It’s Becoming Part of the Process 🙂
Let’s face it, the accumulation of cardboard boxes these days is just a part of life given all the deliveries that have replaced trips to the stores and malls. Between a new set of patio furniture, my birthday deliveries, and the arrival of my starter woodworking tools, the garage was getting a bit cramped with boxes that are just too cumbersome to completely break down and jam into the trash cans and recycle bins.
On yet another amazing weather day here in Asheville, I was piddling around outside and caught the inspiration to BURN BABY, BURN!
The incinerator is becoming just another tool in the arsenal and gets easier each time I set it up. Without hesitation this time, I wheeled it out and started piling up boxes to be processed, err….incinerated!
Things went very well and I was even able to keep the lid off at times to make it easier to continuously feed boxes in for disposal. {Knock on wood}, there was very minimal warping and I had no problems disassembling the cage. I am keeping strictly to organic matter (leaves, limbs, and cardboard) because I am still petrified of warping the cage and losing the ability to take it apart and store it in the garage. For my use case, there is no reason to spend this much for a burn cage if it warps to the point it can’t be effortlessly assembled and disassembled – the stories of needing mallets, hammers, and a heavy dose of elbow grease offer me zero incentive to go down that path.
I used a piece of tissue paper and a hunk of wood to get things going – I like a log or piece of wood on top to help weigh down the debris as it drafts downward.
Ah, look at that! You can almost feel the heat and hear the carnage of cardboard destruction.
Since it wasn’t too breezy and the boxes burned very cleanly, I was able to leave the lid off and quickly feed the pile of box parts in, making this the quickest burn I’ve done. I was actually looking around for more things to toss in while the fire dwindled. I learned the base pile of coals at the bottom will burn for quite a while and was able to throw more debris in for several hours after the main show was done.
So that’s that, another successful burn in the can. I think we’ll be moving on to weeds and other greenery as we await the arrival of fall. Although I am more than happy to enjoy the summer, I feel as prepared as possible for dealing with fall leaves when we get back around to that time of year.
Below is another video showing different stages of the burn, with a particularly satisfying moment at the :03-second mark. If you miss it, I’ve slowed it down for your enjoyment at the end.
Happy burning! \m/
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