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  1. Today
  2. Hi Whig and others. Sadly, my other brother died this past Sunday. He was 78, and had been ill for some time, CHF, also a diabetic. While sad, he lived a full life, and always wanted to be kept abreast of the sugar operation. We would chat almost daily about the years progress. He will be missed by me, my four sisters, his family, and all the crew at the sugarhouse. I returned to the sugarhouse today, after my nephew called stating that he had already hauled 3000 gallons yesterday and stated that there was nearly 3000 gallons at 7AM and another 1000 would be available by noon. After the sap was processed, we lit a fire at 1:40PM and had a fairly smooth boil, making 145 gallons, all put into barrels, and we were all cleaned up and out of the sugarhouse by 7:15PM. The sap was so-so, and the quality was okay, but slightly off flavor. Our total now is 1508 gallons. We have officially exceeded an average years production. Sap did run some today, and currently it appears we will have a very short boil on Thursday. For those wondering, packing houses will still buy off flavor syrup. They have many uses for it, but only up to a certain level, they will not ding us on price.
  3. Sugaring. Sugarhouse. Sugarmakers. Nice family business. I hope none of you guys are diabetic.
  4. Welcome! When you strip your new treasure down, it should look like this:
  5. Last week
  6. Nice catch!!
  7. Welcome! The magazine cover spring should be a leaf of spring steel rather than the coil spring shown in your photo, It's part number 31 in the schematic and list shown here: Johnson Semi-Auto 1941 Schematic | Numrich (gunpartscorp.com)
  8. Hi RWWJ and welcome to the forum. As you have already seen, members are very friendly and helpful. The following information is provided from the production logs: Receiver SN 3829, Received From: Cranston Arms, Date Received 12/16/1941, Stock No. none Barrel No. 2364E, Hammer Block No. 3914, Hammer No. 2949, Bolt No. 5229, Locking Cam No. 3793, Firing Pin No. 4117, Extractor No. 3313, Magazine No. 4868, Disposition Date 12/17/1941, Transferred to J.A. Inc - N.P.C Without proper and reliable provenance, be very careful about claims of both ownership and usage. We look forward to any more photos and reports on SN results. ArtR
  9. That's the nice thing about having a non-prefix rifle, ArtR can tell you what's what as to originality, as matconcrete said. The letter prefix guns are anybody's guess at the moment. Anyway, welcome aboard!
  10. Hi Phil and Tin Soldier Thank you very much for the advice and feed back, i am about to head away for a week however when i get back i am looking forward to stripping her down and checking everything out so i will get some photos of the serial numbers and get back to you all asap. Its great to have a new addition to the family(so to speak) in which the parts can be so well identified and verified, greatly appreciated Cheers Richard
  11. Can't help you on the mainspring, but Numrich has the forend screws you're looking for if you're able to order from Canada. https://www.gunpartscorp.com/products/439240
  12. Very interesting to see the process, thanks for sharing!
  13. Hi guys, surprise surprise, my new barrel is all assembled and I just got back from the range. I found this shop in southern Ontario to do the work: www.vulcangun.com . The owner Nick Kaikkonen has videos of his Johnson work on Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_I1HxiXtmM (Note serial numbers 5321 and 3002 in the video). Dealing with Nick was a pleasure. The cost and timeline of 6 weeks were exactly as he quoted, and the workmanship is high quality. This wasn’t cheap. The labour by Vulcan with taxes and shipping both ways was $1120. The parts (Rem 700 take off barrel ($25), set of barrel collars ($370), bayonet lug ($190), front sight ($100)) brought the complete product up to a grand total of $1800 (all prices in Canadian dollars). Thanks again to ryche_me for the collars and Joe Scott for the bayo lug. I’m glad I went for M48tankers advice and got the bayonet lug too. I shot 25 rounds and function with the Remington 700 barrel is perfect. I even put the factory bayonet on and took a few standing shots, this worked perfect too. With my old barrel I was getting 12 to 16 inch "groups" at 50 meters using surplus LC69 M2 rounds. Now a 5 shot group with the same ammo same distance is 4 inches. The result might be better with some new production M2 and a warm day. Its -10 C so I was shooting with winter gloves on. Its not a sniper, but back to battle rifle accuracy and I can hit what I am at. Still on the hunt for a NOS mainspring, and the two screws that hold the forend key in place... have cash
  14. Welcome to the site. Looks nice, its a non prefix, so when you get a chance disassemble and post part numbers, there are a few members that can tell you how many and which ones are original to the gun, always fun to learn. Phil
  15. Looks like a nice old war horse that saw some use for it's intended purpose. Buttstock is a replacement, IMO. You're missing the front cross pin, and the retaining clip that's pinned to the forend, not uncommon for a battle rifle. Currently, there's a pin listed on ebay for $24.95
