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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
"Carl's Lounge" (Off-Topic Discussion, Traditional Knife "Tales & Vignettes")
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Fodderwing
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That's really cool Carl. I enjoy you sharing this every year my friend. Thank you.
Rookie82
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I'll be sure to post pics. I'm really trying to make this into something my daughter enjoys and looks forward to. She's an only child, 13 years old, and there's no wi-fi in the sugarhouse, so the last few years have been rough. I decided this year to have her bring a bunch of friends over.
Wish me luck. There will be a sugarhouse full of girls for my dad and I to deal with as we try to boil off all the sap. But at least they should have a good time while they are there.
(images removed due to BF Attachment limits)
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Carl, I always enjoy your annual harvest pics and this year is no exception. Beautiful "Sugar House" shot!
Best of luck with your 13 yr. old proteges. Hope your daughter and her friends have such a good time they want to continue the tradition.
Here Here! Real maple syrup for all!Rookie82 Carl, thank you for posting info and pics.
Hopefully the girls enjoy themselves, have an experience to remember; and at worst, learn at a young age the value of not ruining their pancakes with garbage maple syrup.
screened porch
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I bought a couple of $5 knives this morning. The black handle is Meriden cutlery co, and the painted one is unmarked. I like the continuous belly on the orange one, whether it started that way or not.
The RR Cattleman arrived today, too.
And for scale:
The RR Cattleman arrived today, too.
And for scale:
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Rookie82
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We had a productive day in the sugarhouse. Boiled off about 650 gallons of sap. Took about 7 hours. It's still a bit weak, so the total amount of syrup wasn't as high as we hoped. But the sap should sweeten up a bit over the next 2 weeks, so the next time we boil will get a bit better.
Here's a pic of my wife boiling the syrup. She's much better at it than my dad and I, as we tend to get distracted with side projects, maintenance, lunch, and discussions about solving all the world's problems. She just keeps the fire fed and the sap boiling.
(photos removed)
Look at all that syrup coming off! Nice light color.
(photos removed)
I got my daughter to chip in a bit of help too.
(photos removed)
A nice photo of my dad, my daughter, and I.
(photos removed)
Since there was still daylight left after we finished boiling. We headed out to the woods and tapped another 50. Hopefully today (Sunday) we'll finish all the tapping.
Here's a pic of my wife boiling the syrup. She's much better at it than my dad and I, as we tend to get distracted with side projects, maintenance, lunch, and discussions about solving all the world's problems. She just keeps the fire fed and the sap boiling.
(photos removed)
Look at all that syrup coming off! Nice light color.
(photos removed)
I got my daughter to chip in a bit of help too.
(photos removed)
A nice photo of my dad, my daughter, and I.
(photos removed)
Since there was still daylight left after we finished boiling. We headed out to the woods and tapped another 50. Hopefully today (Sunday) we'll finish all the tapping.
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Great pics Carl 
dantzk8
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Very interesting pictures. I can see all the work and efforts there is in such a production. One thing surprises me, your heatwood logs are splitted very thin. Is it to maintain the most constant heat in the stove? That's a lot of work and skills.
Congrats !
Dan.
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Thanks for sharing Carl. 
Fodderwing
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Great pictures of the process and of your family Carl. What is the gallons ratio of raw sap to finished product?
Rookie82
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There is an Amish sawmill closeby that we trade syrup to, and they provide us bundles of their wood cutoffs. Then we stack it all up. Approximately 20 cords of wood get burned up in 3 weeks time. The hotter the wood burns, the better, like an old steam locomotive. So thin dry wood fed into the fire every 3-4 minutes is best. It's not like throwing firewood pieces you would use in an indoor fireplace.
Our first boiling of the season yesterday, ended up about 58:1 ratio sap:syrup. Ideally it moves down closer to 40:1 as the season progresses. Some people around here tapped trees in early Feb and I'm sure it was 80:1 at that point.
Alex.Y.
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Can you please explain that moment? I must say know nothing about the subject, and I got curious why the ratio changes? Is that because an early sap is more... err... watery, so it requires more of it to make same amount of syrup?
Rookie82
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Yes, you've basically got it. When maple trees drop their leaves, they begin the process of pumping groundwater up their trunks and through their branches, carrying nutrients up to next year's buds, and back down again. Temperature and barometric pressure changes make the sap go up and down hundreds of times over winter and spring seasons, and every time that groundwater is slowly being squeezed through the sapwood, slowly becoming more and more sugary.
