compressed sawdust charcoal

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Toddy

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Jan 21, 2005
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Thanks Eric, so back to post 9 then :sigh:

I like Tadpole's idea of the coffee grounds, we get through a fair amount of them in a week.
The info Biddlesby turnd up is kind of putting me off the commercial ones. I don't fancy cooking over that lot either.
I think I'd need to keep the sawdust pellets or logs for an outside fire not for inside the tipi.

Cheers folks, useful stuff.

atb,
Toddy
 
Excellent thread!

I assume all are familiar with the cheap newspaper recycling briquette makers available online (just type briquette maker into google).

I've been making briquettes with this device, not only from newspaper (papier mache) but with a combination of sawdust (from my chainsawing wood for the wood burner in my house), waste cardboard and old newspapers. This is how I do it:

In an old water trough shovel in the sawdust (I have a lot!), soak in water for 1 week then rip up twice the amount of cardboard and top up the water to soak for a further week. Then add as much newspaper as the volume you already have with as much water to soak for another week.

Don rubber gloves and ensure that you have a "messy" zone to work in. Hand in the mulch to the briquette maker and start churning them out. They will take an age to dry (typically a week of constant dry/ sunny/ windy weather; or by the side of an Aga or in an airing cupboard - this is a summer activity for winter wood burning in our house!). Once completely dry, store as for wood.

Newspaper on it's own will burn for approximately 1 hour and will ember just like real wood. The combo I've described above will last approximatly twice as long - no substitue for real, seasoned hardwood logs but bulks up the fire when said wood is an increasingly scarce and expensive resource (only costs your labour).
 

anthonyyy

Settler
Mar 5, 2005
655
6
ireland
Excellent thread!

I assume all are familiar with the cheap newspaper recycling briquette makers available online (just type briquette maker into google).

I've been making briquettes with this device, not only from newspaper (papier mache) but with a combination of sawdust (from my chainsawing wood for the wood burner in my house), waste cardboard and old newspapers.

Newspaper on it's own will burn for approximately 1 hour and will ember just like real wood. The combo I've described above will last approximatly twice as long - no substitue for real, seasoned hardwood logs but bulks up the fire when said wood is an increasingly scarce and expensive resource (only costs your labour).


I think it is often a better use of a resource, like waste paper, than recycling in many cases; both economically and environmentally
 

Toddy

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Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
Slightly off topic, but all of the references and advice about the paper logs has brought this to mind.

In my childhood Glasgow and Hamilton and Stirling, the three towns I knew, were black. Black with soot and coal dust. Now the beautiful blonde and red sandstones are clean and the glass is shiny. Why? because we no longer burn domestic coal fires. Bye laws were passed that banned certain types of coal and insisted on smokeless fuel in the 1960's and, in Glasgow at least, enforced it rigorously.
Back then if your washing was hung out to dry and it rained, it had to be brought in and re-washed because of the dark grey streaks that covered it; even the rain was filthy.

I don't want to live like that ever again, but I do like a real fire. What sort of gunk does burning the paper logs give off? It seems such a practical way to use household rubbish, but then the fire always was. How good are modern chimneys? Are there ones with 'exhausts' so to speak?

So far the 'recipes' suggested have included paper, coffee grounds, sawdust.....:) everybody's home smells diffferent, any other ideas for mixture of stuffs for the logs?
How heavy are they when dry? Would they be practical for those who can't gather timber for a fire when out to carry?

cheers,
Toddy
 

BorderReiver

Full Member
Mar 31, 2004
2,693
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Norfolk U.K.
Toddy,an expensive but practical way to get "clean smoke" from your flue is to invest in a modern wood burner with fan assisted combustion.This ensures complete burning of your fuel and keeps the glass on the front of the stove clean.
 

anthonyyy

Settler
Mar 5, 2005
655
6
ireland
. What sort of gunk does burning the paper logs give off?cheers,
Toddy

I think the main environmental problem with burning paper is the ink.

Paper bleached with chlorine can give rise to dioxins when burned also.
Glossy paper should never be burned.


Some web sites:

American site about burning household waste.
http://www.dec.ny.gov/public/32060.html



Rules on outdoor burning in the UK
http://www.ecan.govt.nz/Our+Environment/Air/Other+pollution+sources/Outdoor-burning-Chch.htm

Broadly: At the moment burning paper is still permitted in the UK.-


Dioxins
http://www.city.palo-alto.ca.us/public-works/cb-dioxins.html
 

Toddy

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Jan 21, 2005
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S. Lanarkshire
Actually I read the Christchurch stuff; it was interesting :D It seems that over 90% of their airborne pollution in Winter can be directly associated with home fires :eek:

I like a good conversation that rambles around full of information; Border Riever that chimney sounds excellent, but you're right, it is expensive.
Would there be any benefit in using a car exhaust as the chimney from a small stove in a tipi? The bits are pretty cheap depending on the make used.

cheers,
Toddy
 

BorderReiver

Full Member
Mar 31, 2004
2,693
16
Norfolk U.K.
Actually I read the Christchurch stuff; it was interesting :D It seems that over 90% of their airborne pollution in Winter can be directly associated with home fires :eek:

I like a good conversation that rambles around full of information; Border Riever that chimney sounds excellent, but you're right, it is expensive.
Would there be any benefit in using a car exhaust as the chimney from a small stove in a tipi? The bits are pretty cheap depending on the make used.

cheers,
Toddy

Isn't an exhaust a fair bit narrower than a flue? Also an engine is pushing the gasses out with a bit of force;don't know if convection would be enough.
In other words,I don't know.:confused:
 

anthonyyy

Settler
Mar 5, 2005
655
6
ireland
Would there be any benefit in using a car exhaust as the chimney from a small stove in a tipi?.

