The backyard creation of Lump Charcoal

[Tom]

Our own Phorester and I were talking about making charcoal in barrel when he told me that a friend of his was looking into it for the processing of  ailanthis.  With a little research, he has found that the friend has gotten involved with the Virginia Tech and has made his "kiln" better.  There is a planned show and class to be held in Virginia.   http://www.forestry.vt.edu/charcoal/

[Brucer]

I made lump charcoal in the backyard once. Fell asleep while the chicken was barbecuing ;D.

[submarinesailor]

Is event is only 10.5 miles from the house. 8) 8) 8)  I plan on being there.

Bruce

[Tom]

Hopefully others will attend too, submarinesailor.

Make sure you prepare a report and get pictures.  It's a long way from my house.  :D

[submarinesailor]

It's a long way from my house.  :D

Only if you walk. :D :D :D  DanG could come by, pick you up and both of you could attend. 8) 8) 8)  I think I could put up with both of you for a few days. ;D ;D : :

DanG - did you notice how I volunteer you. ;D ;D ;D

Bruce

[Tom]

You know what this idea could be worth?    think of the tailings of pulpwood operations and the tops they leave behind.  How about the use of invasives, like ailanthus, chinese tallow, paulownia, china berry, Brazilian Pepper, Melaleuca and Australian Pine?  You could almost get paid to take that stuff away and get paid for the charcoal too.

[Ron Wenrich]

What is the supposed use for the charcoal?  If you're going to use it for food grade grilling, I don't know if I want pine or ailanthis for a charcoal base.  Wouldn't that leave an after taste?

There used to be a commercial charcoal producer here in PA.  They used lots of oak in the making, and I believe it went under the Kingsford name. 

When I was in St Lucia this past winter, they had guys that made charcoal along the side of the road.  I didn't get to watch much of the operation, as we were just going past in a bus, and the guide had mentioned it.  All they did was put wood on a rock ledge, then set it on fire, and cover it up.  I believe they used banana leaves.  Let it smolder, then come and get the charcoal.  Very low tech.  It was used for cooking.

[Tom]

Listed under the uses for charcoal are heating, cooking and even land nutriment, as well as the popular "carbon sequestration".   It is apparently a preferred heating source for blacksmiths.   But, having this a viable small business may have more benefits than the availability of charcoal.  It might give people reason to harvest those invasive species that we can't control, kinda like putting chicken wings on the menu.

[Brucer]

There used to be a commercial charcoal producer here in PA.  They used lots of oak in the making, and I believe it went under the Kingsford name. 

I use Kingsford charcoal to barbecue. Tastes better than that propane stuff.

My son-in-law was doing some research and discovered that Kingsford was a Ford Motor Company subsidiary, started to consume wood waste from the Ford auto plants.

Henry Ford was a fanatic about eliminating waste. He utilized everything he possibly could from the production stream.

[SPIKER]

There used to be a commercial charcoal producer here in PA.  They used lots of oak in the making, and I believe it went under the Kingsford name. 

I use Kingsford charcoal to barbecue. Tastes better than that propane stuff.

My son-in-law was doing some research and discovered that Kingsford was a Ford Motor Company subsidiary, started to consume wood waste from the Ford auto plants.

Henry Ford was a fanatic about eliminating waste. He utilized everything he possibly could from the production stream.

Ford actually specified the type and size of wood to be used for crating parts to be delivered to the car factories and he would cut the crates down and use them for wood car frame parts on the cars   that is some smart thinking...

Mark

[trapper]

you guys  got me thinking.  I could get a good bed of coals in my owb, shovel them out into an airtight container and have charcoal for my grill?  Local food instructor said  lump charcoal is what to use when adding extra charcoal to an already cooking grill that need more charcoal to finish the job.

[Ironwood]

They still sell "Curbside" charcol in many third world countries for cooking. Many times it is laid out on a sheet on the curb and is for sale. The processor is usually the seller AND very black from the processing. Seems to be a simple process, burn and then deny oxygen, see one of the Eric Sloan books seems there was a picture or two w/ a description.


