# Liberty Bricks in No. VA



## Village Idiot (Jan 6, 2016)

After reading a bunch of threads on compressed wood bricks/blocks, I have decided I like the idea of having some to supplement my wood supply as well as just having some for "just in case" times. My original plan was to get some from Tractor Supply, but then I discovered Liberty Bricks on this site. At $170 a ton it is a pretty good price.

The weekend after next, I am going to go pickup a pallet of Liberty Bricks down in Doswell, VA. I have room for one more pallet in my truck. If anyone is interested in helping cover fuel costs, I will pick up a pallet of Liberty Bricks and bring them to your house in Fairfax County. If you aren't too far off of 95 on my way north from Doswell I can accommodate that too.

So, send me a PM if you are interested.


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## Hasufel (Jan 6, 2016)

Village Idiot said:


> After reading a bunch of threads on compressed wood bricks/blocks, I have decided I like the idea of having some to supplement my wood supply as well as just having some for "just in case" times. My original plan was to get some from Tractor Supply, but then I discovered Liberty Bricks on this site. At $170 a ton it is a pretty good price.
> 
> The weekend after next, I am going to go pickup a pallet of Liberty Bricks down in Doswell, VA. I have room for one more pallet in my truck. If anyone is interested in helping cover fuel costs, I will pick up a pallet of Liberty Bricks and bring them to your house in Fairfax County. If you aren't too far off of 95 on my way north from Doswell I can accommodate that too.
> 
> So, send me a PM if you are interested.


I'm pretty much set for now but appreciate the offer. Please let us know how those work out for you!


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## Village Idiot (Jan 7, 2016)

I will definitely report back. I figured I would make the offer since I have the room for another pallet and it seems to be a shame to come back with a half-empty truck.


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## bcrewcaptain (Jan 7, 2016)

I will prob bump into you there, I'll be there on sat to pick up a half ton myself.


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## BrotherBart (Jan 8, 2016)

PM sent.


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## mellow (Jan 8, 2016)

Hope you have a 3/4 ton+ truck, 2 1 ton pallets in my F250 with air bags, I knew they were there for sure, can't imagine going down 95 that way.  Strap them down good!  I would also bring some extra stretch wrap and some good thick ratchet straps.


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## Village Idiot (Jan 8, 2016)

mellow said:


> Hope you have a 3/4 ton+ truck, 2 1 ton pallets in my F250 with air bags, I knew they were there for sure, can't imagine going down 95 that way.  Strap them down good!  I would also bring some extra stretch wrap and some good thick ratchet straps.



I'm good. My F350 and 2" ratchet straps have served me well for 2 1 ton pallets of mulch. This should be much easier. The mulch pallets were just over 6' tall. I was on back roads, but it sure felt odd taking turns with all that weight up high.


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## mellow (Jan 15, 2016)

Pics or it didn't happen 

This was from my first load of bricks, only 1 ton, next trip I made to get some I loaded up with 2 pallets worth.





Btw, you can see why i recommended taking some shrink wrap, I had it break on me while going around a corner, had packages all over the side of the road


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## Village Idiot (Jan 15, 2016)

Good thing I stopped to take pictures then. Not too much squatting in the rear and it rode like a Cadillac.


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## mellow (Jan 15, 2016)

Nice, they stacked theirs wider so you didn't have to worry about being top heavy.


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## 24vcummns98 (Jan 17, 2016)

how are you guys liking these? My fuel supply is a little wet right now and looking to supplement.


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## Rickb (Jan 17, 2016)

Village Idiot said:


> Good thing I stopped to take pictures then. Not too much squatting in the rear and it rode like a Cadillac.
> 
> View attachment 172080
> View attachment 172081



Good Looking truck!


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## mellow (Jan 21, 2016)

Load from last night.  I have found it best to put them on top of the wood. But really I put them where ever I have free space.


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## Village Idiot (Jan 21, 2016)

mellow said:


> Load from last night.  I have found it best to put them on top of the wood. But really I put them where ever I have free space.


That is pretty much what I do. They are great for filling in the gaps. I hope to try some brick only loads this weekend to see how that goes. I just need to decide how many to put it. The box on my 7100 is big enough that I can easily fit 60+ in it. Pretty sure doing that many would make me sweat in more ways than one.


