Saturday 9 April 2011

The end of the sap season...



The Birch sap season has finished locally, and it is time to plug the tap that I made three weeks ago .
I found a nice piece of Birch from my carving pile and made a long plug, slightly tapered...

spoon carving first steps spooncarving jon mac

 I took my carved Birch plug, Axe and a folding saw into the forest and removed the old spile...
 
spoon carving first steps spooncarving jon mac

 Then popped the plug into the old tapping hole.
Here is a close up of the old spile...

spoon carving first steps spooncarving jon mac

And the hole in the Birch.
I'll soon repair it...

spoon carving first steps spooncarving jon mac

Here is the plug. 
With a slight taper at the end...

spoon carving first steps spooncarving jon mac

Pop it in and hammer it home with the pole of the Axe...

spoon carving first steps spooncarving jon mac

Then  cut the free end nice and neat with the folding saw...

spoon carving first steps spooncarving jon mac
All done.
The tree should heal nicely around the new plug.
I am casting around for a stand of Birch for a 'syrup camp' next season...
Enjoy...
J

7 comments:

  1. They're called "sugar camps" in this country and the countryside is peppered with little green signs saying "Sugar Camp Road" (one to a county) where the early settlers had their camps many years ago. Of course over here, the species was Sugar Maple.

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  2. It's a pity we have no sugar Maple in England Gorges. I hear the return yield from Maple is high. The Birch gives a lot of sap but the syrup yield is quite small once boiled/reduced down. I believe the Indigenous peoples in North America would start there year with a sugar camp. With fires, and people boiling down the sap continually for the season. Must have been a great time....I would like to try a similar, but smaller undertaking...J

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  3. *Sigh* Another season missed. Still I like the idea of having a syrup camp next season. It's a shame I don't trust city sap because there's thousands of birches all over the place up here in Leeds...

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  4. I wonder if we could grow sugar maple over here? It would be interesting to see if they would grow in our climate - although I'm sure someone would have tried it already.
    I think pluging the trees like that and tapping them year after year would produce some interesting timber if it was ever planked up.

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  5. A quick simple question,what is a good wood to steart with when makin a spoon for the first time?

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  6. Hi hi Henneth. In my opinion you won't go far wrong with a nice piece of green Birch...All the best from sleepy Devon...J

    ReplyDelete

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