Kindling & sawdust briquette machine rentals

[Stickies wood]

Hi all, 

we are just in the process of taking over a log splitting firewood supply business and would like to add the option to offer kindling to customers as well as turning our log processor sawdust in to eco briquettes, but in order to see if these would be worthwhile viable additions we’d like to be able to rent machines first and see if they would be worth it. Can anyone please recommend companies we can rent from (or possibly buy cheap used machines) to help us get up and running?

thanks in advance for your responses.

[Alycidon]

Fuelwood do a one week hire of a Kindlet,  this was one of the first kindling making machines,  good tool.    Minimum hire is 7 days,   that would turn out several years worth I would think.   You will need an ample supply of suitable cord to put through it,  either rings cut to length or I know some people using joinery waste.

 

Kindlet Kindling Machine | Try b4u Buy

WWW.FUELWOOD.CO.UK

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The Kindlet kindling machine converts timber off-cuts and round logs into kindling. Hire equipment to try before you buy. Read full terms here.

No idea on bricketts,   I have too say that people were very reluctant when we tried to sell them but if the material is costing nothing then its worth looking at but also consider how you would pack them for retail sale.

 

A

Edited March 2, 2021 by Alycidon

[Stickies wood]

Lovely, thanks for the response, much appreciated 👍

yes, the reason I’m looking at a briquette machine is at the moment the lovely sawdust waste is just being burned, seems such a waste, probably a couple of bulk bags a day on average, so material costs are zero, just need a reasonably priced machine to get started?!!

[Squaredy]

8 hours ago, Stickies wood said:

Lovely, thanks for the response, much appreciated 👍

yes, the reason I’m looking at a briquette machine is at the moment the lovely sawdust waste is just being burned, seems such a waste, probably a couple of bulk bags a day on average, so material costs are zero, just need a reasonably priced machine to get started?!!

And you will need a method of drying the sawdust before you can make briquettes.  All the research I have done over the years makes it quite clear the feedstock for briquettes must be really dry.

[Stere]

Another option might be a branch logger?

 

URBAN Branch Loggers

WWW.BRANCH-LOGGER.COM

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URBAN Branch Loggers crush wood to small logs. Change branches and waste wood to high quality firewood.

 

Alot of neglected coppice around

Edited March 3, 2021 by Stere

[Stickies wood]

11 hours ago, Squaredy said:

And you will need a method of drying the sawdust before you can make briquettes.  All the research I have done over the years makes it quite clear the feedstock for briquettes must be really dry.

Most machines from the research I’ve done say between 13% and 18%, which is not far off what it is at the point of being sawn, they need some moisture to help with the bonding process when heated and compressed

[openspaceman]

55 minutes ago, Stickies wood said:

Most machines from the research I’ve done say between 13% and 18%, which is not far off what it is at the point of being sawn, they need some moisture to help with the bonding process when heated and compressed

We had a briquette machine on the firm but I never saw it working, the briquettes were fine to burn.

 

When the pellet mill was being installed it needed wood at about 10% mc but  part of the process involved adding steam to the sawdust to aid the process, it coated each particle rather than being absorbed into the particle and the friction in the dies flashed off  a couple of % moisture off as the pellet went through the die. Each machine needed a colossal horsepower to run, probably over 500kW per 5 tonne/hour machine. I never had the opportunity to get hands on with this either.

 

The sheer parasitic electrical load of the plant quite put me off pellets but they made a lot of sense in increasing the bulk density to maximise the tonnage for shipping long distances.

[Stickies wood]

From what I’ve been reading you get a longer burn from the briquettes as you do from the equivalent weight of a log, so they’re not only good for the environment but meant to be good for overnight maintenance of a log burner fire, economically not sure if it will be worth investing in a machine, but anything ECO will surely have growth in popularity as we move in to a more and more ECO friendly world?

[Squaredy]

Good briquettes are very good fuel, and in my experience sell well.  Doing them properly may well need a six figure investment in machinery, but I know firms who produce them and cannot keep up with demand,

 

By the way, how is your wood so dry when you process it?  Most firewood producers process fresh cut logs and then dry them.  Do you somehow do it the other way round?!  I also have the problem of producing many tons of sawdust (from sawmilling) for which I have no real market.

[Stickies wood]

On 03/03/2021 at 22:50, Squaredy said:

Good briquettes are very good fuel, and in my experience sell well.  Doing them properly may well need a six figure investment in machinery, but I know firms who produce them and cannot keep up with demand,

 

By the way, how is your wood so dry when you process it?  Most firewood producers process fresh cut logs and then dry them.  Do you somehow do it the other way round?!  I also have the problem of producing many tons of sawdust (from sawmilling) for which I have no real market.

Sorry for delay, only just seen your message, most of the logs are seasoned for around 2 years before being cut