Making Charcoal

[Biddlesby]

I recently acquired a load of firewood - the kind of planks that come from knocked-down sheds. I am wondering if I can make some charcoal out of this. I have a large metal bin with metal lid. I am thinking of packing split wood tightly into the bin and lighting a bonfire with some more of the wood around it.

Does this sound pragmatic? Will paint on the wood present a problem?

Cheers

 

[Eric_Methven]

The paint should burn off, but if it is, or could be lead based, I'd avoid using the charcoal for cooking with. It'll be fine for forging blades though. Remember you'll only end up with about a third in volume of the original amount of wood.

You'll also need to make sure that the lid is completely airtight otherwise the wood will combust rather than char and you'll end up with a bin of ash instead.

It might be better to pack the bin with wood, place a sheet of plywood or similar on the top, invert the whole thing so it's upside down, slide the plywood out from underneath then light a big fire all round the outside of the bin. If you punch a small hole in the bottom of the bin (quarter inch will do) you'll be able to see what smoke escapes from the hole. White smoke means any moisture is being burned off which is good. When the smoke turns blue, all combustion has taken place and the outer fire should be allowed to go out. At this point whack a dollop of mud over the little hole to seal it off. Leave the whole thing overnight and in the morning scrape all the ash away from around the bin and lift it off. You should be left with a pile of charcoal.

If you can be sure of a tight fitting lid, try doing it upright by all means but if the lid fits over the outside of the bin then a airtight seal probably won't be possible. If the lid fits on the inner rim you can seal the edge with sand or mud making it airtight.

If doing it inverted, pack some mud round the base of the bin before you light the fire. The bottom needs to be sealed as well.

Hope this helps,

Eric

 

[Biddlesby]

That's great, cheers! How big should I be making the pieces? They are planks at the moment but I thought they would be easier to pack if split down. I'm not sure if splitting them too small will present a problem.

 

[Eric_Methven]

Cut them in short lengths - say a foot or so, but keep them as thick and wide as you can get. Small split sticks will disintegrate to nothing by the time the process is finished. They need to be as chunky as possible.

Eric

 

[Jodie]

Your bin sounds very sensible. A friend of mine was involved in making it this way which seems like a lot of hard work!
http://www.regia.org/charcoal.htm

Good luck with yours,
Jo

 

[pibbleb]

I'm afraid I can't offer any practicle advice, but I was up the other night with an upset tummy and who should I find on the box at 3 a.m . but Mr Mears. He was in Sweden and needed some, forgive me if wrong but was rather unwell at the time, Pine tar.

To get the tar they loaded a barrel/bin with pine sealed it off with a metal air tight lid.

They got the tar/oil/goo they were after, which was for cross country ski's that Ray was having made for him, but to the point! The by product of this was that the pine turned into charcoal.

The episode was from Bushcraft series 2 and I believe it's the second to last episode in the season.

So to summerise, Oh I wish he would I hear you shout! I'm sure your bin will work perfectly.

Pib

 

[Biddlesby]

Well, I gave it a go. I packed the bin tightly with wood, turned it over, and sealed it with clay. I punctured a small hole in the top, and made a big fire. When the smoke looked blueish I plugged the hole and let the fire die down. The next day, I turned over the bin. There was a bit of charcoaling - a few good pieces - but mostly just blackened wood.

So I had another go. This time the pieces were a bit shorter, and far less tightly packed. I plugged the hole as usual, but this time kept the fire going most of the day. It used up lots of wood (which in this case is good since I have piles of low grade firewood around) for the fire - but what perfect charcoal!

 

[Eric_Methven]

Excellent! The partly burned stuff is called brownings. Even the professional charcoal makers get some from time to time. What we do is use the brownings in the middle of the kiln as a sort of tinder wood as it catches light readily and gets the next burn off to a great start. Well done.

Eric