My own sugaring set-up is total simplicity: just some old refrigerator grates set on top of cinder blocks, heated with odd scraps of wood that others have thrown away at construction sites, etc. The sap is boiled down in flat baking pans, then finished off on the stove inside. Except for the initial expense to buy some professional spiles for tapping (you can make those, too, but I'm a failure as a tinsmith), I have spent ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for the 3-4 gallons of syrup we make each year. Not a bad return for a book that I cost me less than ten bucks!