Making Charcoal in an Oil Drum

[Stringmaker]

We had a bash at this over the weekend on the forest site where I volunteer.

http://www.allotmentforestry.com/fact/Charcoal.htm

I'd seen this method shown on a green woodworking/crafts session at a local college and thought it could work well as an activity with youngsters. The charring part takes about 2-3 hours, then the rest of the time is the burn cooling down so there's no need for anyone to sit up all night! For our first attempt we ended up with some pretty decent smaller charcoal (one good sackfull) but a lot of charred wood also. My feeling is that we chickened out and didn't let the wood get well alight and burning really hot before we closed it down. We also didn't split a lot of it down thin enough (1-2 inches max)

If you've got the space (this makes a LOT of thick wet smoke) this is a great group activity as there is a lot of cutting and splitting to do before you light and fill the drums. If anyone out there has done this and agrees with my observations then feel free to tell me.

 

[lannyman8]

a good little how to there, i would not bother with the bottom holes though and have a smaller hole in the centre for the smoke to get out, burn as normal or build a fire around the base and burn untill the smoke nearly stops, then plug the hole and leave to cool....

jobs a fish...

 

[mrcairney]

Oh, I've been looking for a how-to on this for a while (not very well, it seems)

 

[robin wood]

Looks a lot of hassle making the drum to me and not easy to seal the lid either. I used to make charcoal in a drum years ago when I first started forging. Here was my very simple method.
1 cut base off and throw away.
2 punch couple of holes in the top for smoke escape.
3 turn drum upside down and fill with good dry wood (yes properly dry) average 3-4" sections jamming last bits in so it is tight across base, this will help when you get to step 5
4 get a good small hot dry fire going on floor beside drum
5 turn drum upside down on top of fire, stick 2" sticks under edge of drum at 3 points to keep it off ground and let air in to get fire really cooking.
6 leave longer than you think until the white smoke clears and you get much thinner or hardly any smoke at all.
7 pull out base sticks so drum touches floor and pile sand and earth around to make a total seal. Pile earth and sand on holes in top to seal these too.
8 leave overnight to cool.
If you have done well one drum full of wood will yield 1/3 drum charcoal but normally you get a few browns which are good for starting the fire off next time.

 

[jackcbr]

Well I tend to do it in a metal dust bin. Doesn't give as much as the 50 gal drum, but is a bit easier. My method:

Take the metal bin and drill some 1 inch holes in the bottom evenly spread out around the base.

Place 3 or 4 bricks on the ground and then the bin on that.
fill with split wood, not too big.
Set a good fire underneath and put the lid on top, but not completely to allow a draw for the smoke.
Once the fire is really going you'll be able to see where there are hot spots as the bin changes colour or just by the heat coming off it. Put the lid down on the sides that are too hot.
Keep a check on the smoke, once it changes colour from white to a bluey grey, put the lid down and seal the edge with wet sand. Also close off the base with earth or sand to restrict the air.
Seal it all off and leave it over night. Come the morning you've either got charcoal, ash or part burns to start the next bin load. It's a bit trial and error, but once you've got the hang of it, you'll be well away.

Reading this bit it does seem a little more complicated than I thought, but it works for me. Normally get a yield of 40 - 50%, so not too bad really.

 

[Ex Member - Sidney Bounty]

although my needs are not that great I do make willow charcoal every now and again I use it instead of pencils or for drawing ideas on the side of the shed by the next season though its all washed off the side of the shed (rain) giving me a new drawing board...

 

[AussieVic]

Hi Stringmaker,
I have used a similar method to make charcoal, and yes you do need to let the wood get fully alight before you seal it up or you will get un-burnt material.
Big pieces of wood don't have enough time to char through, so you need to split them (as you say) to 2 - 5 cm for best results.
Here's my experiences:
http://bushcraftoz.com/forums/showthread.php?1525-Making-Charcoal

 

[Stringmaker]

Hi folks,

Let me add a little detail of exactly what we did:

The drum was a full aperture lid with a gasket and clamp; it was completely airtight. It was standing on three bricks to allow the airflow to the fire which was lit inside the drum from the base. I am sure that we closed the initial burn off too early, but when we did we used sand around the base and putting the lid back on but with the bung open. The smoke was thick, white and wet so the water and volatiles were certainly coming off. When we opened it up and saw more clearly where the heat was concentrated, it was obvious that we needed air holes right at the edge of the drum base, as there was unburnt brash there from the initial firing.

Main conclusions were more splitting, more air holes and much more burning at the start.

All part of the fun!