Block Ice

teppy · Post by **teppy** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 2:25 pm

Last year I organized the sno-kone event out at the man - 900+ sno kones given away at once!

This year I'm planning to do very high quality shave ice, with really fine, powdery snow from a new machine I'm getting. The machine uses block ice, and it must be solid block rather than compressed.

Does anyone know where Arctica gets their ice from so that I can verify that it's solid? I'd also like to get the dimensions of the blocks to make sure they fit in the machine.

Didn't know where else to ask, but if anyone here is involved with Arctica, I'd be most appreciative if you could help with any info. I'll even make you a shave ice!

Post by **AntiM** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:27 pm

The block ice is indeed solid enough for a shave ice machine. We have an antique Japanese one which uses block ice. I do think we had to chop each block in half, but I'll have to ask MyLarry if that was the case or if I'm recalling wrong. He handled the ice, he'd know.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:45 pm

I had a shaver that requireed the blocks to be frozen in a particular (but not peculiar!) shape for shaving.

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:51 pm

Ugly Dougly wrote:I had a shaver that requireed the blocks to be frozen in a particular (but not peculiar!) shape for shaving.

they're not talking about bathing suits, Dougly.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:56 pm

http://www.hawaiianshavedice.com/

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:57 pm

I wondered why the helmet on his head was so square.

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 4:00 pm

oneeyeddick wrote:I wondered why the helmet on his head was so square.

good question:

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 4:04 pm

It keeps my unusually large cranium from overheating in the desert.

Post by **AntiM** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 4:16 pm

While this is not a picture of my own shave ice machine, it is similar:

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 6:05 pm

Cool.

How do you compress ice, anyhow?

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 6:56 pm

I can't squeeze a joke out ogf that, no matter how hard I try.

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:11 pm

gyre wrote:Cool.

How do you compress ice, anyhow?

maybe, an "ice compressor"?...........

Post by **AntiM** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:25 pm

Compressed ice is crushed or chunk ice formed into blocks and frozen solid. It crumbles in shave ice machines.

We did alright with the block ice on the playa, but if the vendor changes the process, there's no way to know beforehand!

danibel · Post by **danibel** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:33 pm

I checked with the Ice Queen and Arctica gets the blocks and crushed ice from Crystal Ice in Reno. You can try calling them and asking them for the dimensions or other factoids you desire. IQ is also happy to respond to emails. Let me know if you want her email addy. I will PM it to you.

She said she *hearts* your lovely group of sno-kone folks.

Sending Icy love....

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Thu Mar 11, 2010 10:08 am

AntiM wrote:While this is not a picture of my own shave ice machine, it is similar:

So it will shave any shape of ice?

Fire_Moose · Post by **Fire_Moose** » Thu Mar 11, 2010 1:06 pm

klondike_bar · Post by **klondike_bar** » Fri Mar 19, 2010 6:51 am

I worked at actika last burn, and the blocks seem quite solid and one piece.

theyre approx 1'X1'X7" in size if i were to take a totally ballpark guess

teppy · Post by **teppy** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 9:49 am

danibel wrote:I checked with the Ice Queen and Arctica gets the blocks and crushed ice from Crystal Ice in Reno. You can try calling them and asking them for the dimensions or other factoids you desire. IQ is also happy to respond to emails. Let me know if you want her email addy. I will PM it to you.

She said she *hearts* your lovely group of sno-kone folks.

Sending Icy love....

That's exactly the info I needed - thank you!

I called them; unfortunately the block ice at Burning Man is compressed rather than solid frozen, so I'm going to explore cube shavers. Consensus seems to be that they don't produce snow that is as fine as block ice shavers, but are much better than the traditional sno-kone machine that I've used the last couple years.