Make fast kindling with a slow splitter

[Billhook]

We use it as kindling and it is perfect.

If you select some lengths of old floorboard even better, but it is a good way of putting to some use stuff that would otherwise be put on a bonfire or through a chipper.

[Woodworks]

49 minutes ago, woodwizzard said:

What do people use that stuff for? It's too small for logs and in my mind too small and awkward to use as kindling. Is it just loaded into boilers by the sack?

 

PS, what time does the video of fast kindling start? 😉

Makes great charcoal 

[woodwizzard]

33 minutes ago, Billhook said:

We use it as kindling and it is perfect.

If you select some lengths of old floorboard even better, but it is a good way of putting to some use stuff that would otherwise be put on a bonfire or through a chipper.

Can they be run at a slower speed to increase length? 

 

Hang on, that doesn't make sense does it. I suppose that is down to blade spacing.

Edited March 28, 2021 by woodwizzard

[Woodworks]

4 minutes ago, woodwizzard said:

Can they be run at a slower speed to increase length? 

 

Hang on, that doesn't make sense does it. I suppose that is down to blade spacing.

Blade spacing and diameter of the cutter heads. The bigger machines cut a longer log

[Billhook]

All I can say is that it now works well for us.  You cannot change the length of the loggings  except by buying a bigger machine

what is the point when they work perfectly as they are?

We found the plastic net bags to be very irritating as they were messy in the house and bits of twig hung onto the sides.

Now we put them all in a one ton potato box 6x4X3. Or 2 cubic metres and I put a load in an old wheelie bin with a hinged flap at the bottom and fill a coal scuttle with them.

The  wheelie bin full lasts a couple of weeks and sits outside the conservatory next to the box of firewood 

The loggings  seem to form a bed of red hot coals and last longer than conventional kindling.  I think they would work for BBQs and as Woodworks says they will make perfect charcoal.

A lot depends on grading the timber to make things more consistent and leaving you with the required result.  This of course is the same with any kind of timber processing.

Yes it was easy initially to put a whole long branch through the machine, and very satisfying, but the end result was a bit too bitty. We are very happy with our kindling and because the machine does not grab the wood like a shredder( meaning if I hold on to a length I can stop it or should it become caught in my clothing it will stop or pull me towards a hinged bar frame  at the mouth of the machine that operates a cut out switch for the PTO.  Hopefully this means less chance of losing fingers as is the danger of making kindling with an axe or splitter or even worse “Wheel of Death”!

 

[Steven P]

7 hours ago, woodwizzard said:

What do people use that stuff for? It's too small for logs and in my mind too small and awkward to use as kindling. Is it just loaded into boilers by the sack?

I went through a few coal sacks of similar this winter, given the option of what comes my way, I can dump it or cut it up and burn small diameter stuff. On the upstairs open fire, it is great (it is only a small grate, 12" I think, can't get a full log on it), and on the stove on top of logs or coal, gives a near instant heat boost. I was intending to use them last summer for BBQs, but for some reason no one was visiting much (and it was colder last summer than usual). I wouldn't knock them back if I was given a few bags of them

[woodwizzard]

I wasn't knocking the product, just wondered how people were using it. More of a personal use type product as opposed to a saleable one perhaps?

[Steven P]

Not sure how much market there is for them, but I bet you could create one for the summer BBQ market, get some summer sales? Ask anyone who was a Scout, cooking over a wood fire all the time. Shorter thinner pieces will char quicker and be perfect to cook on, and cheaper than making them into charcoal?

[openspaceman]

51 minutes ago, Steven P said:

Not sure how much market there is for them, but I bet you could create one for the summer BBQ market, get some summer sales? Ask anyone who was a Scout, cooking over a wood fire all the time. Shorter thinner pieces will char quicker and be perfect to cook on, and cheaper than making them into charcoal?

They will of course dry pretty quickly too, I  wonder if the chopping micro splits them so they dry quicker than sawn to the same size.

 

I'm damned if I would get involved with nets but as @Billhook says a ventilated box or IBC would be ideal if mechanical handling is available, not much use for my domestic storage though.

 

My little Morso s11 burns them well and builds up a deep layer of char that keeps the stove warm till morning. I could probably shovel out a kilo of char in the morning if I wanted to save it.

[Gav73]

I think this is faster and easier!   No time to finish your popcorn!
 
 

Anyone know who sells these? Would be interesting to know how much they cost as I regularly have a load of brash and branches that are just a pain to process/get rid of. If I can get something for the right price, I think it will same me lots of time and hassle. Ideally I wouldn’t want a PTO version.