Will see if I can get a video posted. Now I need to figure out how to get some wood to work with. Most of the fuel I will be harvesting I think will be whole trees. A lot of it will be dead or dying trees that need to come out of our bush. So most of it will be seasoned wood. I’ll probably end up getting a splitter of some kind to split stove length pieces and then chunk it. Since I’ve heard this kind of chunker likes wet wood will I need to soak the wood before it gets chunked?
Then to figure out a good method for storing dry fuel.
I was thinking the same thing Bronlin, and was thinking right after a good rain would be the time to chunk. Seems like I remember reading that here somewhere.
See if you can start on a coppicing project if it’s on your own property.
Cut any ideal sized deciduous trees in the winter and most will pop back up next year with 3-5 new shoots. Few years down the road you’ve got more decent fuel again. Pine doesn’t coppice though I guess you could try seeding them.
Old/really big trees are less likely to sprout back up, also cutting the tree at an angle will promote coppicing since rain will shed off and prevent the stump from rotting.
Hi, Bronlin! Remember how J.O. goes and harvests all the growing saplings that are in an area that will be kept clear for power line easements, etc. He then puts them through the rebak chunker, then drying time…Harvesting trees that will never be allowed to mature anyway.
God has definitely given each region its own uniqueness. Wood supply and the processing of wood will always very according to what is available in your area.
Were I live at my parents place the forest are grown on sand hills. It is exclusively a mixture of spruce, aspen/polpar and burr oak. If I take only from our land that is all the selection I will get. On the yard we have some pines and maples. Walking through the bush if we observe closely we are able to find first generation trees. Mostly these are spruce characterized by rings of large branches all the way down to the ground. These trees are now surrounded by more trees.
Thanks Cody. I’ve never heard of the term coppicing. The only deciduous trees here would be the maples and I don’t think I’ll be cutting those down.
Mike. I have seen JO’s wood harvesting process. It really saves a lot of time splitting. But since the wood available to me is larger deadfall trees, I think it would be best to clean those out of the bush to make room for new trees.
Fortunately there is no shortage of new growth coming up. Lots of little oaks, spruce and popular.
That Poplar will coppice really well. Take a note of where they’re at and when the foliage is dropped and the sap is in the roots, cut them down as close as you can get to the ground. They come back to harvest really quick.
Might not be the best wood for woodgas but it’s not the worst either.
Around me I’ve got mostly Poplars and Black Walnut as far as perfect for a drum chunker. The walnut is a pest for me and even when I cut them down in the middle of summer they sprout back up.
Virginia Tech has a good open design for a solar wood kiln. I would enhance it with a counterflow heat exchanger but that’s getting fussy.
Wood drying for structural timber is different as you want to avoid warping and checking. Drying wood for fuel can go as fast as you can purge the moisture. Hot, dry air will do that.
I don’t think you need the heat exchanger. They go up in flames if they get too hot.
The larger problem for structural timber is it is supposed to be kiln dried and needs to be accurately measured, to kill the bugs that might be in it. So it is brought up to a temperature of x and held there for a period of time. It is hard to do in a solar kiln.
That would definitely speed up the drying a lot. I think for the wood fuel drying the temperature wouldn’t need to be very regulated. As long as it is mostly dry it should work. I’ve seen a couple guys on the forum here that dry wood in a greenhouse. I have thought that may be something to try if/when I get a greenhouse.
Tried all three of the main kinds of wood we have here. The aspen chunked the easiest since it was partially wet.
The chute turned out really well it greatly reduced the work involved in cleaning up the wood off the ground. But there was a lot of small pieces in this batch of wood. Mostly because it was all dry wood and it would tend to splinter. I’ve seen others make a wire mesh chute to filter out the small bits. But wouldn’t that plug up easily?
I was thinking of just cutting a square hole in the chute and putting it parallel metal rods all running along the chute to keep the chunks moving down. Something like this.
I think the parallel bar idea could work, but a little bit of small stuff shouldn’t hurt. You could maybe winnow it with a hay fork for the time being.
Thanks Cody. To be really honest I think the emergency stop is just for looks. After the chunker is shut off it will still chunk several pieces. I’ve got a ten tyne manure fork and it works really well for sifting out the small pieces, but now I want something that will do that automatically. The dry wood will also splinter more so if I try to get some green wood I think that wouldn’t make as much small pieces.
Thanks Tom. The motor I got is a 3hp 1720rpm farm implement motor. Very high torque. It will start up the chunker in about 3 seconds. Picked it up locally for $350 CAD and have not regretted it.
I like the adjustable stop for the square shoot. At first i didnt realize what it was.
Looks very neat and clean.
Great way to safley finish off a branch or board without the fear of loosing and appendage.
