Humpday Triviola

Maple Syrup

They were the original migrant workers. Since steel was expensive, early pioneers couldn't afford to buy augers to bore the holes to tap the sugar maple trees to collect the sap for syrup making. The borers pooled their money and bought a steel auger and went from homestead to homestead in February, boring holes in trees for the homesteaders. The coming of the borers was always a joyous time as most years the homesteaders ran out of syrup before the new sap was ready and they were sick and tired of eating dry pancakes. It's almost time for them to arrivve in this area.

Lee

Re: Humpday Triviola

I'll ask the question, would you need to ground thier product if you used it in your shop?

glc

Great Story...but nope!

Lee,

With a long tedious day ahead of me I appreciate your answer. :-) But as much as I would like to reward you with being correct...I simply can't.

Tom...suddenly hungry for pancakes.

Don't think so.

I think I understand your response...and nope.

T.

I'll drink to that

I would drink to that decision but the borers haven't taken care of the water yet. I was right about the steel auger though. They must have been the business model for plumbers to charge so much for their work.

Lee

Re: Don't think so.

I haven't actually seen this kind, but I have seen the wood stave and wire wrapped type, abandoned and still in use.

glc

Re: Humpday Triviola

Politicians and they got elected and dug deeper holes to put us in----

Persistence Pays Off! Answer

Lee hung in there and thus picks up a Golden Uni for knowing that borers were the original plumbers.

Boring Business: Early settlers knew nothing of lead or iron pipe - they knew only to build with wood, the country's bounty.

Water pipes were made of bored-out logs, preferably felled from hemlock or elm trees. The trees would be cut into 7 ft. to 9 ft. lengths, their trunks around 9-10 inches thick.

Wooden pipe laid below ground created several problems, however, especially in larger settlements or towns. Uneven ground below the joists would cause sags in the log where water would stagnate, infest with insects, and generally leave a woody taste.

The borers themselves were colorful characters who usually traveled in pairs from town to town bringing news and gossip of the area as they went about their job. With a five-foot steel auger between them, a handle at one end, they would fix the log by eye, size it up with a point of the ax, and drill or bore out the center. Ramming one end to make a conical shape, they would jam the logs together in a series, using a bituminous-like pitch or tar to caulk the joists. Sometimes they would split the log and hollow it out, put it together, connect the logs with iron hoops or get the blacksmith to caulk the logs with lead.

I guess I was to obscure

I was trying to figure out how to answer without giving away. I was wondering if you would need to ground wooden (bored out log) DC piping.

glc