I had a friend that showed me that if I do the same thing and as we eat the pork/beef/chicken we put the bones into the fire ,the ash will also contain calcium from the bones . Plus a few stories from friends .
You calculated the wood volume as a solid log and the charcoal volume by how much fit in buckets. But the charcoal will have air gaps in it, which I imagine is at least 10% of the volume in the bucket.
You're right, Matthias, but there will always be holes in charcoal - I just chose a size where it was useful and compared that. I guess you could grind it down to a size that eliminates the air, but if you go that small it would be useless for gardening. (You'd have to make diamonds with it and what good are they?!)
In Kenya, for a small quantity like this, I've often seen them use a pit, and when it's all going nicely, they seal it up with a ready steel lid and some clay. Some use a ⅝" id. steel pipe to feed just a little air to the top of the burn for better control. Seems to involve quite a bit of skill.
Tim I have been making biochar from bales of old hay, I am getting about a 1/3 back, My process is a retort with the excess heat going into my house. It's been working pretty good, and the best thing is it can go straight on the garden no grinding. Thanks for all your videos, great stuff.
Dear Onahill. Yeah, they could put something together. Meanwhile I found out (with the help of dozens of Utube videos) that there are definitely a lot better, much faster and more efficient ways than with hydraulic power. At least for cutting and splitting the size of wood they usually have. Best regards luck health and wisdom.
I gave thumbs up good vid. I say that, because, well, water. He is using this in other ways, than smelting. Making charcoal by method of not actually burning it, the oxygen and hydrogen in the wood escape in amongst the smoke. They can be harvested, the hydrogen itself burns so hot it melts almost everything. To re introduce water into burnt charcoal, this charcoal is so impaired, it cannot melt iron, or maybe possibly even gold ( almost half the temperature). Bit charcoal has seemingly infinite uses. This may be great fertilizer, so I'm gonna try it because I watched this. Inferior charcoal works to grow plants. But inferior charcoal might not fill the bill when it comes to smelting. Again I found your bid informative. Thanks for sharing.
The magic of the retort method is the fact that it is easier to use the wood gas produced as fuel, converting the whole process of carbonization into an "exothermic" one. You only need a little bit of fuel at first to heat the wood enough to start "dry distillation". I want to build one myself one day, because you can also collect and store the aforementioned wood gas, tar and even some interesting things depending on the wood used and/or the top temperature. Also, is easier to make it more efficient and cleaner, insulating it to keep heat inside it and adding a chimney to burn all combustion gasses and ending with a smokeless and more efficient burning.
I've noticed that there are three great ways to make charcoal. Each of them has pluses and minuses. Cone or pit kilns: easy and simple, all you need is a shovel and a water bucket. Great for biochar because you can take/make the kiln where needed. Doesn't make good lump charcoal and wastes most of the heat. Retort kiln: Still relatively simple, but requires a container. Makes great lump charcoal for burning, but wastes material because needs external heat to get started. Usually wastes the heat, though you can make a small one and use it in your fireplace (like Edible Acres -channel). Wood Gasifier: Most complex design (because you need to think about the airflows alot). Makes charcoal AND cooks food at the same time. Heat can also be captured to heat a space.
You can add to your list a pyramid kiln. I've make 2 metal kilns, a large and a smaller one. Relatively inexpensive. Both works great. Makes heaps of biochar in a fairly short period of time. Easy to shift.
Wonderful stuff ! And I dare say the post burn surface area is exponentially greater than that of the original tree ! Eagerly awaiting your calculation 🤣
I go ahead and bury the pieces that didn't finish converting into charcoal. It can still be charged with nutrient and the rest will still rot down and improve the soil. Like a new and improved hugelmound material. or dig it in at the end of the garden season during clean up. I've watched some videos on the Terra Preta soils in South America and there was one local man who had access to one ancient deposit and he would dig it out and sell the soil. He said it didn't matter because the soil would grow back. There you go, Tim.. try to figure that out with your math! LOL. And I love biochar! I have some soaking in a bucket now with manure tea.
I thought putting a fire on kept the wildlife away but some birds use smoke to clear their feathers of parasites, not sure if it works that way for a donkey. haha Also looking forward to the garden implementation.
