Last Thursday was Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday and there was no work. I reckoned I could put the summer heat to good use by making briquettes. It's been a while and I know I'll get some body workout but what the heck. I took out the old sawdust sack and, yuck, the sawdust has turned from red-brown to gray-brown, making it look like a lot of dust or dirt. At first I thought termites have "eaten" up the sawdust, but then figured it must've been moisture from the last rainy season.
First order of the day was to mix the shredded paper slurry with the sawdust. It actually felt like I was working with dirt. I knew the stuff was messy but this time around actually looked dirty. And this was all because of the sawdust's color. Plus the smell from the slurry was strong. My mistake was covering the pails for a long time. After taking out the molds, the briquettes are stored neatly as shown on the left. The looked really darker than usual.
After removing the separators, the molded briquettes become pellets. From the picture, they look like Chocolate Pellets! I call them the choco-flavored briquettes. Nothing chocolatey in taste - they just look like it. In this form and size, it is much easier to dry them.
What better way to dry the pellets than for Mother Nature to do her thing? Those are the pellets placed neatly on the roof. They're drying (roasting?) under the summer midday sun's scorching heat. That's our mango tree at the back. It takes a good two days of this kind of weather to dry them. Corz, the longer the better.
Finally, the finished briquettes. This are dry and lighter since much of the moisture is gone. They look like tiny cement blocks, don't they? Don't be fooled though, they're just sawdust and paper. These are good for fuel and are ready for burning/ cooking. The concept for making these briquettes is very easy. I've mentioned this process before in a previous entry here.
I've invented and fabricated a device that creates the molded briquettes shown above. I said 'invented' since I've not seen this contraption elsewhere. It's compact and effective. If anybody's interested in the process or technology on how I make my fuel briquettes, feel free to email me.
First order of the day was to mix the shredded paper slurry with the sawdust. It actually felt like I was working with dirt. I knew the stuff was messy but this time around actually looked dirty. And this was all because of the sawdust's color. Plus the smell from the slurry was strong. My mistake was covering the pails for a long time. After taking out the molds, the briquettes are stored neatly as shown on the left. The looked really darker than usual.
After removing the separators, the molded briquettes become pellets. From the picture, they look like Chocolate Pellets! I call them the choco-flavored briquettes. Nothing chocolatey in taste - they just look like it. In this form and size, it is much easier to dry them.
What better way to dry the pellets than for Mother Nature to do her thing? Those are the pellets placed neatly on the roof. They're drying (roasting?) under the summer midday sun's scorching heat. That's our mango tree at the back. It takes a good two days of this kind of weather to dry them. Corz, the longer the better.
Finally, the finished briquettes. This are dry and lighter since much of the moisture is gone. They look like tiny cement blocks, don't they? Don't be fooled though, they're just sawdust and paper. These are good for fuel and are ready for burning/ cooking. The concept for making these briquettes is very easy. I've mentioned this process before in a previous entry here.I've invented and fabricated a device that creates the molded briquettes shown above. I said 'invented' since I've not seen this contraption elsewhere. It's compact and effective. If anybody's interested in the process or technology on how I make my fuel briquettes, feel free to email me.
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