Burning wood shavings on a log burner?

[Doug71]

My old workshop had a big Relax wood burner in which I used to burn wood shavings etc on to help keep warm this time of year. My new workshop is rented so I can't put a stove in, I give my wood shavings away to people with chickens etc. I have a log burner at home and can generally keep it going with off cuts and pallets etc but sometimes I end up buying logs. This seems a real waste when I am giving away wood shavings.

The question is can anybody give me advice on how to burn wood shavings on a normal stove, I can't really justify £2k on a proper briquette maker but it is an option if people think they are worth it? I don't really make enough shavings to make into briquettes and sell but sure I would have enough for my own use. I have seen videos of people mixing wood shavings with sawdust and water then compressing it and letting it dry, don't know if this works but looking for a more efficient way?

Thanks in advance, Doug

 

[Brandlin]

I burn chips and dust on my home stove. You're right it can be a it of a faff... soak the sawdust, compress it in the cheapest briquette maker i could find, leave to dry. The kids love doing it.
I mix shredded newspaper in too... maybe 20% - seems to help bind things.
Biggest problem is usually leaving the bricks to dry thoroughly enough before burning.
It works for me - but then i am not trying to dispose of the waste from a commercial woodshop and we only use the log burner in the house occassionally.

 

[Noel]

My old workshop had a big Relax wood burner in which I used to burn wood shavings etc on to help keep warm this time of year. My new workshop is rented so I can't put a stove in, I give my wood shavings away to people with chickens etc. I have a log burner at home and can generally keep it going with off cuts and pallets etc but sometimes I end up buying logs. This seems a real waste when I am giving away wood shavings.

The question is can anybody give me advice on how to burn wood shavings on a normal stove, I can't really justify £2k on a proper briquette maker but it is an option if people think they are worth it? I don't really make enough shavings to make into briquettes and sell but sure I would have enough for my own use. I have seen videos of people mixing wood shavings with sawdust and water then compressing it and letting it dry, don't know if this works but looking for a more efficient way?



Thanks in advance, Doug

Doug, I'm too lazy/disinclined to fath around with making bricks and briquettes etc. What I do is just put the shavings/sawdust in an old cardboard box or cardboard tray and lay it on top of the fire area. I also use paper bags as well. Throwing it straight on the fire can "drown" the fire but it will recover, just that it'll appear dead for a while and hence little heat.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

All my shavings, dust and general floor litter goes into any small cardboard boxes that I save for the purpose - most coming from frozen foods and cereals. I pack them full, squiggle a line of hot melt along the box and the sit by the stove without making any mess. As long as the stove is burning well they burn fine.

 

[Beau]

Get a top loading stove? Did look into this some years ago and I think there a few on the market. Vermont castings did one and I think Jotul did as well. No idea what these stoves are like burning shavings though

 

[Keith 66]

I used to have a very large stove in my old workshop, i used to shovel sacks of shavings & sawdust into it. The problem would arise that once it got going the contents would burn from the front & then would collapse in front of the bottom damper blocking it. Then large quantities of thick white smoke would be generated & if this ignited a flashover situation would arise, on one occasion this was so violent that the ashpan door burped a jet of flaming debris 15ft across the workshop. Quite exciting jumping around stamping it all out!

 

[julianf]

We used to burn sawdust, but, for the amount of heat you want, you just end up having to shovel it on all the time, and it's kind of not worth the effort.

However....

If you have some used cooking oil (I'm talking restaurant quantities, not just from your own kitchen) and moisten the sawdust with that, you are onto another level of heat output entirely.

 

[Robbo3]

All my shavings, dust and general floor litter goes into any small cardboard boxes that I save for the purpose - most coming from frozen foods and cereals. I pack them full, squiggle a line of hot melt along the box and the sit by the stove without making any mess. As long as the stove is burning well they burn fine.

I now do the same thanks to Phil posting this tip previously. Rather than hot melt glue I get 5 rolls of sellotape from the £1 shop.
The amount of heat can be fierce but short lived so this is more for getting rid of the sawdust rather than creating a fuel source.