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## mellow (Jan 21, 2016)

I put a whole pack of 12 in the other day by themselves and my cat ran up to 2000 degrees with the primary air shut all the way so I won't do that again, had to open the bypass and let the stove cool down a bit, they however work great mixed with wood, I can fit 8-10 in the corners around the wood and on top.


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## Village Idiot (Jan 23, 2016)

Since Winter Storm Jonas is keeping me at home, I decided that today would be a good day to try burning the Liberty Bricks by themselves. This morning I raked the coals to the front and burned them down until they were small. Then I threw a shrink-wrapped pack of 12 (most are 10, but a few have 12 to make the layers on the pallet work) with a single split on the coals to get things going.

It took a bit longer to get lit and cruising. Once there I shut down slowly to as low as it would go. I have to admit it was odd to see so much room in the box, but it was for the pursuit of knowledge. They burned great and put out good heat for 6 hours. I reloaded a half hour later.

Since that first load went so well, I decided to take it up another notch. I raked the coals to the front, put in two packs of 10 and added another split on the coals to get things going. That was almost 7 hours ago and it looks like I have at least a couple to go before I can reload. I'll wait though since it is 76* in here.

Neither load appeared to burn any more actively than regular wood. I am thinking that loading them in bundles helps moderate the burning since they are as close together as the can get.

I am really pleased with these things. If I find myself getting short on wood near the end of the season, I getting another load and will definitely have some for next year.


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## Village Idiot (Jan 29, 2016)

Time for a quick update. I am liking these bricks more and more. I am at 11.5 hours into a burn and have at least another hour before I will need to reload. This is the third burn I have done like this.

I am placing 18 bricks along the back bottom of the firebox still in the wrapper. (I cut two off the end of one 10 pack to name it fit.) Then I fill the box with wood like I normally do and fit the other two bricks in somewhere. Get it lit, damp it down and let it burn.

I and trying to decide if I should try for larger loads of bricks. When they are packed tight, they don't appear to burn with any more energy than regular splits. Out of curiosity, I was able to load 72 bricks in the box with a couple of inches of clearance below the burn tubes. That would be a feat to get that lit, but I like my house and stuff in it.


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## Andy S. (Jan 29, 2016)

Village Idiot said:


> Out of curiosity, I was able to load 72 bricks in the box with a couple of inches of clearance below the burn tubes.


I don't have experience with that specific brick but the way I've seen Biobricks and Redstone bricks expand I'd be worried about the tubes. Heck... I'd be worried about them coming out the top of the chimney.


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## kennyp2339 (Jan 29, 2016)

Those bricks are definitely a life saver if you don't have a good wood supply, I bought a ton last year for my mom and dad, I took 3 packs to try them out and see what all the fuss was about.
I run a cat stove that you can damp down real good the a t-stat air control, I remember literally throwing a whole package of blocks on hot coals, taking a pic and enjoying the burn, it was something crazy like 20hrs.
The only thing that kind of sucks is the price increase of these in my area, a ton went from 300.00 (which was already kind of expensive in my opinion) to 370.00 this year, making it really not worth it, hopefully this milder winter with cheaper oil prices will stick around and maybe the seller will liquidate there overstock in the spring, if they do depending on the price I will buy up to 3 tons and keep them in the shed over the summer.


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## Doug MacIVER (Jan 29, 2016)

my local supplier sells envi and lewis brick. both are $299/ton. the lewis brick is actually a 1920# ton. w/my oil dealer @ just over a $buck and a half, that's 200 gals. price is gonna have to come down a lot to make sense (also a new boiler this Dec 1st) not to burn the oil. admit that I will miss the fire effect, so will the dog?!?


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## Village Idiot (Jan 29, 2016)

Andy S. said:


> I don't have experience with that specific brick but the way I've seen Biobricks and Redstone bricks expand I'd be worried about the tubes. Heck... I'd be worried about them coming out the top of the chimney.


I have watched these bricks for expansion, and it seems pretty minimal. Granted I do not have experience with any other brands.



Doug MacIVER said:


> my local supplier sells envi and lewis brick. both are $299/ton. the lewis brick is actually a 1920# ton. w/my oil dealer @ just over a $buck and a half, that's 200 gals. price is gonna have to come down a lot to make sense (also a new boiler this Dec 1st) not to burn the oil. admit that I will miss the fire effect, so will the dog?!?


With those prices, I feel pretty lucky to have access to them at $170/ton. It's a 2.5 hr drive and $30-40 of fuel and I can haul two tons. Even though I have access to plenty of wood, I am going to keep some of these bricks on hand. I have a prefect spot in the basement totally out of the way to put about 1.5 tons.


