Lucky for me I have a neighbor who operates a cabinet making business out of his home. This business produces a considerible amount of good, dry oak and cherry scrap which we both use as kindling in our Jotul 450 inserts. My question relates to the tremendous amounts of sawdust that he creates. Is it safe to burn? He has been burning it from time to time without problems but is there potential for trouble?? He will generally fill a plastic grocery bag and burn the whole thing (bag and all). I dont really like the idea of the plastic bag but could easily substitute a paper sack. What do you think, am I asking for trouble?
burning sawdust
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You could probably get by with a bag or so at a time, dumped onto an established wood fire. But to truly burn saw dust exclusively and produce efficient, useful heat, you would need some type of dedicated saw dust burner. Very similar to the way you could burn a couple handfuls of pellets or coal, but each fuel has different requirements for continuous, efficient burning.
it would be cool if you could invent some sort of basic press to compress it into your own sort of biobricks
i too have a cabinet shop. i was thinking of making a press to build my own wood logs. you could probably use your spliter. all you need is a section of 4-6 pipe capped off at one end, then a short piece of pipe that fits into the larger one. drill some small drain holes in the ends and fill the pipe with wet sawdust. squish the $#!^ out of it and see if it burns. it may need to dry and season like regular wood.
DiscoInferno
Minister of Fire
I tried burning a paper bag full of sawdust on top of coals last year, the pile mostly just smoldered after a while and I had to keep stirring it to uncover fresh sawdust. But that sawdust may not have been terribly dry yet. I have a couple bags from last year that are dry now; I used them this year to make firestarters with but there's a lot left over. I'll have to try one of those this year and see if it works better.
Wolves-Lower
New Member
The place where I get my kindling (they make pallets) gives away sawdust...and I mean truckloads of it.
I was currious what this one gentleman wanted with it. He told me he makes sawdust logs out of it.
He just puts the sawdust in cardboard tubes, compreses it with the log spliter and then burns it.
It seems like a lot more work then its worth. Plus I should have ask him where he gets his tubes.
I was currious what this one gentleman wanted with it. He told me he makes sawdust logs out of it.
He just puts the sawdust in cardboard tubes, compreses it with the log spliter and then burns it.
It seems like a lot more work then its worth. Plus I should have ask him where he gets his tubes.
moralleper
New Member
My grandmother had a saw dust burner in her basement and was her soul source of heat for many years.
Burn-1
Feeling the Heat
Enord that stove looks a lot like this one I found which is used in Spain to burn almond husks. I would bet that a setup like this might burn many different types of biomass. Sort of like a self stoking pellet or coal stove in a way.
http://www.hipercass.com/images/SERRIN-2.jpg
Not sure about EPA specs but does anyone still manufacture such stoves/heaters today?
http://www.hipercass.com/images/SERRIN-2.jpg
Not sure about EPA specs but does anyone still manufacture such stoves/heaters today?
boostnut said:
Did you see the thread on making your own newspaper or junk mail "Briquettes"? One or more of the links talks about using the paper pulp as a binder for sawdust or other Bio Mass.
Someone here was going to try it with some other sort of bio mass (coal I believe) but he has too much going on right now so he plans on trying it in the summer. Which is probably a better time to dry them.
My guess is that you'll get a lot more heat value if you find a way to bind and compress the sawdust since it would probably burn more slowly. The paper pulp would seem to be one way to accomplish that.
~Cath
I'm not so sure you'd want to wet down the sawdust to compress it - I can't see that this would do much. I have wondered what it would take to make a "micro" pellet mill, though. A couple HP electric motor with some type of extruder screw - it may only run one or two holes of 'extrusion' at once, but it would be enough to supply a single home.
Maybe something like this doesn't scale too well. Also, I think there are a few more steps to pellet production to 'activate' the lignin in the wood?
Maybe something like this doesn't scale too well. Also, I think there are a few more steps to pellet production to 'activate' the lignin in the wood?
Eric Johnson
Mod Emeritus
The guy who owns New England Wood Pellet told me that you can make pellets with a wood splitter--it's just that it would take the entire force of the average wood splitter to make one pellet.
Here's what he's using. Those are 500 hp motors on each of those three pellet presses, driving the hydraulics. The heat and force cause the lignin to melt, creating a shell that holds the pellets together. You need dry material for it to work.
Here's what he's using. Those are 500 hp motors on each of those three pellet presses, driving the hydraulics. The heat and force cause the lignin to melt, creating a shell that holds the pellets together. You need dry material for it to work.
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BurningIsLove
New Member
I occassionally burn sawdust (from my wood shop or chainsaw shavings), but just as kindling as it dries out very quickly.
If you have any kind of garden/bushes or any planting that will benefit, it works even better as quick mulch to provide nutrients and/or retain moisture.
If you have any kind of garden/bushes or any planting that will benefit, it works even better as quick mulch to provide nutrients and/or retain moisture.
BurningIsLove said:
Yep, we've used it as mulch but we can't even put a dent in the piles doing only that. Aaron
I just checked out that pelletpros link, my dad and good friend are looking into pellet stoves since I got mine.They have a mini mill for 2400.I have access to tons of sawdust, If we split one of these units 3 ways it may be worthwhile.I live near a lumber yard that has huge piles of sawdust that says free, its mostly pine and alot of farmers up here use it for bedding for animmals.I also live near a seating company (wich I used to work for) that has a woodshop that produces tons of sawdust, mostly southern yellow pine, alot of it is planing scraps.at the end of the day you could fill up 10 lawn and garden trash bags from the floor of the planing machine room.
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