How to make charcoal easy and cheap (pic heavy)

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Arth

Nomad
Sep 27, 2007
289
0
51
west sussex
First you need a choclate tin, then punch five holes into the lid.

Cut wood to the height of the tin.I used green Ash as it's low in water. We also made artist charcoal sticks from green Willow.

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Put on lid and place on fire. After a few mintues steam and smoke should start to come out of the holes.

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This after a while this should turn to gas which will flame.


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After the flame has gone the charcoal is ready. Take off the fire and place upside down so to make no air gets into the charcoal and lets it burn.


When cool you should have black gold!


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All ready for...er...the BBQ. We made two batches which was enough for 10 people and it was still going for a few more hours. Much beter than that rubbish you buy from the shops and it's easy to light.


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It took us about a hour to make charcoal.
 

John Fenna

Lifetime Member & Maker
Oct 7, 2006
23,106
2,833
66
Pembrokeshire
A bigger version of my charcloth rig!
I have made willow charcoal (very fine for glue making) in small batches in a syrup tin using exactly the same process - except I use wooden plugs in the holes in the lid, rather than turning the whole (hot) affair upside down.
I will now have to try the industrial size production as you have shown it!:D
 

Simon

Nomad
Jul 22, 2004
360
0
59
Addington, Surrey
Those burning gases can be put to good use if you build one of these!!

charcoal-retort.jpg


You start a fire underneath to get it going, but once it is providing the gases it becomes self sustaining until all the gas has burnt off and your charcoal is ready
 

Arth

Nomad
Sep 27, 2007
289
0
51
west sussex
A bigger version of my charcloth rig!
I have made willow charcoal (very fine for glue making) in small batches in a syrup tin using exactly the same process - except I use wooden plugs in the holes in the lid, rather than turning the whole (hot) affair upside down.
I will now have to try the industrial size production as you have shown it!:D

Hi John

I used use two sticks to slide the container off the flame, and use one stick to turn it over and the other to hold the lid on.
 

Arth

Nomad
Sep 27, 2007
289
0
51
west sussex
Can you do this with all types of wood?

Should be OK. Soft wood burns hotter and quicker as a charcoal. Just make sure the wood is the same species or has a simliar water content, otherwise they will charcoal at different rates. Make sure the wood is simliar size for the same reason.
 
Those burning gases can be put to good use if you build one of these!!

charcoal-retort.jpg


You start a fire underneath to get it going, but once it is providing the gases it becomes self sustaining until all the gas has burnt off and your charcoal is ready

Simon, is that a retort kiln? it's very interesting anyway!

Surely the first hour or more is just steam and water evaporating off? and what happens to all of the tar etc that bubbles out of the ports on a normal kiln?

Leo
 

Arth

Nomad
Sep 27, 2007
289
0
51
west sussex
I would of thought that kind of kiln would waste a lot of wood. Surely it would be more economic to start the the fire in the oil drum?
 

Simon

Nomad
Jul 22, 2004
360
0
59
Addington, Surrey
Simon, is that a retort kiln? it's very interesting anyway!

Surely the first hour or more is just steam and water evaporating off? and what happens to all of the tar etc that bubbles out of the ports on a normal kiln?

Leo

I can't answer that yet Leo, as I haven't built one :rolleyes: this is just a pic of a retort that I found googling, I'm planning on building one, but the tar problem, question, may be one I'm faced with when I build mine. worst case scenario though is that the bottom of the drum gets a puddle of tar.
 

Simon

Nomad
Jul 22, 2004
360
0
59
Addington, Surrey
I would of thought that kind of kiln would waste a lot of wood. Surely it would be more economic to start the the fire in the oil drum?

after the fire has heated it up enough to produce gases then it becomes self fueled, so it is more economic. Theoretically
 

Arth

Nomad
Sep 27, 2007
289
0
51
west sussex
I would thought the tar would vapourize?

Maybe we should do an experiment, Simon. I'm getting hold of a oil drum this week and going to fire it up the conventual way. Maybe we could see who uses the most wood and who gets the most charcoal?
 

Simon

Nomad
Jul 22, 2004
360
0
59
Addington, Surrey
This is the site I got the pic from;

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?i...images?q=charcoal+retort&gbv=2&hl=en&safe=off

According to how Daniel O'Connor, who built the above successful retort, describes it, charcoal making is slow but easy work. There are two ways to make charcoal direct and indirect. The direct method involves setting a pile of wood on fire and controlling the air intake in order to char the wood and not burn it into ash, e.g. by covering the pile with dirt and sod. The indirect or retort method involves cooking the wood with a outside energy source to drive off the volatile gases and char the wood. The indirect method usually yields more charcoal for a given amount of wood. Even though an outside energy source (a fire) is needed in the beginning, the process can be made self sustaining after a short time. The expelled volatiles can be distilled to produce products like turpentine and wood alchohol, which was done prior to the petrochemicals industry. Or the volatile gases can be diverted to make the process self sustaining. It is simple in concept and execution. The wood is heated until it starts giving off gas. Route this gas back under the container and ignite it. Once this is happening, the wood gives off enough energy to 'cook' or char itself. When all the gas is driven off the the fire dies out and charcoal remains. A pipe from the top, in the above contraption, is routed under the barrel. The pipe below the drum has 1/2" holes drilled every 6" along either side of it. Under the above two barrels, loaded with cut wood and sealed, a large fire underneath takes 45 minutes before the emission of volatiles begins. As the gass yield starts, flames begin licking out of the holes drilled in the bottom pipes. In about 5 or 10 minutes the flames become like pressurised gas and if the drums are enclosed (e.g. within concrete blocks) they will shoot out the holes, hit the side walls and travel up and around the barrels. The fire dies on its own after about 2 hours, and the charcoal is let cool down overnight.
 

Tadpole

Full Member
Nov 12, 2005
2,842
21
59
Bristol
Instead of wondering about a "puddle of tar", is there no way to collect the tar, via some outlet, drip valve etc, to be used later?
From the above posted information Yes, just cool the expelled volatiles rather than burn them. Imagine the pipe pointing away from the underside of the retort, and passing into another barrel, the gasses would cool and form the tar/turps
 

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