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## spirilis (Jan 29, 2016)

Village Idiot said:


> Out of curiosity, I was able to load 72 bricks in the box with a couple of inches of clearance below the burn tubes. That would be a feat to get that lit, but I like my house and stuff in it.


72 bricks, is that a typo?


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## Village Idiot (Jan 29, 2016)

spirilis said:


> 72 bricks, is that a typo?


Nope. My Quad 7100 has a 3.4 cu. ft. box.


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## 24vcummns98 (Jan 29, 2016)

I sent them an email but never heard back. Anyone have a contact number?


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## Village Idiot (Jan 30, 2016)

Call Peter Moliterno at 804-937-5300.

I had the same issue. Turns out the website is old and the emails are not monitored. Makes me wonder how much business they are missing out on.


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## BrotherBart (Feb 9, 2016)

Update:

Been burning them all week. These things are the non-cat answer to set it and forget it once you learn to load them tight and right. Half a load in the 30-NC burns low and slow forever. No off to the moon and then back down drama.

Checked the liner yesterday and all of my sins learning to burn them left zip in the pipe.


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## Village Idiot (Feb 10, 2016)

BrotherBart said:


> Update:
> 
> Been burning them all week. These things are the non-cat answer to set it and forget it once you learn to load them tight and right. Half a load in the 30-NC burns low and slow forever. No off to the moon and then back down drama.



I totally agree. These bricks make heating with wood easy.

The thing I appreciate the most is the extended burn times. Before the bricks, I would get about 8 good hours of heat and another hour of coals before a reload. Now, I get 11+ hours of heat with an hour of coals. And that is with replacing part of a normal load of splits with 20 bricks. I finally get to truly sleep-in on weekends in the winter.


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## mellow (Sep 23, 2016)

Wanted to update this thread, I burned about 2 tons of those bricks last winter, they burned great.  I put them in with my usual gum/maple wood mix and it helped to extend my usual burn times by at least an hour if not more, the cat really ate up the smoke from those things so I could run at a lower air setting for longer.  

I still have another 2 tons for this season!


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## begreen (Sep 23, 2016)

I tested solid compressed fuels several years back and really liked them. It's possible to get into an overfire by not following directions or overloading on them. But if you respect the mfg. instructions and the btu content per brick or log you can get very satisfying results. ECO and BioBricks are also good ones. Just stay away from the loosely compressed logs and bricks. They burn up quickly and create a lot of ash.


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## spirilis (Sep 23, 2016)

begreen said:


> I tested solid compressed fuels several years back and really liked them. It's possible to get into an overfire by not following directions or overloading on them. But if you respect the mfg. instructions and the btu content per brick or log you can get very satisfying results. ECO and BioBricks are also good ones. Just stay away from the loosely compressed logs and bricks. They burn up quickly and create a lot of ash.


Definitely.  This year I have my first load of oak (~1/2 cord drying 2yr in the sun) ... one split read 25% and another 27% although I've yet to test more than 2 so far.  Still a little nervous about that, but, I still have over a ton of liberty bricks so I'm sure I'll be fine.


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## Village Idiot (Sep 23, 2016)

I have plenty of wood this year, but I am going to get a couple of tons for the season in a few weeks. They really enhanced my overnight burns. Enough that my wife even agrees that they are good to have. And she is super frugal.


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## redyute (Sep 23, 2016)

Village Idiot said:


> I have plenty of wood this year, but I am going to get a couple of tons for the season in a few weeks. They really enhanced my overnight burns. Enough that my wife even agrees that they are good to have. And she is super frugal.



let me know when you are going hopefully my buddy's  dually will be up and running, cause I cant imagine putting a ton of bricks in the bed of my Dakota lol


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## begreen (Sep 23, 2016)

spirilis said:


> Definitely.  This year I have my first load of oak (~1/2 cord drying 2yr in the sun) ... one split read 25% and another 27% although I've yet to test more than 2 so far.  Still a little nervous about that, but, I still have over a ton of liberty bricks so I'm sure I'll be fine.


The directions on their website are pictorial and a bit vague. They seem to show starting with 6 bricks and then adding 2 more in an open teepee fashion. This is quite different from the BioBrick instructions where they create a mass of bricks with no air gaps. That was quite effective at achieving an extended, steady burn in my testing. This winter I will look around and see if something in brick form is available locally. I also want to retest the Northern Idaho Energy Logs (NIELs) in the T6 this winter.


