[TheForge] cutting wood

[Peter Fels & Phoebe Palmer]

The local wood/green waste dump has a ferocious, giant chipper that 
gobbles whole trees at a time . They burn the chips to make electricity.

Bruce Freeman wrote:
> Well, what about  wood chip "briquettes"?  Use some simple,
> semiautomatic press or screw auger to compress chips into lumps
> (fist-sized or so) and simple feed a wood fire with those?
> 
> Anyone have any thoughts?
> 
> On Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 4:20 PM, Jerry Frost <akfrosty at mtaonline.net> wrote:
>> NOt efficiently nor properly Bruce, no. A pellet stove literally hovers the
>> pellets in a terminal velocity air stream and thus achieves a very efficient
>> burn. Using chips will introduce a bunch of different size and shape pieces
>> into a specialized air stream which won't hover them properly. What happens
>> is some of the larger chips end up plugging the air stream while the small
>> pieces just go up the flue, on fire.
>>
>> On the other hand there are a number of chip stoves available, many are
>> stokers so all you have to do is load the chip bin outside and let the auger
>> feed the stove controlled by the thermostat.
>>
>> The engineering of the two types of stove are very different but neither is
>> beyond a competent fabricator as a home build.
>>
>> Last year I kept track (sort of) and I spent about $8.00 on fuel to cut,
>> buck and split some 8 cords of wood. The splitter cost under $100 in rental.
>> Pellets here are hard to come by and more expensive than fuel oil.
>>
>> Next season I plan on renting a Cat 315 excavator with thumb and pushing em
>> over, picking em up, shaking the dirt out of the roots and hauling them back
>> and stacking em in the yard to buck and split. Can you say, fast, easy, SAFE
>> and economical? An excavator cab is one of the most heavily armored in the
>> heavy equipment world, it's pretty easy to let something get away from you
>> and have it come back. They are very VERY tough but better yet, they usually
>> have complete air systems and good sound systems. I love excavators.
>>
>> Good thing my retirement job last summer was delivering equipment for a
>> local rental outfit eh? Gollygosh I LOVE diesel burning power tools! <VBG>
>>
>> Frosty the Lucky
>> -------------------------
>> If it ain't forged
>> It ain't real
>> wrought iron is
>> The Frostworks
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Bruce Freeman" <freemab222 at gmail.com>
>> To: "Bob Ehrenberger" <eforge at centurytel.net>; "Blacksmithing List Sponsored
>> by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
>> Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 11:50 AM
>> Subject: Re: [TheForge] cutting wood
>>
>>
>>> Can pellet stoves burn (dried) chipped wood?  Municipalities around
>>> here chip wood (wet) for disposal of prunings, etc., and some make it
>>> available free as mulch.  Come up with a way to dry the "mulch" and
>>> you might have cheap fuel.
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 10:50 AM, Bob Ehrenberger <eforge at centurytel.net>
>>> wrote:
>>>> Mark,
>>>>
>>>> I'm kind of a do it myself sort of guy and have been cutting wood since I
>>>> was in Jr High, some 45 years now. I have always enjoyed the wood cutting
>>>> process, it makes a nice change from blacksmithing.
>>>>
>>>> The gas to cut wood runs about 1/2 gal for a 2 or 3 week supply. I cut
>>>> wood
>>>> on my own farm so it is just a couple hundred yards from the house, not
>>>> much
>>>> truck gas there. The splitter uses less gas than the chain saw. When
>>>> growing up we did all the splitting by hand, dad didn't get a splitter
>>>> until
>>>> my brother and I moved away. Actually my brother and I got the splitter
>>>> for
>>>> him, we were concerned that it was too much work for him.
>>>>
>>>> Some of the pellet stoves can also burn corn, which would solve some of
>>>> the
>>>> supply problem. Though I don't like the idea of using food for fuel, the
>>>> ethanol thing has really driven up the cost of corn for annimal feed.
>>>>
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> 
> 
>