Compressed blocks for Canadians

As many Canadians know, buying compressed wood blocks is a no go. The big box stores selling them for about $25-30/box of 10. There is one company that sells direct from Toronto, at the same price as cord wood and I've been tempted, except for the cost of fuel to get there and back with a tonne.

Well, you're in luck, sort of. Rona sells these blocks with absolutely no real info on them. We are down to a tiny bit of wood, and a cord of wet cedar. So I grabbed a box of these:





A box of 10 is $3.99, so not a huge investment for a few boxes. I started with three and they burned well for about 2-3 hours, however they are hard to light. I bought 11 boxes to mix with my wet wood to get through hopefully to spring. When mixed with wet wood they burn well. The ash that's left behind is just a powder but they hold their shape throughout the cycle, leaving funny spiral shaped ash logs. Now obviously I would not recommend buying these by the tonne, but it's the cheapest per log I've found anywhere near here. I mixed 3 with a full load of my water soaked wood and the results were the same as a full load of dry wood, maybe a slightly less high temp peak and a longer coaling period as you would expect from wet wood.

Yeah, I wasn't certain, but it was almost 4 cord. We burned 24-7 and used very little propane up to now. I still have a cord of cedar that I cut up last fall, but planning of saving it for next year/this years Bon fires. The wood I had was extra dry, so it tended to burn up pretty fast.

Ian

brad wilton said:

i have tried all different kinds they all seem to burn relatively the same i find regular splits burn better but good in a pinch.i have a 4.7 cu fire box they look kinda puny in there always tempted to throw whole box in

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Definately, I debated just buying a face cord, but I needed something now. We all know how 'seasoned' some wood can be. So it seemed to be a good option. I could certainly fit a full box in my 1400, but think that's not so good. What I've been doing is just tossing three or four in with what wood I have left. This seems to work quite good, better then burning either wood or these separately.

I will likely run down to Toronto and grab a tonne of the stuff made there. Its essentially the same price as a cord of hardwood around here, but might make a nice alternative if I get a load of not so seasoned wood for next winter. The stuff in Toronto is much larger then these ones, so who knows.

Ian

Knots said:

It says "Guaranteed Quality". What other info could you hope for?

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Haha, the best is the part where it says 'no coals for less smoke'. Seems legit to me.

They aren't bad but way too small. I'm burning off this cedar but the only thing I am finding is neither cedar nor these are leaving any coals behind for relighting.

Awww...pooh.

It was 3.99 for 10 lbs. not sure what value you give propane, but I think it's a lot more expensive here. I've got a good locked in price of $2.50/gallon (0.66/litre). However these blocks are definately not what I'd call cheap. Hoping to hit the orchard this weekend and cut down some dead standing wood to get through. The cedar is not horrible, but not very good either. The snow was just too deep to get into the bush until just recently.

Ian

Haha! Look at that, they sure didn't feel that heavy. Yes you are right, so there you go. Fortunately my fire wood is free-ish if I get off my butt and scrounge it. This year I got a great deal on almost 4 cord so went that way. Doubt I'll be so lucky next year.

Ian

No worries, I am actually headed out today to get a bunch of birch from a friends construction site. They have clear cut a couple hundred acres and need to dispose of the wood...