Wood supply

[madflower69]

You could catch Menke's 500M barrels of char, if you tried to make it all into char.

[rustyold36]

Nice score Bill. Just like here wood laying every where to rot because so many are to lazy to go pick it up.

[ray_menke]

The next barrel will be number 236. I found that old dry wood in slash piles is aged well, and makes really good char. Unfortunately, the oak is almost as hard as petrified wood, and very hard on my saw chain. There are piles of wood all around here. If only these people would make charcoal or biochar with it. Instead, they burn it to a white ash. Using Gilmore's two barrel scheme, I often fill the bottom barrel with wood so long it is barely covered with the chimney barrel. If there are brands left over, they go back into the next load, or get kicked aside for use in the wood stove.

[MikeR]

I have tried to sell the "Drive on Wood" life to several others. They are smart people, of all political persuasions. I don't think they will believe me until I show them a completed, drive-able project. One of the first things they ask is "cut down trees to drive?" I say, there is waste wood everywhere, often available for the asking. When you start looking for it, it is everywhere. Fallen trees, brush piles, burn piles, pallet piles. My family is tired of hearing me say "Look! More free wood!" There are TONS of it within a few miles of my home. One man's waste is another's gold!

[madflower69]

The next barrel will be number 236. I found that old dry wood in slash piles is aged well, and makes really good char. Unfortunately, the oak is almost as hard as petrified wood, and very hard on my saw chain.

Be thankful, you have oak! I am still cleaning up old brush piles. On the bright side, it tends to break in pieces without eq fairly easily, but it needs a day or two to dry out.

[kmrland]

Good luck getting others interested, most are just too busy at there regular jobs, or dont beleive it like you said. Gold Gold gold it is or will be next gas hike depresion strike. BBB.

[BillSchiller]

I hear ya Mike. I have mentioned it often as well. When they don't ask questions, you know there's a lack of interest. I'm sure once my truck is up and running, it will be a different story. I am certain if I can show up when they're stacking these slash piles, they would be happy to load them up for me and that would save me a few hours. Pretty sure I could get all the free fuel I want up here.

[rustyold36]

I found that around here I can get paid to get free wood.Threre is always storm clean up, building lots, trails, fence lines and more that pay pretty well to remove this wood. Free is ok but there is so much I go for the wood that pays. I bought a commercial chipper and now looking for a bucket truck..

[taitgarry00]

I'm sure you'll never run out of fuel in your area. Jim is right about getting paid to clear wood, I imagine there are opportunities to bid on clearing right of ways for utilities, etc.

However, in terms of work put in per pound of fuel, I would say it's impossible to beat picking up cut tree length wood, or if they will load it on a trailer, that's really hard to beat.

[bdstater]

Plenty of free wood around here, an over abundance. The thought of it all going to waste drives me crazy as I drive by the endless brush piles to and from work. Every farmer around here cleaning out old fence lines with trackhoes, all piled up and left to rot in a the piles. The livestock is all gone. Only the barns now survive to testify the cattle, sheep, goats and hogs were ever here at all. I have friends at work who have trees that fall over in their yards. Many of them do not have the knowledge or the equipment to remove them. I have already taken advantage of free wood such as this. I have proven to myself I am still able to process, dry and store this fuel for when the time comes.

Feeling much better these days. I have been n the hospital once or twice a year over the last 4 years for serious health issues. It is time to start cuttin, fittin, weldin, burnin and smiling again!

Bryan

[madflower69]

I have tried to sell the "Drive on Wood" life to several others. They are smart people, of all political persuasions.

Good luck with that. Unless fuel prices go way up, most people don't consider it worth their time. Just look at the number of people involved now that gas prices have gone back down. The interest in EVs is still strong because it is easy. However, woodgas (technically char is probably cheaper) is the cheapest way to get started, but you need some knowledge and construction skills a lot of people don't have to be successful at it.

[taitgarry00]

I see the same things going on here, as farms grow exponentially in size, the old fence lines, shelter belts, woodlots and home sites all get reduced to piles of brush and burnt, so the 100 foot wide cultivators don't have any obstructions. The lights are going off throughout rural areas, as the last generation that could afford to farm non corporate style ages out, with nobody to carry on.

