Thoughts about VERY large compressed wood brick/log product

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relay

New Member
Sep 1, 2011
12
Eastern MA
Hi folks! I have spent a tremendous amout of time in these forums doing reasearch before I bought my stove and I want to thank all of you that participate!!!!! This forum was without a doubt, the main reason I was sucessfull in my migration from oil to nearly 95% of my heat coming from my wood stove. My house is WAY more comfortable and my wallet much thicker!!!! Thank you to all of you!!!!!!!!!

And now, some thoughts I have about compressed wood products. No agenda here, just thought it might be interesting to hash this train of thought out with some really wood savvy folks.

After burning a combination of cord wood and BioBricks for the last 2 seasons, I know what I am looking for but don't think it exists. I understand why many folks shy away from the compressed wood products but IMO they certainly have there place, even considering the price. One of my favorite reasons is that I get a consistant burn every load and I know exactly how many to use based upon outside temperature and duration. This is great for night time use as I always get a nice full night of heat with 300 + degree stove still going in the morning. Using cord wood at night is unpredictable for me. Most times I go all night but quite a few times I wake up to relatively cool stove.

Anyway, the main issue with the compressed stuff is you need to stack it tightly to create the structure of a very large single block of wood. This prevents too much of the surface area igniting and burning at the same time which can be dangerous as it is easy to get out of control with these. Also, if you let a fresh stack burn wildly for too long, the bricks have a tendency to mushroom which of course creates more burnable surface area which can easily get out of control. Setting up a nice stack at bedtime is not easy to do with a stove full of cord wood coals. It's very each with empty stove but that is rarely the case for me.

I think I know what would be perfect for me. Fairly large solid blocks of compressed wood product. Much larger than what is currently on the market. Something in the order of 20 - 25 lbs would be ideal. Open the stove, rake the coals, throw in 2 - 25lb compressed blocks and done for the night. Open the damper just a bit to get a slight fire going on the block and then damper down before it gets going too much and I think you will have 12+ hours of really nice heat with greatly reduced possability of overfire due to the nature of being a solid block without anywhere near the potential burn surface area of 20 or 30 - 2lb brick product (if they happen to split/mushroom or simply not packed well).

I know there are a few vendors creating 6-8lb logs but you still have a problem with surface area which is why you can't throw 5-6 of these in a stove and get really great heat all night long. It would probably burn too hot and cause most of the to split/mushroom etc. which of course exacerbates the issue quickly.

Perhaps it is not economical / feasable /viable / mechanically possible to create a compressed wood product such as this but I really think this might solve some of the issues with these products.

Thoughts? Am I way off base in my thinking here?
 
maybe duct tape the small ones together?
Joking..lol.

But I concur with you.
Be cool to try anyways.
 
physical size of a piece of equipment to accomplish your idea would be gigantic, just from the stand point of the amount of pressure needed to reach your goal. There two basic ways. Pure compression into a mold or extrusion. Both require external heat in addition to that created by compression. In Your case pre-heating of the compression material would also be needed, Extreme control of moisture content of the raw material would be an absolute must. To give an idea of cost a Ruff press for 2x4x6 block starts at $60,000. Extrusion units would be similar. This is without any pre or post equipment for material handling/conditioning/packaging. In our case it is all about density and not using any type of bonding agent which is not the case for the compressed wood industry such as osb ,mdf, and other industrial wood composites. The addition of bonding agents significantly reduces the amount of compression and heat required to form these products as they do not rely on attaining a plasticity stage of the lignin in the wood fibers.
 
Dragging this back up as just of late, I have a local company selling a product called Thermalog, 11 lbs block with some venting in it. As yet I have not been able to find the mfg of these. Pricing at present is $4/log or 3logs/ $10, 3/10 works out to about $272/ton - that being less than a hardwood cord split and delivered.( course that won't be usable until about 2 years from now. ) Any body know anything about these?
 
Thermawood Thermalogs by Unadillawood
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Unadillawood's ThermawoodTM is a natural, burnable fuel superior to traditional firewood. It burns cleaner and longer, releasing more energy than regular firewood. We are pleased to finally be able to offer this product in New England.
We are currently seeking distributors for ThermawoodTM in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and other locations. If you are interested in becoming a ThermawoodTM reseller or would like more information about the product and prices, please contact us at Thermawood.com or Outdoor World of New England. Spent a few min's searching, There's lot of people that like them, I think I found what your after. Jay. Here one more link, http://www.weiku.com/products/5339101/UNADILLAWOOD.html
 
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canawick, a Canadian comp., makes a 6# block. 4 x 4 x 10 1/2. I have used their bricks,2 1/2 x 3 3/4 x 6, for 2 seasons and love the even long burns in a small jotul f100. have a day, Canawick products available @ South Shore Wood Pellets, Holbrook ,Ma
 
I kept coming up with something from Texas, but no real information, nor could I confirm age of web sight with out a call. I will have to stop by Menards and see whats available and maybe give the CL ad a ring as well. Just the wrong time of year to be experimenting with these or for that matter committing a chuck of cash to a couple tons worth. pic from clView attachment 135171 View attachment 135172
 
I just got a flyer in the mail from TSC..50 bucks off a ton of bricks.
http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/sto...0707-_-CNTR_C1-_-Store_Event_Wood_Pellet_Sale

Also i seen a review from one of the members here..lol.

★★★★★ ★★★★★ 5 out of 5 stars.
eclecticcottage
· 2 years ago
Great, when you can get them!
We just bought our house, so we couldn't cut and season our own wood in time for the heating season. These saved us this year, since we only have wood heat and it's pretty hard to find actual SEASONED wood here (not just split, but actually stacked and seasoned for 1+ years). We had to drive almost 40 miles to get them as our local TSC was out of stock though, and now even the further one doesn't have any. We'll be sure to stock up in the summer this year, just in case we need them again (even though we do have wood stacked and seasoning now). I would recommend these to anyone in our situation, especially those with an EPA stove that might not handle wetter wood as well.



✔ Yes,
I recommend this product.
 
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