Leylandii faggot

[spandit]

I've had some leylandii taken down and have been burning the brash in a barrel. At the bottom of the barrel is a Kadai charcoal maker in which I'm converting my coppiced willow.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of brash and it's time consuming cutting it small enough to fit in the barrel so I bundled up a load and tied it into a faggot:

The pot in the background has some of the charcoal I've made over the last couple of days.

Heavy old thing but managed to hump it into the barrel:

After a couple of minutes:

Now waiting it to cool enough so I can fish the charcoal out & refill the maker for another batch

 

[Toddy]

Impressive

I think faggots are a much under rated and underused way of making good firewood from brash.
If you gather up your fruit tree prunings, apple, plum and the like and fold and tie them into faggots they burn every bit as well as split apple logs. You get the same heat, light and very pleasantly scented smoke from them too.

M

 

[Goatboy]

Leylandii burns really well with minimal seasoning. Used to often use the branchwood as kindling which didn't need split.
Used to regularly use some of the older/bigger rhododendron as the main fuel in my woodburning range which cooked the meals and heated the house. Burns extremely well and leaves little ash. Plus it was considered scrap wood by others when clearing it off the estate.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[DogRose]

I might have to have a go at making some charcoal now, how long does it take?
Hope nobody's got their washing out

 

[Goatboy]

Faggots always remind me of some of the portable markets you'd come across in Turkey. You'd turn a bend in the road and all this fruit and veg would be laid out. The best.things though were the faggot fired.ovens on trailers. They'd make the.most wonderful bread and baklava and roast off pistachios. Faggots are really efficient. Due to the increased surface area for volume it burns good and hot.
There's a small hamlet not to far from me where the woods are filled with neatly stacked piles of thin branchwood ready to be made into faggots. It's nice to see the woodland being used properly.
Are you usimg the charcoal for something specific?

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[spandit]

I might have to have a go at making some charcoal now, how long does it take?
Hope nobody's got their washing out

It is pretty smoky - this is green wood after all. Takes a few hours per batch (but it doesn't make much). I've learnt to tip water over it otherwise it tends to catch fire & burn all the rest of the production! In this sunshine it dries pretty quick & not needed until the Solstice anyway

 

[spandit]

Are you using the charcoal for something specific?

We have a big party to celebrate the solstice and will be using it on the BBQ. Think I'll still have to supplement it with bought stuff but it's nice that this is pretty much free - the leylandii needs to be burnt anyway and the willow isn't much good for anything else