  16. HI Guys I am very pleased to be a new member of this group so thank you all. I would like to share the details of a new much treasured addition to my family, any information anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated please, the only visible damage is the bayonet lug, and it came with a reproduction sling Many thanks in advance Kind Regards Richard
  17. Thanks WHIG. Sugaring for me is fun, and describing what we do is sort of part of the job. Visitors often come to the sugarhouse totally unaware as to what we do, Giving tours and describing the operation is sort of second nature. While I cannot guarantee it, my nephew's oldest daughter, who is away at college, has worked in the sugar house for many years, and during COVID, was invaluable as his replacement. I have worked with her on numerous boils and would trust her implicitly with the operation. She has worked with her dad with all parts of the operation, from tapping, to gathering sap with the truck, to running the RO, to boiling, canning, labeling, shipping, and pulling taps. Will she? That is anyone's guess, but she can and might continue in his shoes. His other daughter has just started to help in the operation. I have another nephew, who also sugars, but on a much smaller scale, mostly as a hobby. Again, who knows. He might decide that he would like to expand as well. As for my brother, we have a saying. Sugarmakers do not die, they just evaporate away.
  18. Thank you, also, Art for so much wonderful and educational information. Not many families have enjoyed so much hard work and history as you have discussed. Your brother died doing this amazing work which is probably just what he would have wanted. I'm sure you have great memories of working with him. Those old family photos are amazing also. Do you have younger family members who will carry on this work into the future? Thanks again!
  19. Yesterday, we boiled the sap that we had, and managed to make about 40 gallons maple syrup, but the results were questionable. While sweet, it had an off aroma and flavor. While our packer will purchase, we are in hopes that we will not get dinged to heavily on quality/price. After the boil, based upon the weather forecast, I drove home, for the weekend, to be available to plow/blow snow. The current forecast is for 12-20 inches in my area, 12-24" at the sugarhouse. Mother Nature has rolled in for sure, rearing her ugly head, and reminding us that winter is not yet over. Overnight, the temps at our sap collection station dropped to 4F. The wind blew most all day yesterday and today is much calmer. With cold weather and a storm looming, we are in hopes that the trees may recharge. However, normally, when we detect any change in flavor or aroma, that marks the end of the season. We will know for sure, either Monday or Tuesday, when sap may flow again, and we get a chance to check and test what becomes available.
  20. Earlier
  21. Yesterday was a totally crazy day, weather wise. We woke to about 1/2" white fluffy stuff, and about 24F. As the day progressed, it warmed, the sun came out, and the snow melted. But, all day, we had off and on snow flurries & squalls. While not much for accumulation, it was totally crazy, and it was not until about 3PM and 47F, that the 'trees woke" (came out of freezing) and sap began to flow. We quickly began the process of trucking sap and running through the RO. At about 6PM, another squall came through, temps dropped drastically, and snow fell, to the tune of 2" in a very short time. By 7PM, the sap began to freeze up and stopped flowing, By 9PM it was 27F, and this morning, it was 14F. We managed to get 3000 gallons of 1.1% sap, which we plan to boil about 10AM today. I am sipping my coffee, and my nephew just headed off to a town meeting. He is on the local selectboard. He will turn on the gas heater in the sugar house, and I will go down about 9AM and begin getting the evaporator ready for the days boil. I had skimmed through this diatribe, and realized that I missed another 'maple syrup' tid-bit. Maple sap is boiled until it reaches 7 degrees above 212F boiling water under perfect atmospheric conditions, I.E., 219F. However, nothing is ever perfect, and we must adjust for atmospheric pressure each day. The thermostatically controlled auto draw off valve (gray box to his left) in the photo, allows him to adjust the draw off temp for the syrup up or down by 10ths of a degree. As syrup is drawn off, it is tested with a hydrometer (tested and certified by Vermont Department of Agriculture) to assure that the syrup being made is 66.9BRIX. The secret is not to draw off syrup that is light on sugar. It is okay to draw off a bit heavy, as then we can mix in some lighter syrup, from the pans, to bring the syrup to the correct density. A delicate balancing game, hence, the close attention that he pays to the draw off location, and all the valves, thermometers, and such. He seldom walks away from that position, until things are all pretty much dialed in. In the meantime, myself, or others, are there to feed firewood, adjust air flow fans, exhaust fans, opening and closing vents, filling defoamer fluid (organic oil which breaks surface tension and keeps boil bubbles smaller), moving empty and full barrels, or whatever else needs to be done. Never a dull moment during an average boil. Time now to get dressed and "head off to work!" Ha ha.
