Needed to jump into a hive quickly a few days ago to check on how it was progressing. When I went to my smoker fuel bag, I noticed it was empty. I had just cleaned up the workshop and had a pile of hardwood shavings that was under the wood lathe. Thought I?d give them a try. They were super easy to light and made a good, cool smoke. Yesterday afternoon a few experiments were conducted to see if they could be available option as a fuel. I was concerned that the shavings may exit the smoker when the embers were close to the mouth of the funnel. A load of shavings were packed in and the smoker was lit from the top. Initially there was an issue with embers and also heat but this settled down after a couple of minutes. I found that if a small handful of shavings was placed into the bottom of the canister and then then set on fire with a match, a fire quickly engulfed the fuel. The smoker could then be topped up and after a few puffs of air from the bellows, a good, cool smoke followed. I don?t think that this fuel will last as long as others that have been used but for a short visit of half an hour or so to the hives it should work well. If an extended period of time is required in the bee yard, the shavings will be used as a starter and then the smoker will be topped up with my usual fuel as it can be a pain to get stringy bark started at times.
