DanielC Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Well, I found out last night that I for sure have a forge waiting on me in Petersberg VA (A couple hours away), so I decided to make some fuel since I cannot get a local source of coal (for now). This is my method and it seems to have worked. I will get finished product photos tomorrow once this baby has cooled off. This is a ~30gal drum inside of a 55gal. drum. The 55gal drum has several holes in it and angle iron going across to hold the 30gal drum. Underneath the angle iron is all of my fuel to heat up the 30gal. drum. I ended up filling the 30gal. drum with a lot of hickory, and it took approx. 3 hours to get it to where it stopped smoking. I also used an air compressor to make the fire HOT. I also tossed a RR spike in the coals towards the end and used the air compressor to heat it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
781 Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 I make mine using the direct burn method. The wood is directly burned in 55 gal barrels with 4 two inch holes in the side of the barrel just up from the bottom. When the wood is burned so if you grab it with tongs it breaks I plug the hold and cover the top so it is air tight. Get 40 to 60% charcoal to wood burned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielC Posted November 24, 2012 Author Share Posted November 24, 2012 I may try the direct burn method in the future. I ended up getting pretty good charcoal at the end of this first run. There is a few huge pieces that have a slight unburned look to them, so i know I should probably go ahead and make the pieces smaller. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyler Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 I have a 55 gal drum with sand in the botttom then theres 3 holes cut on close to the bottom i light my wood then after its lit i put the lide on and pack sand around the holes. It works for me!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deadmetal61 Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 I'm trying to fugure this one out. As we speak I was planning on chucking my 33g drum in a bon fire I figure it should work about the same right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Well does it 1: have a way for gas to escape and 2 does it have a way to exclude air at some future time to prevent the charcoal from burning to ask once it's made? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Google "charcoal retort" there is a lot of information available. Indirect is supposed to yield more than direct, but the complexity is much higher. Direct charcoal conversion has been done with pits filled with lumber, and covered with dirt for centuries. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deadmetal61 Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Yes I had planned on using a lid with a hole punched in it but I can't seem to find a lid so it looks like I'm stuck just burning it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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