  22. That is quite a family history, I am certain I could smell the photo of the steam coming off the evaporator. Sweet story.
  23. My grandfathers sugarhouse, in 1929, showing the horse drawn sled in Feb 1929, as they prepared for the sugar season. Gathering sap from trees with pails, and dumping into tank on horse drawn sled, again 1929. My grandfathers "arch" as the firebox and pans were called, 1929. My oldest brother standing in front of the old sugarhouse, in 2006. He lived on the farm and "helped" dad and grandpa sugar, until the farm was sold in 1945. He died March 22, 2022, while we were sugaring.
  24. Thanks, Joe and Torrey, Maple Syrup is in our family genes. My grandfather was making maple syrup/sugar back in 1921 and probably earlier, per my dad's diaries. While on a considerably smaller operation, he tapped maybe 100-120 trees, using buckets and a horse drawn tank. The old sugar house still stands today, but is close to falling down. My dad and 2 of his brothers also made maple syrup. As I have pointed out, my nephew's operation is quite small compared to some larger operations both here, and in Quebec. To date, we have trucked 68500 gallons of sap to make the 1321 gallons of syrup. That is roughly 52 gallons of sap for each gallon of syrup. To put that sap to syrup into perspective, think about Quebec which produced some 8 Million gallons (US) in 2022, and Vermont produced some 2.5 Million gallons (US) in 2022. This year alone, we have burned nearly 7 cords of wood to make 1300 gallons syrup. When you, your family or others pour maple syrup onto your waffles/pancakes/whatever, do not waste it and wash it down the sink. Think of it as the precious commodity that it is.
  25. Seriously, I think this should be an episode on “How It’s Made”. The process is pretty interesting. Thanks for sharing.
  26. Thank you for sharing these awesome photos and the information on the maple syrup process. Very informative and quite overwhelming to think of that much sap and that many trees! WOW!!!
  27. A few photos of the maple sugar operation March 19th: My nephew, Eric, watching the boil, at command central. He has valves there to control flow of sap into the evaporator, and from the back pans to the front pans, and onto the thermostatically controlled auto draw off valve (gray box to his left). Once syrup is drawn off, a filter aid is added and it is then pumped through a filter press and on into the barrels. While most of his syrup goes into 40gal barrels, occasionally, as he needs it, he will pump some to a canning station, where he can can gallon and smaller containers. View from outside the sugarhouse, during the boil, showing water vapor from the evaporator. Notice the lack of visible smoke from the smoke stack, as it burns so cleanly. Also the wood pile, 30" pieces of mixed hardwood. He cuts, splits, and stacks approximately 10 cords of wood for an average sugar season. In this photo, we are down to the last two rows of wood. One of the now 31 barrels of syrup, stored in the new addition, with overhead door. Each barrel is labeled with a production sequence number (blue tape) which will coincide with a sample bottle and barrel serial number, for the packing house. A full barrel weighs about 488#. Sap, concentrated by the RO from 2% or less sugar content to 10-11%, flows into the evaporator during this boil at 7.5 gallons per minute.. The temperature of the fire during the boil is roughly 2000F, and the temperature of the flue stack is 1000F.
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