The livestock part is particularly true in western Canada, after being hit very hard by sanctions over BSE by our, ahem, very large neighbour representing corporate meat processing ... Ruined many cattle farmers. Now the barbed wire fencing is falling down, or fronts canola fields, corrals and loading ramps sit grown over.

Getting back to the wood issue. I'm amazed and appalled by the waste I see, but to use it requires work, and people are naturally quite lazy. Worse, the skills required to use wood are scant and rapidly disappearing. It's a rare individual who swims against that current, usually urbanization is a one way process, no return.

[DanNH]

Just a random thought. We always think of burning wood as carbon neutral because the carbon in the tree comes out of the air. I was just thinking about a big root I have in my way by my garden today and if I have the stuff and time to get it out this spring. Anyway it got me thinking about half of a tree is underground in the form of roots so really growing trees for fuel must lock alot of carbon up in the soil in the form of roots we never harvest. Just hit me as an interesting thought that I have never heard mentioned.

[SteveUnruh]

Too true GarryT.
Why this help-you-learn wood-gas DOW forum.
Why the Canadian site www.woodheat.org
They say ~13 million in North America who do heat with wood. And then tell for real how to do this safely, sanely, responsibly.

As much as it seems there is a lot of "waste wood" laying around. ONLY enough to use that is being replaced sustainable annually regenerating to offset ~15% at the most all of energy used/consumed annually in North America.
And out Rural especially the majority of that is being used. Even left laying ROTTING into the ground is soils enriching. 'Ma Natures share.
Only always energy-as-a-commodity Urban cake/pizza-eaters see wood-as-a-waste.

Let the actual wood users always be sane, safe, responsible wood users. These will always only be a minorty sub-set.
J-I-C Steve Unruh

[SteveUnruh]

DanNH for my conifer Doulas Fir trees from a live-weight/volumn it works out into thirds.
One third in the needles/limbs/too small tops.
One third in the actual harvest-able trunk/large limb woods.
One third in the stump-roots systems.
Two thirds of these belong back to 'Ma Nature to replenish.
She will share out sustainable only the one third. Sooner or later through soils health depletion's, erosion's, dust storms, noxious weeds and bugs invasions, punish human-greedy taking too much.
J-I-C Steve Unruh

[DanNH]

Yup steve we need to be careful not to over harvest for sure. I try to put the ashes back where the do the most good as well to return the value to the soil. It drives me nuts to see people send ashes into the dump mixed in with regular trash. I just never really thought about how much of the tree you don't harvest.

[BillSchiller]

My quick fix to bending over and cutting small logs. So much easier on my back. There are rollers built into the frame. I found them under the snow. I have another one I can set up for longer logs.

[rustyold36]

Looks good,Bill and just in time. Looks like sap will start running and on Thursday and run through the end of the month anyway.

[taitgarry00]

Very true about the usable trunk of the tree only representing a fraction of the total biomass.

Also true about the significant constraints of biomass potential compared to our current energy draw. According to the notion of solar carrying capacity, wasn't Europe at it's full limit by about 1700? With about 100 million continental population, and very modest per person energy budgets? Effectively every acre of the continent was drawn to the max, either as woodlot or field, wood for charcoal for smithing etc, and nobody had imagined an automobile or train or engine yet.

I have read that in the 70's or 80's Sweden had estimated wood for automotive gasification would take them about 3 years before reaching sustainability limits.

In Canada, ignoring the long transportation required, we are probably in a lot better position. But bottom line there's no simple follow up to the car culture, and the petrochemical industrial culture.

Regarding root and tops biomass, it's pretty volatile, as long as it's part of a healthy forest ecosystem, it's roughly carbon stable. But, if the land is ever cleared and farmed, massive amounts of organic carbon are lost. Apparently there are clear signs of the uptake and loss of carbon in ice cores which match very well with the black death sweeping through Europe, as farmland reverted to dark forest and vice versa.

That's why I am attracted to the idea of just extracting the volatile hydrocarbons from wood, and incorporating the charcoal in soil, then it's outside of the cycle long term.

[Jeff]

One more valve and cylinder and ya have a shear wood processor.