Making Charcoal

[flipper]

Has anyone here made their own chunk style charcoal. I am wanting to try it and looking for ideas. Thanks

[reinhard1]

my understanding of lump charcoal is that is made from wood burned with little or no oxygen. i have also been told that after burning a backyard ring fire for example, you can save all the black [coal like] left overs and use that as charcoal. good luck.

[TooTallTom]

One of the science teachers when I was in high school used to make his own. It's been more than a decade and we never went too far into detail, but IIRC he used to wait for the wood to be charcoal, and then douse the fire with sand and sift the coal out when it has cooled. I think he waited a day or more.

I'm guessing here, but I think it would work best with real dry forearm-sized wood, so that it is at the solid charcoal stage (rather than still in the wood stage, or starting to break down) all the way through the pieces. It seems to me that a larger piece would tend to still be "woody" in the middle when the outside is ready to be doused, and smaller ones would burn through too quickly.

[Surface Tension]

An old employer of mine had one..

There are different types but the principle is the same.

The idea is to remove the gasses from the wood with heat without putting flame to the wood.

When you heat wood the gases escape and it is those gases that create a flame.

For the backyard charcoal maker a 55 gallon drum with a lid(the kind with the ring)that you can load the wood into and seal up.

The drum will lay in its side with a firebox under it.

To vent the gases, plump the bung with 2" pipe so it runs across the top of the barrel then halfway along its length, the end is open.

The pipe will be underneath when the barrel is on its side and on the fire box.

Cap the end and drill 1/2 holes every 5" on both sides.

Start a fire in the firebox. Eventually the heat from the fire will heat the wood in the barrel.

Those gases start venting though the pipe which the end is situated over the firebox and they begin to burn.

Inside the barrel the wood is being charred but because there is not air/oxygen there is no flame.

If you've seen the brand Cowboy charcoal, that is exactly what you'll end up with.

Its all scrape wood, nothing else. In fact you'll be able to identify chunks or hardwood flooring and and wood blocks.

[TooTallTom]

SurfaceTension, that sounds like a much better idea than sand dousing.

So is that pipe straight from the outside all the way through then? Or are there a couple of bends in the pipe? Is the gas released from the wood heavier than air (pipe at the bottom inside of the barrel when the barrel is on its side) or lighter than air (pipe at the top inside when barrel on its side)? And it runs OUTSIDE the barrel back along the barrel into the fire, right?

I'm just trying to make sure I've got it right in my head...

[Surface Tension]

Pretty crude drawing.

That sits on top a firebox. Use some old bricks.

[TooTallTom]

Thanks, Frank. That was one of the possibilities I had in my head.

[flipper]

Something like that is what I am thinking about building. I generate quite a few wood scraps and just thought it would be fun to make my own charcoal.