wood bricks

I have burned sawdust in my wood stove by packing it into paper shopping bags but it doesn’t always burn well. Fireplace logs made of saw dust use a waxy binder. I always wondered if I could build a saw dust brick press to do something like what you want. The best other idea for saw dust is mulch in the garden.
MIKE

-- See pictures on Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/44216106@N07/ And visit my Facebook page - facebook.com/MTEnterprises

The newest Wood Magazine has an article about reusing sawdust…..they mentioned putting it into molds and pouring wax over it to form a “brick”......buddy of mine used to do this to get the logs started for his meat smoker. He used muffin tins for his mold, and the little bricks would burn for about 30 minutes…..

-- Measuring twice and cutting once only works if you read the tape correctly!

Unless you have access to lots of candle stubs canning wax is rather expensive. The idea here is to do this as cheap as possiable for the expendable items, don’t want to spend $$$ just to burn.
MIKE

-- See pictures on Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/44216106@N07/ And visit my Facebook page - facebook.com/MTEnterprises

Probably some sort of compression and binder. Have you considered something like linseed oil (raw)?

You might even get away with water and compression, and the sawdust itself might work as a binding agent, like flour based glue.

Oh my – this brings back memories. As a kid, dad would start our fires in the winter using a ‘brick’. Actually it was just egg crates filled with sawdust then melted paraffin wax poured on top. Break them up into individual eggs. The container burns too and it makes a great starter.

Now I use my dust in the garden, in the composter, or (with certain woods only) added to my smoker to flavor the goodies. :D:D

- ryan

Years ago I read a piece about the Presto Log folks. The discovery that made their product work was the precise combination of the right heat and the right moisture. And I think they used resinous softwood raw material.

It is possible that the wood pellet fuel folks ended up with the same or a similar recipe.

Kindly,

Lee

-- "...in his brain, which is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage, he hath strange places cramm'd with observation, the which he vents in mangled forms." --Shakespeare, "As You Like It"

I have some bags of sawdust form my chain saw cutting firewood and table saw from fire wooding pallets. I was wondering the same thing, best way to burn it. My guess is to use a little bit of four in warm water to make a binder, but I haven’t done it yet.

-- "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence

i’m with topa

sawdust and flour and some water
cheap
and nontoxic

you can pack it in a pipe
with a hydraulic jack

and make your own presto’s

for fire starter
i just put a cup of odorless mineral spirits
in a coffee can of sawdust
(sealed lid)

4 or 5 teaspoons to start a fire

-- david - only thru kindness can this world be whole . If we don't succeed we run the risk of failure. Dan Quayle

In Boy Scouts we have a method of making a saw dust stove. At this moment I cannot lay my hands on the info. BUT if you do a google search of SAW DUST STOVE you will get LOTS of ideas. The ones we use in Scouts use a metal 5 gallon bucket with 4 holes in the side , 2 opposite each other that you insert 2 large diameter dowels that cross. These form a tunnel for draft air. Then a dowel is stood up in the center and saw dust is poured in and packed around the dowels tighly. Then all the dowels are removed and a small fire starter is dropped down the vertical center hole. If done correctly this stove will burn (smolder) for hours giving off heat enough to cook on.
MIKE

-- See pictures on Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/44216106@N07/ And visit my Facebook page - facebook.com/MTEnterprises

thanks to all of you who responded. i think i will try topas suggestion and do some experimenting with water and flour to make a binder . i am initially thinking of about 1/2 kg of flour a gallon of water and a wheel barrow of saw dust .next problem is what to use for a mould any suggestions?? maybe i’ll try the muffin trays as mojoe says can’t hurt to try .

-- carlow geelong australia

This guy came up with a decent solution that I now use.

http://lumberjocks.com/topics/26101

I’m always on the hunt for small boxes now. This works really well. You can’t burn boxes of sawdust all day, you have to alternate between sawdust and actual wood, so you have nice hot coals in the stove.

Speaking of which, I should start filling some boxes soon, it’s getting a little chilly here again.

That reminds me of rolling up news paper in a tight roll to use as a log. They were suppoed to be wet when rolled, then let dry, but I never bothered with that. Just rolled them up and taped it.

-- "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence

What Mike said. Google Sawdust Stove, then click Images. No wax, flour, or anything to add but sweat.

-- Backer boards, stop blocks, build oversized, and never buy a hand plane--

I googled them. Looks like more trouble than they are worth for the amount of saw dust we make ;-)) If it don’t burn the the wood stove, it won’t be burned!!

-- "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence

Here’s one man’s solution to heating with saw dust. Looks simple enough to build.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj7X9X8LTe0&NR=1

-- I don't make mistakes, I have great learning lessons, Greg