Toddy

I think a truck exhaust pipe might work too. Should be cheap at a scrap yard.

I was reading that in a tipi you don't always need a stove pipe that is long enough to go out the smoke hole. As long as it is about 5 feet high and about 4 feet from the top of the tipi it should keep smoke from being troublesome and not burn the tipi fabric.
 

Eric_Methven

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Apr 20, 2005
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If you're thinking of using an exhaust pipe in that modified Millets tipi, I'd be wary of the concentrated heat you'll get up at the top end. Instead of it disapating evenly, it'll all be coming out of one small hole, so you'll need to have it protrude through the tent fabric, and that'll melt the tent around that area. To avoid that, you'll need to replace a square of the tent fabric up near the apex and fix a piece of aluminium sheet with a hole cut for the pipe. Lot's of work, and you're still dealing with nylon fabric. There's alarm bells going off when I think of the implications. Does the tipi have a separate top hat? If so you could replace it with one of canvas. Even if it gets hot it'll char rather than drip molten nylon on your head.

Eric
 

Toddy

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Jan 21, 2005
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To be honest, I've acquired a load of waterproofed green cotton fabric meant for posh golfing windbreaker jackets :D and I'm thinking hard about re-making the entire tipi in that. I've also sourced glass fibre fabric that's supposed to be fire proof.....I think I'd feel happier with asbestos tbh. The tipi will never get a lot of hard use as my tent, but I would like comfort in it. The top hat is seperate so it could easily be replaced as is if I need the tipi before I make a new one.

Cheers,
Mary
 

demographic

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Apr 15, 2005
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If theres three dumpy bags per week going spare could you fabricate an auger fed heating stove?

One company I used to work for built pressurised steam boilers for industry (I am not suggesting for a second that anyone builds a pressurised steam boiler at home by the way as the consequences of failure are pretty drastic) and some of those ran on sawdust, nut husks, and all sorts of flammable stuff.
Its been done on an industrial scale althopugh I am not sure how it would be done on a homebuilt scale and it might be hard to make sure the sawdust still in the auger tube doesn't start burning down into the storage container.

On the lines of the big camping stove thing theres THIS plan which seems very like the inverted draught stove things someone posted a link to a while ago.

Whilst looking on Google for some better info I came across THIS site which although not having much stuff on sawdust stoves was interesting all the same.

I am fairly sure some of the links contained on that page will interest Toddy.
 

dommyracer

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May 26, 2006
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Toddy, not really about Sawdust, but I recall seeing disposable barbecues for sale in M+S that used things like Fruit stones, olive stones, etc.....not sure how they were manufactured though...
 

Toadflax

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Mar 26, 2007
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After reading this thread last year, I got a paper briquette maker for my birthday in September and have been religiously making briquettes from all our scrap paper since then.

briquette_01.jpg


I started just soaking it all, but after a while it seemed easier to make up briquettes that would stick together if I shredded the paper first where possible. I finally got around to burning some yesterday (takes a long time for them to dry out over the Autumn /Winter).

briquette_02.jpg


Overall, I was a bit disappointed with the results of this first attempt. The briquettes didn't seem to be self-sustaining. I had got the fire going with wood, but after adding three briquettes, the fire gradually faded away, though it took some time to do so. The briquettes didn't really burn, mainly just glowed, and they did leave a lot of paper ash by the morning, although they had charred all the way through to their centres.

briquette_03.jpg


I'm wondering whether I need to be more selective over the paper I use for the briquettes. I chucked in everything, primarily junk mail and envelopes, and I'm wondering whether all this coloured printed paper isn't too good for burning. I think I need to do a bit more experimentation with the composition of the briquettes, although one of the aims of the briquette maker is supposed to be to let you make a good use of junk mail, which is the biggest constituent of our paper waste.

Anybody else done much on this?



Geoff
 

Ogri the trog

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Apr 29, 2005
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If theres three dumpy bags per week going spare could you fabricate an auger fed heating stove?

and it might be hard to make sure the sawdust still in the auger tube doesn't start burning down into the storage container.

Not sure how Imissed this but anyway,
At last years Royal Welsh Show, there was something like what you have described, including the simplest means ever of stoppong an auger fire. It was a container of water linked to the auger channel with plastic hose and the auger end was sealed with a plug of wax - thus, if the dust started to burn in the screw, the wax melted and the water doused the fire. It meant that if it happened youd need to drive out the wet dust and reset the system but nonetheless effective.

ATB

Ogri the trog
 

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