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## Village Idiot (Sep 24, 2016)

begreen said:


> The directions on their website are pictorial and a bit vague. They seem to show starting with 6 bricks and then adding 2 more in an open teepee fashion. This is quite different from the BioBrick instructions where they create a mass of bricks with no air gaps. That was quite effective at achieving an extended, steady burn in my testing. This winter I will look around and see if something in brick form is available locally. I also want to retest the Northern Idaho Energy Logs (NIELs) in the T6 this winter.



I would take any manufacturer's instructions as a nice starting point and then develop a method that works for your setup. Ultimately I settled on loading them in a tight layer of 18 bricks on the bottom (don't even take the plastic off with helps keep them together) and filling the remains space with splits. I get around 12 +/- hours of burn time.


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## spirilis (Sep 24, 2016)

begreen said:


> The directions on their website are pictorial and a bit vague. They seem to show starting with 6 bricks and then adding 2 more in an open teepee fashion. This is quite different from the BioBrick instructions where they create a mass of bricks with no air gaps. That was quite effective at achieving an extended, steady burn in my testing. This winter I will look around and see if something in brick form is available locally. I also want to retest the Northern Idaho Energy Logs (NIELs) in the T6 this winter.



Fwiw the few times I burned (almost) purely Liberty Bricks in the madison last year, my typical method was to create 3 parallel front-to-back stacks of ~6 bricks, add thin kindling between the stacks, add kindling on top across them, 1/4 supercedar on top w/ newspaper and ignite... the kindling did a good job lighting the kindling between the stacks and the epic inferno began.

Those firebox loads would get dangerous if you loaded them too high near the baffle (e.g. 8 bricks per stack instead of 6).  Since the bricks expand when burning, you'd have an unending overburn as the bricks expand upwards, making the secondary burn tubes' air supply act more like primary air for the sawdust burning up top.  Vermiculite baffle glowing red at spots near the burn tubes, etc.

So yeah, with non-catalytic clean burn stoves, the biggest concern with loading is that you not go too high with 'em...


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## Village Idiot (Nov 2, 2016)

redyute said:


> let me know when you are going hopefully my buddy's  dually will be up and running, cause I cant imagine putting a ton of bricks in the bed of my Dakota lol



I have this Friday off, so I scheduled a pickup at 10 that morning. The wife will be out of town so I look forward to her face when she returns to see two tons of bricks stacked in the garage. It will be like a kid on Christmas morning. (NOT!) Oh well, she should know better than to leave me unsupervised.


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## kennyp2339 (Nov 2, 2016)

VI - you going to get old man Bart a load to? heard he made a coffee table and tv stand out of them


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## Village Idiot (Nov 2, 2016)

Sadly not this time. They worked so well, I am bringing both tons home. The plan is to store any that I don't use under the basement stairs for the next season. If I had a big trailer, I would consider hauling as many pallets as I could up to my area for others. The truck is capable, but no trailer.


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## mellow (Nov 2, 2016)

I liked the bricks for the ease of use, my wife loved how clean they kept the fireplace area and the lack of spiders coming in via the wood was a bonus!


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## DuaeGuttae (Nov 5, 2016)

I don't know if this information will help anyone, but since it's a thread for folks in Northern Virginia, I thought I'd point out that Woodstoves Unlimited in Culpeper is a distributor for Liberty Bricks.  There's a markup, of course, to $225 a ton, but they also sell them by the package ($3.99) in case anyone just wanted to test this particular brand.  I've never been to that store but called them yesterday to find out their pricing so thought I'd share.


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## redyute (Nov 7, 2016)

Think I'm ready now lol Man the Dakota took a full ton like a champ lol, hour and a half drive home.


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## redyute (Nov 7, 2016)

Been burning the tractor supply fuel bricks and the are good, but today after holding a liberty brick in my hand fresh from the press man this thing is well compressed and comes out the press warm. The tractor supply bricks break fairly easily taking them out the packaging, dude at liberty brick had me try breaking one of their bricks, slammed  it pretty good on the concrete but couldn't do no damage except for a few chips. Curious to see how the burn time compares


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## mellow (Nov 8, 2016)

Thanks for the pics, was curious about their operation, are you over in western MD?


