Brain
Generally the gasififers we build for transportation like wood blocks. I would say you could use this to experiment with. Depending on the design gasifier you go with using this type of fuel could give good or bad results. I would continue the search for another fuel source. Regards Sean
Went back to the pallet mill, got some timbers they didn’t want. Mostly 4-5 inch square posts, 5-6 feet long. Some rotten stuff and some good stuff.
Chop saw cutting into 3" pieces, then splitting with a hatchet. Will leave it to dry for a few weeks.
Sure seemed like a load on the truck, I wonder how many pounds I have here.
Well, I’m getting fuel ready for Argos. It’s always different wood when I hit the pallet mill. This time they had a bunch of 2x2 pine sticks with very large staples sticking way out. Seems they come from cardboard crates of some type. So I got 4 pallet-loads of them home, and now we’re pulling gobs of staples out of the wood. Tedious, but it’s free wood. Getting anything else would be a major hassle right now. The pine is perfect shape for quick sawing into chunks. It’s already dry, so I can just cut bag and go.
Photo from Saturday, the kids were helping me pull staples and stack the wood pieces. Many hands make light work! (big hands pulled most of the staples though). The large pile is wood to be processed. I’ll get a picture of the wood closer up soon.
Just a note, I finally finished up all this wood today. Ended up with total of 67 bags of wood, which is around 1000 pounds. Kiln dry pine lumber, basically contractor grade pine lumber.
Lot of work pulling those staples out. But even still, I made $200 worth of fuel in about 6 hours.
Went for a drive in the country. I noticed 10 gallons of gasoline sitting by the side of the road, and brought it home with me. Or maybe that was wood. 
Small stuff goes straight in the wheelbarrow. For bigger than 3" I will split in half. Pics 3 and 4 are roughly 5 minutes apart.
Looks like an Armstrong Chunker.
Peter, I’m definitely looking to replace the old Armstrong… but for now it gets the job done pretty well!
You know, people pay money for gym memberships. Maybe I should set up the Armstrong Wood Choppers Club! Tom Sawyer would approve.
Chris,
You would need to have bicycle & treadmill chunkers ---- qualify as alternative energy??
I have to say that it is MUCH more efficient to make your length-wise cuts/splits first and then cross-cut/-chop tied bundles of smaller pieces than it is to make all your cross-cuts first and then go back and make hundreds of “length-wise” cuts/chops to split the discs.
Assuming Wayne didn’t have his chunker already set up, he could take a pile of his mill-slabs, as is, bind them in big bundles with a ratchet strap, and just walk back and forth with a chainsaw making hundreds or thousands of chunks per minute.
I did this with a pile of tree branches (already in the 1-3" diameter size) and the bed of my truck. Every few cuts, I’d have to pull the whole pile out farther so it overhangs the tailgate by a foot or so and go back to cutting.
Wood hunting! For now this is working great. It’s not a long term solution but I can gather enough wood in an hour to last me a week or more.
(For those who can’t watch, I go for a drive in the country and stop for deadfall, using a small saw to cut 8’ lengths of downed trees/branches 1-4" dia.)
Chris, Looks like you found an unlimited fuel source.
Is it legal to take wood off other people’s properties?
Re:
“is it legal to take wood off other people’s property?”
No, I am sure it is not. But, most county and town roads (at least in western Wisconsin) actually have a problem getting rid of the brush and deadfalls so they can mow. Our town had to pay the guys who now the ditches extra this summer to come out and cut/haul/chip enough brush so they could get the mowers through the ditch. In the area where I have been harvesting wood chips this winter/spring/summer, there are still several tons of already-cut-to-stove-length rounds that only need to hauled away and split. —All that even after the wood burning scroungers in the area have had their fill!
You could easily find out how it works in your area by contacting the town supervisor and asking. If you were in our township, you’d be considered some sort of hero if you patrolled the town roads once a week or month to cut down and remove deadfalls and other “hangers” that were threatening to fall across the road.
As everybody probably knows, even the smallest of town roads have a 66 foot wide easement. That means that the land 33 feet from the center of the road on either side is municipally owned and not private property.
FYI, if you didn’t know, the 66 foot measurement is equal to 4 rods, and old measurement system. One rod is 16 1/2 feet long. 80 rods is a quarter mile, etc…
Pete Stanaitis, who just bought another rotary grain cleaner.
Thanks Pete, couldn’t have said it better.
Taking wood off of public lands, such as along roadways varies by area and it would probably be good to discretely find out about your areas.
Private lands, owned by normal people, it usually falls into the “ask nicely and be respectful” catagory.
I like the truss plant idea and will look into it as we have one in out small town and it could be handy.It’s fun to gather the fuel from all kinds of sources and I find the world looks different to me now that I drive on wood and tend to notice potential in heaps of lumber,prunings in peoples yard,the pallets that our shop generates etc.
It’s also great how it has effected other folks around me and have had wood dropped off at our shop for the truck.
A few weeks ago we showed the truck with a vintage engine club in town at a fair.One fellow had a large collection of vintage chainsaws the oldest being a 1943 Stihl two man brought back by a vet after the war.I helped cut up rounds with the saw but had to work at the shop during the day.When I came back at the end of the day there was a large pile of rounds placed on the back of my truck that they wanted me to chunk up and drive around on.
The gasifier isn’t sentimental about such things but I am and it will help me SWEM that much more.
First pic,
Jens and Herb carrying the 1943 Stihl two man back to the tent,
second,
setting up the truck for display friday night,I’m on the right and Robbie,the fellow that donated the logs in the middle. He has been watching the progress of the truck since last winter. Notice his hat is off in reverence to the woodgas truck ;>)
Cutting more wood today. Here’s what I’ve been collecting:
Any guesses how much wood is on my trailer (4’ x 7’)? I’ll find out for sure once I bag it up.
Chris,
Is this the only fuel in the US that doesnt have to be stored in a concrete containment bunker?
Imagine that! Fuel disguised as wood. : )
Wes, I can’t imagine leaving a hundred gallons of gasoline sitting around in the yard. It’d disappear overnight. But nobody wants to steal firewood.
In my hometown we knew a fellow that had a trail from his woodpile over to his neighbours who burned firewood but they neither bought nor gathered their own.