I've been gone for a long time from the forum, keeping busy with some BIG projects, including the renovation of a large 1828 timber frame house, but that's another thread. I also got married this summer and that kept me busy. My mill has been down and I haven't had time to work on it. The blade is out right now to be retentioned or "hammered" and I hope to get it back in the next 6-8 weeks so I can mill this summer.
Amid that I was able to build this sugar house out of beams cut from trees I'd harvested. (I did not mill them) All of the sheathing was sawn on site with a woodmizer mill. All lumber was harvested with horse and oxen power and came from less than 1/2 mile (more like 1/4) from where the building now sits. We have had our first two boils and this morning the pancakes were dressed with our own syrup. Hard work for a sweet touch, but it was a fun process.
All that I had to buy in were roof shingles and felt, drip edge, nails for sheathing and roof, 6 6x6PT for sills, and some hardware for the sliding doors. All else was found material. There is no metal in the frame at all. My wife mad a quilt at the same time so we had a quilt tying and frame raising party on the same day.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34459/A.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1488461225)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34459/A1~0.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1488461567)
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(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34459/A9.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1488461430)
More pics of the process.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34459/B2a.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1488461430)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34459/B6d.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1488461431)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34459/C3a.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1488461431)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34459/C8~0.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1488461432)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34459/C9a.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1488461432)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34459/D1.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1488461433)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34459/D3.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1488461433)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34459/G.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1488461761)
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Looks great! Cant wait to get started on my project!
Man that looks good. Just about the size that I want to build. I don't have the smarts for the timber frame part,so nails it is.
Sweet sugar house! How many taps you got? Done 5 gallons of syrup so far myself this year and getting ready to go light the fire again!
We are at 50 taps on buckets right now, hoping to double that next year. Last night's first draw was a little over 5 pints... :D but we're happy.
Here are two more. Pic of the first boil and my favorite showing 3 of my buildings as seen from the location of the as yet uninstalled throne of the upstairs bath in the new house:
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34459/FirstBoil~0.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1488468526)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34459/LinedUp.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1488468527)
Just exactly how I got started 7 years ago. 30 buckets, with a old copper pan stretched across some cinder blocks in back yard. Then came the new evaporator, then the sugar house, then pipeline, then vacuum pump... once you get the itch it doesn't go away!
I love your sugar shack. Im looking at doing something very similar. Would you be able to tell me where you got the design or how you did the copula. Im having a very hard time with figuring that part out. I may be over thinking the structural aspect of it.
Hi mburdick, welcome to the Forum! I'm 20 minutes away in Alford MA.
Nice work!
Quote from: mburdick on April 30, 2018, 06:42:31 AM
I love your sugar shack. Im looking at doing something very similar. Would you be able to tell me where you got the design or how you did the copula. Im having a very hard time with figuring that part out. I may be over thinking the structural aspect of it.
I've been gone for a while- I did not see this. The design is entirely original. I dreamed it up and drew it in Google sketchup. I had the 4x8 timbers which I just assumed would be big enough. The vertical boards for the cupola are 2x6 lapped and pegged into 3 of the rafters. I pre-built the top on the ground. The only change I've made is to make the cupola wider to cover the vents when they are open.
We've added a back pan to our evaporator and a home made RO rig, now collecting from 140 taps- 90 of them on tubing.
Here is a spring time picture. I think we put it in the right spot.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34459/IMG_0823.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1531652669)