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## redyute (Nov 8, 2016)

mellow said:


> Thanks for the pics, was curious about their operation, are you over in western MD?


Southern md


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## mellow (Nov 8, 2016)

A wood processing place in my town bought all the equipment to do bricks from a place that went out of business in PA, but the cost is so great to get it working here they are bulking at getting it running


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## redyute (Nov 14, 2016)

So yall might find it surprising that I say this but I think I get longer well I know I get a better burn time with the crumbly tractor supply brick than liberty bricks. I decided to use up the rest of the tractor supply bricks I had so I threw a 3  pack in the stove wrapper and all at 4:00 pm and had glowing bricks at 4:30 am the following morning when I got up for work. I can barely get 6 maybe 7 hours off of a 10 pack liberty bricks, which is surprising cause they are so much denser than the tractor supply ones


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## nola mike (Nov 15, 2016)

Just picked up 3/4 ton...


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## redyute (Nov 15, 2016)

nola mike said:


> Just picked up 3/4 ton...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


How long is your drive home?


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## nola mike (Nov 16, 2016)

20 min


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## nola mike (Nov 16, 2016)

Interesting. Just did the math on this, and the liberty bricks are just about identical in cost/BTU to NG at the moment (maybe worse, since my stove is less efficient than my boiler). Boo.


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## BrotherBart (Dec 8, 2016)

Village Idiot said:


> Sadly not this time. They worked so well, I am bringing both tons home. The plan is to store any that I don't use under the basement stairs for the next season. If I had a big trailer, I would consider hauling as many pallets as I could up to my area for others. The truck is capable, but no trailer.



Where did I put that tear in the eye smilie...

Thanks for the load last year.


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## kevreh (Dec 9, 2016)

DuaeGuttae said:


> I don't know if this information will help anyone, but since it's a thread for folks in Northern Virginia, I thought I'd point out that Woodstoves Unlimited in Culpeper is a distributor for Liberty Bricks.  There's a markup, of course, to $225 a ton, but they also sell them by the package ($3.99) in case anyone just wanted to test this particular brand.  I've never been to that store but called them yesterday to find out their pricing so thought I'd share.



How many in a package?
I'm up by Fairfax, anyone find a source for them around here?
While I'm thinking of it, any good sources for firewood?

THANKS


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## nola mike (Dec 9, 2016)

You might want to see if they'll deliver. They will deliver to Richmond for $50. Might be worth a delivery of a few tons to nova.


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## Village Idiot (Dec 9, 2016)

BrotherBart said:


> Where did I put that tear in the eye smilie...
> 
> Thanks for the load last year.



I was glad to help out.

If I had access to a capable trailer, I would consider bringing some up for others during future runs for myself. The truck wouldn't be bothered by it.


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## redyute (Dec 9, 2016)

kevreh said:


> How many in a package?
> 
> THANKS



10 bricks in a package


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## DuaeGuttae (Dec 11, 2016)

kevreh said:


> How many in a package?
> I'm up by Fairfax, anyone find a source for them around here?
> While I'm thinking of it, any good sources for firewood?
> 
> THANKS


Kevreh,

Ten bricks per package.  Each brick is two pounds.  We picked up a couple packages while traveling past Culpeper recently but haven't tried them yet.  We keep debating whether a trip to Doswell is worth it.  

Are you wanting a source for wood you scrounge and process, or are you wanting a supplier of cut and split wood?


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## DuaeGuttae (Dec 11, 2016)

Village Idiot said:


> I was glad to help out.
> 
> If I had access to a capable trailer, I would consider bringing some up for others during future runs for myself. The truck wouldn't be bothered by it.



What kind of tow package do you have on your truck?  We have a capable trailer but the wiring on our vehicle's end needs replacing.


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## kevreh (Dec 12, 2016)

DuaeGuttae said:


> Kevreh,
> 
> Ten bricks per package.  Each brick is two pounds.  We picked up a couple packages while traveling past Culpeper recently but haven't tried them yet.  We keep debating whether a trip to Doswell is worth it.
> 
> Are you wanting a source for wood you scrounge and process, or are you wanting a supplier of cut and split wood?



Cut and split. I have a truck so am willing to do a pickup if nearby (hour or so out from the DC area). I have a bunch of poplar, would like hardwood though.


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## xman23 (Dec 12, 2016)

Guys I been wanting to try these for some time.  What are the brick brands out there? What's good and bad about them. Where can I find them in North east PA?