The trees keep up this process up until the the buds open up in springtime, at which point the sap instantly gives all the sugar to the bud flowers for making pollen (why the honeybees love maple trees in early spring). When this happens the sap tastes very bitter, and you can't make syrup anymore. This is what makes the maple syrup process so much of a gamble. You want to time things correctly to get the highest sugar sap possible, while the weather cooperates to make the taps drip the most, while also making sure your taps don't heal shut within 3 weeks, and making sure the trees don't bud and ruin the sap flavor.
If somebody tapped trees at Christmas time, it likely would take around 120 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. Towards the end of syrup season when the sugar concentration is highest, it is closer to 40:1 ratio, which is about as good as it gets. Obviously the higher sugar, the less time and effort (and firewood) it takes to make the same syrup. Now that is the case with Sugar Maple species, which have the highest sugar content of any of the maple trees. You can also tap Red Maple or Black Maple or Silver Maple trees, but they are about 2x more watery. The flavor is slightly different depending on which trees you use, but I would say the average consumer probably wouldn't notice much difference.
We only tap sugar maple trees, as we don't have the manpower or finances to go large-scale and tap everything. Some of the bigger operations in our area tap over 20,000 trees with 15 man crews, hauling sap in milk-tanker trucks, and they use reverse-osmosis machines to get rid of a lot of the water before the boiling even begins. They can afford to tap other species of maple in order to get the most sap possible.
There's so much to learn, it's a never ending process. And equipment technology is always changing. Our (newer) evaporator was made in the 70's, and we keep it operational. Our older one my Grandpa bought in the early 40's, and it was used at that time. No idea how old it is really, probably made in the 1920's. A new one now can be $25,000 or up depending on how fancy and big you want to go.
screened porch
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Mt dad preferred the lighter, first run syrup, he called it.
Rookie82
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Yep, a lot of the older population around where I live specifically request "1st run" syrup. Lighter color, and less of a pronounced maple flavor than end of season syrup.
I’m not sure where to post about camp cutlery, so I will put this here.
I had a camp cutlery set many years ago, and I think it was one of these, but in olive drab:
I didn’t remember the brand name, but I remembered the fork and spoon with the rings on them, and where I purchased it. I only used it on a couple of outings, then either gave it away or maybe left it at a friends house.
When I saw the Bivouac come up at Knife Center, I thought it was pretty much the same thing, and ordered one:
Right after ordering it I saw this video, which jogged my memory about the awkward method of releasing the fork and spoon on the one I had, and gave me the brand name Tatou to research. I don’t recall mine having a sheath.
The video is 6 years old, so hopefully some of the quality issues he describes with the Bivouac have been fixed. It should arrive tomorrow, so I guess I will find out.
I had a camp cutlery set many years ago, and I think it was one of these, but in olive drab:
I didn’t remember the brand name, but I remembered the fork and spoon with the rings on them, and where I purchased it. I only used it on a couple of outings, then either gave it away or maybe left it at a friends house.
When I saw the Bivouac come up at Knife Center, I thought it was pretty much the same thing, and ordered one:
Right after ordering it I saw this video, which jogged my memory about the awkward method of releasing the fork and spoon on the one I had, and gave me the brand name Tatou to research. I don’t recall mine having a sheath.
The video is 6 years old, so hopefully some of the quality issues he describes with the Bivouac have been fixed. It should arrive tomorrow, so I guess I will find out.
r8shell
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Enjoy (after sunset)I’m not sure where to post about camp cutlery, so I will put this here.
I had a camp cutlery set many years ago, and I think it was one of these, but in olive drab:
I didn’t remember the brand name, but I remembered the fork and spoon with the rings on them, and where I purchased it. I only used it on a couple of outings, then either gave it away or maybe left it at a friends house.
When I saw the Bivouac come up at Knife Center, I thought it was pretty much the same thing, and ordered one:
Right after ordering it I saw this video, which jogged my memory about the awkward method of releasing the fork and spoon on the one I had, and gave me the brand name Tatou to research. I don’t recall mine having a sheath.
The video is 6 years old, so hopefully some of the quality issues he describes with the Bivouac have been fixed. It should arrive tomorrow, so I guess I will find out.
and give us a report.