[TheForge] cutting wood

Fri Jan 22 03:51:04 EST 2010

Sure, that'd work but there are stoves already designed to burn chips 
efficiently. Not as good as pellets maybe but better than stovewood.

It'd actually be a pretty simple conversion not counting a stoker type feed 
system that is. The trick is a slanted grate in front of the draft that 
keeps the chips suspended over the air. Ash just slides down the grate 
lifted by the draft and pulled by mother earth. There are models you stoke 
with a scoop or shovel and others that use a feed auger.

It's been a couple years since I looked at them online but it's still a 
possibility as a shop heater, Deb doesn't like the idea of a stoker wood 
stove in the house.

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: "Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 6:23 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] cutting wood

> 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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>
>
>
> -- 
> Bruce
> NJ
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