DIY Charcoal

[smstonypoint]

Anyone ever produced and marketed your own charcoal?

The current issue of Forest Landowner magazine has an interesting article on small-scale charcoal production. The article discusses use of a modified chicken feed hopper as the kiln. Details are available at Producing and Marketing Natural Wood “Lump” Charcoal-Charcoal Making Resources.


I have my doubts about the prospects for small-scale charcoal production being an economically-viable enterprise, but it sounds like an interesting sideline.

Steve

 

[polo1665]

I do produce charcoal regularly, but do not market it. I burn wood to heat a wood fired bake oven and typically fire the oven the evening before baking the next morning. When I go to bed I block the air off to the oven. In the morning I sometimes have quite a bit of charcoal that has to be removed before baking.

Maybe I should sell it.

 

[Marveltone]

No marketing for me either, but I did make my own charcoal for another project. Old hardwood pallets, 55 gallon steel drums and pine needles were all I needed for materials. We packed the drums with the wood, heaped the dried pine straw on top and lit the needles. The fire slowly burned from the top on down. Once the wood was burning, the tops were put on the barrels until the smoke was the right color and consistency, then the barrels were turned upside down and the holes were plugged. We let them smolder overnight and emptied them in the morning. Worked surprisingly well for a first time attempt. Got lots of good charcoal, but I don't think I could make enough money by selling it to pay for the labor. Just a fun learning experience.

Joe