 

[Jacob]

Basically you need a woodstove in the shape of a pyramid or cone.* Fill with sawdust and light the surface. It will only burn from above it can't burn from below or it snuffs itself out, or smoulders dangerously, suddenly bursting into flame.
So it needs air inlet in the top. The pyramid shape gives it a large surface area to burn.
We've got a Dowling Sumo http://dowlingstoves.com/our%20stoves/sumo.html
It takes three coal hods of sawdust. I keep the dust from my extractor, plus floor sweepings, in large poly bags big enough to dip the coal hod in, without getting it all over the floor.
It burns brilliantly, safe, hot, very controllable, very little ash.
You have to let it burn down before re filling or it can explode - you can't tip sawdust on to a hot fire.

https://www.gardenoasis.co.uk/home-and- ... k-coal-hod?

*PS or any big stove with a big footprint so you can get the conical heap effect with a large surface area. A tall thin stove no good at all for sawdust.

 

[dzj]

For a typical log burner, I don't think there is an easy solution. Too much work and potential mess.
Anyway, this is the setup I have for heating my shop.
It might inspire you to come up with a solution of your own.
It's a 200l oil drum converted to a stove.
I fill it with offcuts, logs, woodchip and dust from the cyclone extractor.
The drum is filled to about 2/3 of its volume and one charge is good for about 8-10 hours.
With it I heat about 130m3 of space to about 15 or 16 degrees C. For a workshop it's a comfortable temperature.

 

[Jacob]

For a typical log burner, I don't think there is an easy solution. Too much work and potential mess.

Yes but it is easy with an untypical pyramid shape. The Dowling Sumo wasn't designed for saw dust (it's a normal multi fuel) but it works very well, and with hod and large bags isn't messy either.

Anyway, this is the setup I have for heating my shop.
It might inspire you to come up with a solution of your own.
It's a 200l oil drum converted to a stove.
I fill it with offcuts, logs, woodchip and dust from the cyclone extractor.
The drum is filled to about 2/3 of its volume and one charge is good for about 8-10 hours.
With it I heat about 130m3 of space to about 15 or 16 degrees C. For a workshop it's a comfortable temperature.

That's neat - I guess the logs buried keep the sawdust in place so there's a good surface area to burn.
I wonder if an oil drum on its side would do sawdust better i.e. have a large surface area to burn from the top? Perhaps a loading hatch cut in the top (side) with air gap around it? Then you could burn sawdust alone - get rid of it and save the logs til later.
I like the heat exchanger!

 

[dzj]

That's neat - I guess the logs buried keep the sawdust in place so there's a good surface area to burn.
I wonder if an oil drum on its side would do sawdust better i.e. have a large surface area to burn from the top? Perhaps a loading hatch cut in the top (side) with air gap around it? Then you could burn sawdust alone - get rid of it and save the logs til later.
I like the heat exchanger!

I've burned sawdust alone many times. It works fine, but only lasts 2-3h at a time.
With logs and off cuts, I can get by with just one load for the duration of a work day.
Regardless what you burn, the sawdust needs to be compacted with a hefty stick or a 2x4, so that when the 'flue post' in the middle is removed the sawdust doesn't cave in.
(only a small layer on top is left 'as is' so that it catches fire easier).

 

[acewoodturner]

I have one of the big 20Kw square workshop stoves and have a Caframo fan on the top to push the heat out.. I use a Camvac extractor on my machines which holds 200L of sawdust and shavings. I can empty one third of that at a time into the stove and its burns no problem. Saves a few trips to the council dump to get rid of it. I often mix it with offcuts to help it burn a bit better. In the summer I store the sawdust in black bags outside and tape them shut. Our council is really cracking down on businesses using the facility and it would cost me about 700 quid a year to get shot of it. Ironically its cheaper to dump concrete and tarmac than the green, recyclable waste!

Mike