No machining content here, but I expect some of you are experts at destroying things by fire. I'm having no luck burning several large brush piles (large = 10' diameter, 6' high). Mostly birch, poplar, and maple branches too small for firewood. The piles have been sitting in a field for several years waiting for me to get around to burning them. But I can't get them to burn.
The temperatures have been between 35 and 15 degrees. There's no snow on ground, but the ground is frozen. I've tried more and more violent means of igniting the piles, including dumping 5 gallons of diesel into the middle of the pile, and providing forced draft with a leaf blower. No joy. Even when I manage to get a good bed of coals going in one spot, material only a few inches away won't catch. When I stop using fuel and the blower, the fire goes out. I'm not even close to getting a self-sustaining fire.
I worried a fair amount beforehand about being able to put the fires out, but it never occurred to me I wouldn't be able to get them started. Suggestions?
The temperatures have been between 35 and 15 degrees. There's no snow on ground, but the ground is frozen. I've tried more and more violent means of igniting the piles, including dumping 5 gallons of diesel into the middle of the pile, and providing forced draft with a leaf blower. No joy. Even when I manage to get a good bed of coals going in one spot, material only a few inches away won't catch. When I stop using fuel and the blower, the fire goes out. I'm not even close to getting a self-sustaining fire.
I worried a fair amount beforehand about being able to put the fires out, but it never occurred to me I wouldn't be able to get them started. Suggestions?
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