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## DuaeGuttae (Dec 13, 2016)

kevreh said:


> Cut and split. I have a truck so am willing to do a pickup if nearby (hour or so out from the DC area). I have a bunch of poplar, would like hardwood though.


I'm afraid I'm not much help to you on that.  We check craigslist periodically and did once find a guy selling off his stacks for a great price (and we got all his pine free), but we don't have a supplier.  If you could get down to Richmond, Liberty Bricks would be a better bet if you're looking for a supply for this year.  Tractor Supply also sells a similar product.

If you had been looking for scrounges, I was thinking that I could alert you when I see stuff.  I hate to see it go in the trash.  We've been offered wood that's been sitting at a couple of different places, and one of them we've needed to turn down because we've only got so much room and time in our little patch of suburbia.  We try to get our supply each year by picking up wood when our friends have tree work done or keeping an ear out in the neighborhood.


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## DuaeGuttae (Dec 13, 2016)

xman23 said:


> Guys I been wanting to try these for some time.  What are the brick brands out there? What's good and bad about them. Where can I find them in North east PA?



Liberty Bricks are produced and sold in Central Virginia only as far as I am aware.  You should probably start a separate thread with your specific question so that it will get more views from people who may know.


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## kevreh (Dec 14, 2016)

DuaeGuttae said:


> I'm afraid I'm not much help to you on that.  We check craigslist periodically and did once find a guy selling off his stacks for a great price (and we got all his pine free), but we don't have a supplier.  If you could get down to Richmond, Liberty Bricks would be a better bet if you're looking for a supply for this year.  Tractor Supply also sells a similar product.
> 
> If you had been looking for scrounges, I was thinking that I could alert you when I see stuff.  I hate to see it go in the trash.  We've been offered wood that's been sitting at a couple of different places, and one of them we've needed to turn down because we've only got so much room and time in our little patch of suburbia.  We try to get our supply each year by picking up wood when our friends have tree work done or keeping an ear out in the neighborhood.



Yeah I have some poplar and locust logs, around 24" in diameter, sitting around waiting to be split, once I get the time to rent a splitter. In the meantime I was looking for some decent oak or locust. I found a guy out of maryland for locust to deliver to me. We'll see!


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## Wes1222 (Nov 6, 2018)

so I have 3.5 cord of semi dry oak.  25% moisture.  how many tons should I get of these to supplement with?  was thinking of a few bricks per load of wood.  has anyone headed solely with these yet?  just curious of the cost vs wood.  down in isle of Wight va, it's hard to get true seasoned wood unless you store it yourself.  thanks.


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## kennyp2339 (Nov 6, 2018)

Wes1222 said:


> so I have 3.5 cord of semi dry oak.  25% moisture.  how many tons should I get of these to supplement with?  was thinking of a few bricks per load of wood.  has anyone headed solely with these yet?  just curious of the cost vs wood.  down in isle of Wight va, it's hard to get true seasoned wood unless you store it yourself.  thanks.


I'd go with (2) tons.


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## nola mike (Nov 6, 2018)

1 ton is about a cord. Have you already had a season of heating? I use maybe 1.5 cord/ton per year. The bricks burn very hot, tough not to overfire if I pack the stove only with them. Although when I use the bricksi can probably fit more in than using cord wood


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## begreen (Nov 6, 2018)

It depends on your cord wood supply. If you will be only using a few bricks mixed with a full load of wood then 1 ton should suffice for your climate zone. But if the cordwood is damper than you first thought and a much greater percentage of the fuel ends up being the bricks, then a couple cords may be better.


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## Village Idiot (Nov 6, 2018)

I go through one ton per season. One trip every other year keeps me well supplied. I only use them to supplement my overnight burns. Not every night, but when I want to go to bed early or sleep in the next day. Twenty bricks in the bottom back and regular splits to take up the remaining space.

I'm heading down this coming Monday morning to pickup a couple of tons. Oh, the price on the site is now $180/ton. Still a good deal IMO.


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## mellow (Nov 6, 2018)

Depends on your stove, with a cat you can fill them up and idle on the smoke.  I would use them as filler in mine to get a packed stove before going to bed at night.  Always better to get more and have extra for next year so 2 tons should be plenty if only using as filler.


