Charcoal Making Report

[HWooldridge]

Three 5 gal buckets of charcoal yielded about 25% by bulk on a single 55 gal barrel (it wasn't level with the top so I fudged the percentage a hair). Of course, that yield is 13% if you started with TWO 55 gal barrels of wood.

I'm in no way knocking your results - just trying to figure out the basic yield. BTW, I've heard pine makes a decent soft charcoal with a lot of carbon so I'm not surprised you can weld with it. Good job and thanks for posting.

[m_brothers]

Okay, I'm just guessing with the buckets. I weighed it. 47lbs from 110lbs. That's like a 40% yield I think. It was one barrel.

[JohnW]

Good job m_brothers. Nice looking charcoal.

You seem to have a pretty good burn going in the barrel. What kind of air feed, if any, did you use?

[HWooldridge]

Originally Posted by m_brothers

Okay, I'm just guessing with the buckets. I weighed it. 47lbs from 110lbs. That's like a 40% yield I think. It was one barrel.

That's pretty good - and you'll only get better with time.

[m_brothers]

Thanks HW. JohnW, I used a blow drier at first, otherwise, nothing, I have 2in squares cut at the bottom in a hexagon pattern. As I watched the burn, and the outside of the barrel (it was new so the paint burned off) I could watch the true progress and put sand over the holes that were accelerating to fast. Overall, I think it was good, have a few things to work on though. But I only used a blow drier for the first 30min or so. And a little fan on the other side for the first 30min. You can see the fan in the pix. It's turned off in that picture, but I didn't feel like moving either of them until it was done. Lol.

[NateDJ]

Here is an interesting link I ran across this morning:
The Charcoal Retort by Daniel O'Connor
Looks like it would be the optimum way to do it.

[tetnum]

i cant see nate's link becayse of tecnical issues on my end so sorry if i post the same thing

this is a effective charcol making furnice and its not to hard to make
Making Charcoal

[NateDJ]

LOL actually that makes me think that the link I posted was a copy or a re-post of the same info. Your link is much better laid out and a bit more info but other than that it is the same guy/setup. Thanks for the additional info!

[m_brothers]

Not to be a "know-it-all" but they are both made by the same person. LOL.

[NateDJ]

Yep...

Originally Posted by NateDJ

but other than that it is the same guy/setup.

His link just had more info and was better laid out

Good job on your charcoal though! You have inspired me to attempt making it myself when I get a few more projects completed.