charcoal hunt

[ausfire]

After today's demo the charcoal resources looked a bit grim, so it was time to venture out into the bush and find some. I usually have a ride around on the trail bike and spy out some likely sources and then go back in the 4WD and collect it. I look for hollowed out stringybarks or ironbarks which have been through the bushfires.

Sometimes you find a nicely dished out one lying on the ground and it's just a matter of shovelling up the charcoal pieces into bags. (Pics 1 and 2)

It is often easier to spot the tall hollow gums left standing after the fires and they are nicely coated with cubes of charcoal. It's always clean too, without sticks, leaves, sand or other contaminants. You just toss a rope around those standing ones and they don't usually take much of a tug to bring them down (Pic 3).  The crash often loosens the charcoal lining making it really easy to shovel into bags. (Pics 4 &5).

Not a bad way to spend a Boxing day afternoon, and the supplies look a lot healthier now.

 

[genesaika]

That's xxxxxxxx cool. Makes me jealous though since I can't find anything like that haha. 

[Will W.]

I never would have thought of that as a viable source of charcoal. Aus, your creative thinking astounds me again. 

[Hans Richter]

And I am still waiting for a decent bushfire here just outside of Brussels 

[Daswulf]

Ah, the other unknown wonders of Australia. You even grow charcoal trees! Lol. Now where is that money tree?!

That is really cool and unique, harvesting charcoal from a burnt standing tree.  I have to ask tho, how did you come about that? Accidentally or did someone share the trick?

[4elements]

I like that idea! We have wild fires here too but mostly in mountainous terrain. I'll have to go hunting next summer. We just had a white Christmas, so I have to rely on bagged charcoal for a few more months.  our trees are large conifers, so I don't know whether they burn and char in a usable way.

[Jasent]

5 minutes ago, 4elements said:

 our trees are large conifers, so I don't know whether they burn and char in a usable way.

Pine, red fir, and tamarack work very well. 

[Farmweld]

Hi Ausfire, neat way of getting charcoal and cleaning up the bush a bit.

Not sure what trees grow like in other parts of the world but the bigger Australian gum trees (Eucalypts) tend to grow like this.  This one is in the southeast of South Australia and is one of the larger examples but should give you the idea.  A more extreme example is the Herbig family tree at Springton which was used as a house for quite a few years.

Once they get above a certain size the white ants (termites) get stuck into them and eat the centres out leaving the living and growing outer to keep doing its thing. Some of them are hundreds of years old and up to 80' tall around here so what you end up with is a really big hollow tube lined with combustible wood, perfect for making charcoal.  Once a bushfire lights up the inside it turns into a really big roman candle that will burn for days. The other problem is the fire can smoulder underground along a root run for weeks before popping up and re-igniting the fire.

One fire I attended as a volunteer fire fighter there was about 40 of these lovely stately old gums all candled up along a gulley and the only way we could put them out was to bring in a Cat D9 and push them all over. The property owner was really xxxxxx off because the fire was lit by an arsonist and he lost a lot of crop as well as the beautiful old trees. We spent about ten hours driving around putting out piles of sheep and cattle manure which also smoulder for ages if left.

Andrew

 

[genesaika]

Pine works well as charcoal? Can you give some advice on making it?

why not read the pinned thread in solid fuel forges on the subject?

[Charles R. Stevens]

Pine and other low density woods make less ash, adder was used buy the Norse (Vikings) as metelogical charcoal 

[ausfire]

18 hours ago, Daswulf said:

That is really cool and unique, harvesting charcoal from a burnt standing tree.  I have to ask tho, how did you come about that? Accidentally or did someone share the trick?

My father-in-law was an ex-tin miner in this area and that's how he got charcoal for the forge he used to sharpen and temper drill steels. He told me what trees to look for and helped build our first forge from stone and ant bed. He gave me his old Buffalo blower and a small anvil (minus the heel)  which I still have. He would be 117 years old now. I wish I had learned more from him while he was with us.

And finding charcoal trees is a good excuse for a day in the bush. Boil the billy and enjoy the isolation.

Farmweld: Greetings. I imagine S.A. has some lovely old red gums that would render many bags of quality charcoal after the fires. In the drier parts you probably have mallee and mulga as well. I'm told mallee roots make premium charcoal, but to buy it bagged is expensive. Especially freight to up here.

[Daswulf]

It's great you got to learn what you did Aus. I wish I could have spent more time learning from my grandparents. I just appreciate what I did learn and always appreciate all the shared knowledge I come across. 

[4elements]

Jasent, Charles thanks for the responses. I was meaning the way the trees burn in a forest fire rather than the quality of the charcoal. It seems that a hollow tree burning through the center makes a pile of clean coals that are easy to collect. I have to get out and see what happens to a solid standing tree or a fallen dead tree to know if charcoal is practical to collect from our local forest fires.

[Daswulf]

In my more local area I have only seen standing trees get scorched and burnt on the outside. 

[4elements]

Daswulf, I've seen that too where the bark is intact. I'll be looking for the ones that have damaged bark or are blown down from storms, anything that opens the wood to the flames. Then we will see if charcoal is clean, or mixed into the soil and duff

[ausfire]

Farmweld mentioned the roots that smoulder underground. I have seen that too, and when the tree falls those roots are often exposed. They make the best charcoal and you can pick up a whole log that just falls apart into perfectly sized pieces of hard black charcoal. I am often asked what trees I look for. Most of the hardwood eucalypts have good charcoal, although some are a bit more sparky than others. The hard desert timbers like gidgee and mulga are superb, but since moving nearer the coast, I have limited access to that. The only ones I have found that don't work too well are she-oak which is too light and spongy, and cypress pine which is all crackle and spark and doesn't last. (Excellent kindling though, and can be split to matchwood thickness).

[Jasent]

7 hours ago, 4elements said:

. I have to get out and see what happens to a solid standing tree or a fallen dead tree to know if charcoal is practical to collect from our local forest fires.

I have just scraped it off fallen trees. Burns great

cedar throws a lot of cinder

[4elements]

Thanks Jasent