We have a wood burning stove. I have been meaning to make some briquettes out of waste items for a while, to complement the wood that we forage. Today we finally got round to it and made them from sawdust, cardboard, and coffee grounds.
We constructed them by putting 2 small bucket containers full of ripped up cardboard into a bucket with some water and letting it soak for 5 days. I added a bit more water as it needed it, but didn’t measure it. When it had got very soft and mushy we used a paint paddle mixer on the drill to mush it up some more.
2 small buckets of saw dust were added, and 1 of coffee grounds. These were then all mixed with the paddle. The coffee grounds apparently help them burn longer as briquettes can be made with just cardboard and paper if you want. A lot of the coffee chains give free coffee grains away for free and so it is worth asking.
We had purched a press that cost around £15, and used this to squeeze the water out of them. You could be creative and find other ways. Once made, they were placed on bags as we made the rest. I diluted the coffee water that was expelled and watered my garden with it. We had put a tray underneath when we pressed them to catch the liquid.
The fuel bricks have been transferred from the bags to trays and are now in the green house to dry out. They are quite fragile until dried out and so I used my pizza oven paddle to move them, which worked well.
I am really pleased with how they have come out and will let you know how they burn. I might make some more next week. I love using up waste items to make something else useful. I will just have to see if I can get some free coffee grains. Has any one else made these? How well do your briquettes burn?
I tried briquettes but it greatly increased the deposits of tar in the chimney. Our insurance depends on us using approved fuels plus the fact that we are in a smoke control area. But I would be interested to know how the coffee grounds work
They burn well but don’t give much heat. They can be usefull for keeping the burner going while you are out for a while. Another thing I used to use was a thin cardboard box, or large, strong paper bag filled with pine cones, sawdust, twigs and shredded paper. Never had any deposit problems but always relied on a very good chimney sweep. Hope this is helpful.