Back on December 4, I wrote about the impressive North Idaho Energy Log. I’m still impressed with this tidy little compressed log, but I haven’t made the decision to purchase any additional logs beyond the samples I carted home on my Yuba Mundo utility bike. Instead, I stumbled upon a new fuel source to test: the Bear Brick.

Bear Bricks are manufactured by Bear Mountain Forest Products in Cascade Locks, Oregon, close to Hood River. Each brick is two inches wide, six inches long and four inches thick, weighing in at two pounds. They arrive in a flat of 12 bricks at a total weight of 24 pounds –it’s roughly the same size as a case of soda (12-ounce cans). With these dimensions, it’s easy to manipulate the bricks, both in storing and in burning. Here are the quick and dirty stats:

• Bear Bricks are produced using a mixture of douglas fir, cedar and hardwood sawdust, collected from nearby lumber manufacturing
• Bear Bricks are made from 100 percent wood: no binders, adhesives or waxes; this makes them safe to burn in any stove, catalytic or otherwise
• Each Bear Brick can produce 16,000 BTU’s of heat
• One pallet of Bear Bricks is equivalent to one full cord of seasoned, mixed cordwood
• Bear Bricks are dried to 8-10 percent moisture, thereby producing far less ash than cordwood

You can purchase Bear Bricks in Portland at Mount Scott Fuel, on SE Foster Road (which also sells North Idaho Energy Logs). Current prices (pick-up only; no delivery):

• 1 tray (12 bricks): $3.50
• 1 pallet (81 trays –972 total bricks): $250

Because the bricks are so compact, they can be stored in a very compact space. I discovered one individual online who was able to store two pallets (nearly two tons of bricks), in a space eight feet long, four feet high and two feet deep.

one flat of oregon-made bear bricks

With their small, rectangular shape, you can pack plenty of Bear Bricks in the stove, though in testing I never burned more than four at a time, which still yielded up to two hours of burn time in a hot stove, pre-heated with a traditional timber fire. I was able to extend burn times by damping the stove (engaging the catalyst) and choking it off to the minimum level of air. This still enabled the stove to generate very good heat.

As with the North Idaho Energy Logs, there is a learning curve to using any pressure-binded, manufactured wood fuel in your stove. Two competing factors affect the usability of Bear Bricks. The Bear Bricks’ high density and low moisture content produce an extremely clean and efficient burn when your stove is up to temperature, but getting the fire started and up to temperature solely using Bear Bricks requires a higher degree of attention than cordwood. It is easier to start by building a fire with softwood kindling (fir or pine), and then add the Bear Bricks.

Starting your fire solely with Bear Bricks will prove more challenging, but not impossible. You can either break a couple of bricks into smaller chunks, or simply break them in half and build a small teepee stuffed with newspaper. Of course, if you keep a small stock of softwood for kindling, you’ll be in great shape. I found the bricks to be easier to get burning then the North Idaho Energy Logs, likely due to their smaller size. there’s just much more surface area to work with, and an overall smaller product, so there’s more opportunity for fire to touch more surface, igniting the bricks.

In comparing the Bear Bricks and the North Idaho Energy Logs, I see very similar products, both exhibiting excellent characteristics and usability. If i were to choose between the two, I would likely select the Bear Bricks for these two reasons:

• Bear Bricks are more ‘local’ than their competitor. Quite simply, Bear Bricks are made right here in Oregon, requiring less transportation than their competitors, supporting a more local economy while still using a byproduct of timber processing.
• Bear Bricks are easier to use simply because of their size. They stack nicely and burn easily, even more-so than their competitor.

All this being said, it is important to point out that while the Bear Bricks will cost about $25 less per equal load (a load equivalent to one mixed cord of firewood) than the North Idaho Energy Logs, they produce slightly less total heat than their Idaho competitor. The North Idaho Energy Logs produce 8,600 BTUs per pound, whereas the Bear Bricks produce 8,000 BTUs per pound.

POSITIVES:

• Using a waste product for fuel: always a big plus for me
• Longer burn times with higher average temperature than cordwood
• Cleaner burning than cordwood –lower creosote, etc., reduces maintenance (cleaner chimney) while ensuring that you spend less time cleaning your stove’s glass
• Easier to control the intensity of your fire than with cordwood
• Easy-to-manipulate size
• Consume much less space than other compressed wood products (presto logs, NIELs, etc.)
• Quality and consistency of the fuel –moisture content is very low compared to cordwood. Cordwood could need up to 12 additional months of drying to be truly seasoned
• Relatively affordable compared to most all other fuel sources
• Safe for catalytic stoves
• Can be stored without fear of insect infestation –the bricks are free of pests and far too dry to be a food supply for wood destroying pests

NEGATIVES:

• Messy once out of their cardboard tray; like their Idaho competitor, the fact that the bricks aren’t held together with a binder makes them susceptible to chaffing and breakage if you mishandle them
• Learning curve: they burn differently from cordwood, usually requiring more heat and more air to get the fire well-established