This year, maple syrup making went much smoother. We had a better idea of what we were doing this time around and moved the firewood close to the house before winter hit. After boiling over propane for the first year, we decided we needed to change things up.
After searching online, we found a few evaporators, but they were egregiously overpriced at least for our shoestring budget and the handful of trees that we have to tap wouldn’t produce enough sap to justify the cost. So, we went back to the drawing board.
We sourced a free 55-gallon drum that we were able to turn into a barrel stove with a kit we bought online. Once assembled and painted, we cut the top off using an angle grinder. It’s one of the scariest tools that I have in my garage. I really don’t know how to use it, and each time I reach for it I get nervous.
It reminds me of when I was in Iraq, working on a project. With minimal tools and even less competence, I found myself breaking bit after bit while trying to cut through the piece of aluminum. I don’t remember what I was making, but I’ll never forget how quickly I was able to drill through the material when I took the drill out of reverse. The fact that I almost finished the hole shows how dedicated and ignorant I really was.
Not a lot has changed since Iraq. Only this time, I found myself using the angle grinder to make the cut in the old drum, but all I was making was sparks. I finally broke down and went to the store to see if there was something that could make my project a little quicker. And that’s when I discovered that the fat disc I installed was a grinding disc. When I replaced it with a cutting disc, I found it much easier to cut through the metal drum.
Soon we had a genuine looking syrup evaporator. It wasn’t an original idea, but I don’t remember where the inspiration came from. Eventually, we bought a pan and were ready to boil — except the pan didn’t fit the hole and real evaporator pans are expensive. The side walls of the barrel didn’t have enough rigidness to hold a stock pot, so it was time to go back to the drawing board.
Sitting there, in my garage desperately searching for an excuse not to clean it, I found my inspiration. I don’t know how to weld, so that was out of the equation, but I had three old sets of mower blades hanging on the wall. I quickly bolted the old blades to a piece of metal grate that I bought at Tractor Supply and we were in business.
I don’t know if it saves us any money, but it’s peaceful to be outside when the weather begins to change. It forces you to go outside after months of hibernating indoors, next to the fire. And in the end, we’ll spend the rest of the year trying to ration the two gallons of syrup we worked so hard for.