Ironwood

[SPIKER]

I saved about 5 or 6 good sized 5 gallon buckets of the stuff this spring form the syrup cooking I did.  Once I had boiled down enough and the fire was still cooking/raging I would toss in some water to cool it down and then put it out.   this was HOT raging COALS not much WOOD still in there as I usually would keep my eye on the amount of wood and amount of sap that was boiling down.   That made it nice to only have a few inches of coals to put out and made it easy to do.

That was near the end of the season I started saving it as usually I scooped it out and tossed in wood and then tossed the charcoal in on top of the wood to assist it in starting.   the BLOCK walls stayed plenty of hot enough to DRY out the charcoal over night as I covered the top of the fire pit with sheet metal and up-turned the sap pan on top of those.

Mark

[mad murdock]

Right you are Ironwood.  When I was in Mexico, you would buy lump charcoal, made from mesquite, looked like broken up bits of the branches and trunks, sold in a plain paper sack.  It made some good tasting chicken and fajitas.  I never tried grilling with charcoal made from say, scotch broom, who knows Ron, maybe it would start a new culinary trend? Myrtlewood charcoal, or manzanita charcoal? ;)

[jim king]

They still sell "Curbside" charcol in many third world countries for cooking. Many times it is laid out on a sheet on the curb and is for sale.

Charcoal and firewood consume the majority of wood in the third world.

[northwoods1]

Yes sir I have made charcoal many times for use in my blacksmith shop quite a simple process. Burns hotter and cleaner than the best bituminous coal a person can buy. Have a lot of literature about old time charcoal making and kilns, very interesting to read about this use to be a major industry here in the U.S. up to probably the 20th century. tc

[laffs]

back in the day foundrys used to hire people just to make charcoal

[tyb525]

I sawed some ailanthus once, it's got a strange green/yellow color.

[Dean186]

The makers of the "Big Green Egg" (an outdoor smoker) recommends using 100% natural Lump Charcoal because it doesn't contain fillers or additives.  It also creates less ash.  It is sold in large bags wherever they sell the cooker.

[Brad_S.]

  If you're going to use it for food grade grilling, I don't know if I want pine or ailanthis for a charcoal base.  Wouldn't that leave an after taste?

My understanding is that all volatile gasses are "cooked" out and you should be left with a fairly pure carbon. It should leave no taste and there should be no difference between softwood charcoal and hardwood charcoal when it is all said and done.

[Jasperfield]

I found out today that one of the Mexican fellows, who occasionally helps me here on the farm, made charcoal for a living before he came to the U.S.

When he told me he said he'd be glad to show me.

Well, today while I was working the FW processor he began to cut and lay out wood in a circle around the area for the fire. The wood is mostly locust and cherry, and is 8"-14" in diameter and varies in length from 3' to 6'. He stacked the wood radially about 30" high and in a circle having a diameter (nearest the radius) of about 20'.

This method of stacking (temporary storage) is to facilitate the movement of the wood into the center of the circle for building the burn pyre.

As the pyre is built he will leave a small opening on one side to allow fueling of the fire, etc.

At some point he will cover the pyre with grass (old hay from broken round bales) and leaves...and then some dirt.

He estimates it'll generate about 900 lbs. of high quality charcoal, and told me to round up some bags made of burlap, or plastic feed bags. I sure hope he's right because we're using quite a bit of locust that I could otherwise process into very good firewood for my cookstove, not to mention the cherry.

[beenthere]

20' (feet)  ??

A few pics of that would be great.

[Jasperfield]

I'm taking photographs and would like to share them on the Forum. Since my past success posting photo's approximates zero, I'd need to email them to someone in order to get them posted.

[Norm]

Send them over to me Keith and I'll add them here.

[Al_Smith]

If you want easy charcoal just dig into the ashes left from burning a slash pile .Better wait a week or so though for the fire to burn itself out .