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fifthofwhisky said: I was thinking more along the lines of a manual press (under £100). Maybe I'll buy one of the cheap (paper briquette) type presses and just try it out to figure if it's worth the higher investment.
The briquette machines extrude the chips under extreme pressure - It is the lignin in the wood chips & sawdust that acts as a binder to hold everything together. The pressure used is what causes the lignin to stick.
You just won't get the pressure required from a manual press to get the lignin to stick, so you'll need to add a binder. Either PVA or cement plus a bit of sawdust to fill the gaps. Only a small amount of binder+liquid is needed. The hand operated paper briquette presses are not really worth the time or money - Way to flimsy, and you just can't get a high enough pressure to get anything to stick reliably.... Yes, I have tried.
If I have another go at making briquettes, I might try a hydraulic press - Perhaps make something that can be fitted to the log splitter.
Good idea. A "mechanics" hydraulic press can be purchased at modest cost.
I would be inclined to dry them out thoroughly, then use them as kindling.
I thought about that and will indeed use some for kindling. It's just the large volume I have means I was searching for a way to make more use of them.
