Make your own pressed logs?

Brian Altop

Member
Messages
274
Location
Tacoma, WA
I've read about others trying to make their own pressed logs and was wondering if anyone here has tried it. I can end up with over 100 gallons of shavings and dust in a month easily and was thinking I could turn this into logs instead of just dumping them in the compost.

I figured if I use some pipe, a frame and a 20 ton jack that should be enough to compress something.

Any thoughts?


Brian
 
You also need a binder of some kind. The wood chips don't just stick to each other. Most of the wood chip "logs" you get are overpriced emitters of noxious fumes. You're probably better off composting the chips for recycling back to mama earth. By the time you plug your labor into this log project you're most likely losing money. Sort of like trying to make your own MDF. JMHO.
 
Heating the wood to 100 degrees or so will release the lignin (sap) in the wood to make it stick together. The compression of the wood may be enough, but may need a heat source.
 
MY wife and I have been burning saw dust and shavings in a wood stove for years. We buy our milk in the 2 liter wax cartons and use these for the saw dust when empty. Just cram it in and fold down the top, You need a good bed of coals to get it going but once it starts it goes for a long time. It doesn't really flame, just glows but it throws a surprising amount of heat and is a good way to get rid of an otherwise nuisance by product. You can get a fair bit of material into a carton. Several of our friends that don't have wood stoves save their cartons for us so a 35 gallon barrel of saw dust goes pretty fast. Over the past 35 years I've never had to buy fire wood and we heat mainly with wood. We use the saw dust, shop waste and wind falls on the property. I've only knocked down a few trees on my place, mainly ones that were in the way of new buildings or dangerous ones.
 
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