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## redyute (Nov 9, 2018)

so it looks like i will be getting some bricks since my red oak is only at 27%, ill probably mix them in with the half seasoned wood. If anyone in the nova area wants to get some lets make it a multiple ton trip, i got truck and trailer.


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## therealdbeau (Dec 6, 2018)

I wish I would have found this thread a few weeks ago. I guess I'll be going with Tractor supply bricks for now. 

Nice truck/trailer BTW @redyute


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## Village Idiot (Dec 7, 2018)

For those that picked up Liberty Bricks for this season and previous seasons, what are your opinions of this year's bricks? I only get bricks every other year so I cannot speak about last year. I have a few packs from 2016 left over and the compacting quality is much better than the ones I picked up a few weeks ago.

The 2016 bricks are better compacted and the edges are not crumbly. The surface is generally hard and smooth. They also burn better and don't expand much. (I should do a weight comparison to see if there are any major differences between the years.) They are also light in color. My kids say the 2016 bricks look like large blocks of SPAM.

The 2018 brick surfaces are rough and the edges are crumbly. Much messier. They also expand quite a bit when burning. Finally, they are a dirty brown color. Keeping with the SPAM theme, the kids say these look like they were dropped on the ground at camp.

I cannot really say that there is any significant difference in their burn times. Which is really what they are intended to do. My biggest observation is that they are more crumbly around the edges and messier than previous years. (I do not recall 2015 bricks being any different than the 2016 ones.)

I still love having them and will continue to burn them as long as I can get them so readily. We shall see what 2020 brings.


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## noce (Oct 20, 2020)

VI - i have used liberty bricks each of the last 3 years (considering mroe, which would be 4 years). i did not have reaction when you first posted your message, and i apologize for not replying then. but the brick i got LAST year) (~nov 2019?) were DEFINITELY more crumbly. I too thought, "well they burned!" but i also think i was digging out more ash dust from them then in prior year. 

any update in your (or others') experience?


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## Village Idiot (Oct 21, 2020)

noce said:


> VI - i have used liberty bricks each of the last 3 years (considering mroe, which would be 4 years). i did not have reaction when you first posted your message, and i apologize for not replying then. but the brick i got LAST year) (~nov 2019?) were DEFINITELY more crumbly. I too thought, "well they burned!" but i also think i was digging out more ash dust from them then in prior year.
> 
> any update in your (or others') experience?



Sheesh, I just saw how I ended  my last 2018 post. Well now we know what 2020 has brought. 

I have decided that I am going to take a pass on the Liberty Bricks this year. Since my son in college had to come home because of all the COVID mess, I hired him to be my woodchuck. I handed him the keys to my truck and sent him to my sister's house to process the wood there. They take down about 20-30 dead trees each year. It's a 40 minute drive but it kept him busy and gave me a way to help him without it being a handout. 

I did take my splitter out there as well and he and my nephew split time on it. My nephew sells wood to make money for college. So I get free wood to process for the use of my splitter.

 My wood needs are covered for the next few years.


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## noce (Nov 11, 2020)

VI--nice.

a friend has a van (and a strong back!) he has offered for me to run to one of these tractor supply places in NovA to get some non-Liberty bricks.   liberty bricks--until last year's--were so good about not leaving big piles of ash. that way for me. these are not super cheap, but given that i have room for only one pallet, the delivery price is way high. i have a lot of wood ready to go, but the bricks have REALLY helped stretch it out.


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## nola mike (Nov 17, 2020)

I still have a bunch left over from last year, so I don't know if I'll need any more this year. If I end up getting more I'll LYK if the quality's any different. I didn't really notice any problems last year compared to prior. However, if anyone needs help getting rid of their excess dead trees, I'm always available


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## Woodsplitter67 (Nov 17, 2020)

Village Idiot said:


> After reading a bunch of threads on compressed wood bricks/blocks, I have decided I like the idea of having some to supplement my wood supply as well as just having some for "just in case" times. My original plan was to get some from Tractor Supply, but then I discovered Liberty Bricks on this site. At $170 a ton it is a pretty good price.
> 
> The weekend after next, I am going to go pickup a pallet of Liberty Bricks down in Doswell, VA. I have room for one more pallet in my truck. If anyone is interested in helping cover fuel costs, I will pick up a pallet of Liberty Bricks and bring them to your house in Fairfax County. If you aren't too far off of 95 on my way north from Doswell I can accommodate that too.
> 
> So, send me a PM if you are interested.


I'm no where near you, but thats a really nice offer..


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