and is very common.

It is called Flux Core wire and I use it often. It is as simple as mig welding and allows you to weld anywhere, indoors or out, without worrying about the gas blowing away. There is no gas and the weld puddle is protected as it cools by a flux that is embedded in the center of the filler wire. It will fit on any weldor ad is readily available. I use the Lincoln 211MP wire in .030 dia.

The nice thing with this wire is it will fit in the same liner (sheath that the wire runs through to the gun), as the solid wire mig. So you can use the same wire feed weldor for two different proccesses.

If you buy a weldor for the flux core process only, you will actually save money because there is no need for a gas cylinder or regulator and hose.

Sorry for the novel response, Good luck,

ED

[Ed Thayer]

We plan to hitch them again this weekend and try the suggestions made by you all above.

These include, Switching sides, longer lazy straps, adjust the market strap and tighter front side straps.

I guess we will figure it out eventually.

Thanks for all the help, I will keep you posted.

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

That will be a nice sugar house when done Erika.

We tap about 500, 400 tube and the balance with buckets.

I think it might be one of those early years too. We got about 7″ of fresh snow last night so I am off to work.

Ed

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