DIY Charcoal

[StormWalker]

Hello all I am thinking about trying to make my own charcoal at home.
Any idea's or help would be gratefully received.
Pictures would be good too.

cheers

SW

 

[Kiamyr]

There's a good few tutorials about regarding this, just use the search function and you'll find loads. Might be an article on it too.

Oh and it's pretty easy once you find a proper container

 

[Keith_Beef]

Charcoal is made by the incomplete combustion of wood, i.e. controlled burning in not enough air to oxidise all the carbon.

You can achieve this by either burning the wood inside a metal container with vents that you can shut off, or by stacking the wood and covering it with turves and soil.

I've seen the first method done on a small scale at a sawmill and lumber yard in France. The container looked to be about four feet high and four feet in diameter with a conical lid and chimney.

I saw the second method on the island of Crete, with three stacks about 50 feet long, 12 feet high and 15 feet wide.


Keith.

 

[rich59]

I accidentally made some charcoal once. It was dead easy. I lit a fire with a mixture of sizes of wood on it. Any wood on the edges that hadn't gone black I poked in. Just as it settled to mostly a glowing fire with little flame I put the fire out with water. Simple as that.

The next day I had a sack full of damp but excellent charcoal. Just needed to sun it to dry it out. The point is that the middle of the fire gets hot enough to drive off all the gases (flame) from within the wood leaving the carbon to burn only as it gets contact with oxygen.

So, no need for special burners, earthing up etc..

If you want to make it commercially then you want the best yeald - which is where the special techniques come in.

 

[Jack]

Gents.

All you need for a kiln, is a 40 gallon drum, cut the 'lid' off and keep it as you will need to put that back on and cut some holes in the bottom of the drum - instant, cheap kiln.

I am wanting to come and do a demo at a meet up..........but it is just getting the time

 

[Jack]

My friend is a burner and have a look here as this may help
http://www.dorsetcharcoal.co.uk/process.htm

Cheers.

Jack.

 

[redflex]

Here is some links for you

The first 2 are on making a kiln from oil drum

http://www.clt.astate.edu/elind/charcoalvalentine.htm (very good site complete guide from start making kiln to finished charcoal)

http://www.twinoaksforge.com/BLADSMITHING/MAKING CHARCOAL.htm

The rest are info and advice etc


http://www.regia.org/charcoal.htm

http://www.dutch-net.nl/~dennis/Charcoal.html

http://www.poundwood.org.uk/Charcoal/Charcoal.htm

http://forestry.about.com/cs/@@@SUBJECTHERE/a/charcoal_alt.htm

http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/X5328e/x5328e00.htm

 

[StormWalker]

Many Thanks for the assistance a nice job for the weekend! :You_Rock_

 

[twelveboar]

You don't need to build a kiln, just dig a pit, stack timber in a teepee shape, light it, then cover it up with turfs. Keep an eye on it from time to time to make sure it's still smouldering as it takes time, about 24 hrs for a good sized (6ft) pit.

 

[StormWalker]

I was watching Mr Mears at the weekend and he was in Sweden, one of the features was how he made Pine Tar using a kiln with the biproduct being charcoal.

He used an old Pine stump and root so not sure where i will get the kindling from yet.

I believe a few changes to the kiln might be in order soon.

Will try to get some pics posted when finished.

 

[Ditch Monkey]

I make a fire in the same spot each night at the moment and so a lot of ash has built up. At night I take the fire apart to put it out - basically pulling all the branches out of the fire so that they all go out - this leaves behind a pile of embers that I bury with ash. This sufficates the embers of oxygen and creates charcoal, not much but more than enough help get the next fire going.