Lovely video! It's great to see people making sure the volatiles are driven off and it's clean charcoal before quenching. Did you measure the moisture content of your wood? I just use the brash from felling for biochar, keeping the logs for home heating even though sitka burns away so fast. I use the same type of method but with a trough shaped kiln so that I can lay whole branches across without cutting them up, just breaking the char down when I add more branches. I've also used the heat over the fire to dry out some of the wetter branches from the bottom of the brash pile as it never really air dries properly in Ireland. This helps to reduce the smoke. Also, having a baffle around the walls of the kiln increases the temperature of air going to the fire and reduces wind chill and disruption of the flame cap. I just use a few old corrugated steel roofing sheets to act as the baffle. There's a lot less smoke since I started doing this.
Thanks, Fynn. I'm wondering about scaling up production so I'd have to move to spruce logs then anyway. Lots more work to do on the kiln set-up first and making the most of all that heat. So many interesting things to do..!
60%, that's increcible! I only get about 30% conversion. I follow a similar method but not entirely the same. The last time used my woodchipper to brake down the large chunks and that was very effective. From experience I found that using a mortar and pestle takes way too long.
Great timing. The conversion ratio has been 'bothering' us as we've been making our own biochar this winter. Made me laugh out loud when you said it. Useful info and thanks for making a video about it. We'd roughly decided it was about 50%, depending on how dry the feed stock is, but it depends on how much the charcoal is crushed afterwards (a disastrous first attempt using the cement mixer and stones resulted in a very low volume slurry....). Crushing using a steel pole with a 2" head is simple and effective but we're on the lookout for a second hand garden shredder to see if that's any better.
Dear charcoal making couple. Simply fantastic! 👍👌👏 That's exactly what I was wondering about all my life! How much charcoal out of a tree! Hooray, now I'm able to sleep well and soothed finally! Thank you so much! ;-) :-) Best regards luck health and wisdom. Postscriptum: Seriously, I was wondering why not use the heat to heat up water or the house? I bet that you are able to invent a possibility that does not waste so much energy.
Dear @@WayOutWestx2 couple . Thanks for replying. Yeah, I'm definitely glad respectively relieved too! ;-) :-) At least one less. You didn't say/answer anything to the last part of my comment. No ideas yet? Sincerely yours.
It will be easy to heat the house as the burn is going on - lots of heat available. But what I'm working on is a way to store that heat for a few days. Any good ideas?
Dear @@WayOutWestx2 poor carpenter ;-) Thanks for replying again. One thing I saw in a relatively new big house in Austria: A big water tank/bulb (made out of metal) above an extremely efficient "Kachelofen" (no metal inside the oven!) in the middle of the house.. This guy burned softwood only (nothing else available there) and had only one cup of ash per day! Tank was 3 or 5000 l capacity (can't remember) and not insulated but completely embedded in the stone walls and ceilings. Even after a one week journey in a cold winter the house wasn't cooled out completely. Indeed nearly the complete building was built around that oven and tank (additionally with warm air channels in the walls). It's very old and impressive craftsmanship how those Kachelöfen are constructed in Austria and Germany for instance (important: without any metal inside!). So if you have an already existing building this method will not be so efficient/effective unfortunately. Otherwise: An extremely well insulated water tank always helps. Even if you have a really huge not insulated cooking pot of hot water on your kitchen oven, it will stay hot/warm for a very long time. Heating up mud/tar (Fango?) or stones is another possibility (a bit like having a hot water bottle or hot stone in your bed but bigger of course). Using the exhaust heat is another option. Maybe you will like Kris Harbours channel (for instance heating coil around exhaust pipe) etc.p.p.. ua-cam.com/video/l5jUUrDle00/v-deo.html Until there is no really efficient affordable material to store heat, maybe the best way is to use a heat exchanger/heat pump to make electricity to storage in batteries!? Maybe the very best way would be to use fire heat directly (to dry wood or cook food for pigs for instance)!? Sincerely yours.
stuff wood in large steel or iron pipe. cap ends. drill small hole in each cap. place sealed large steel or iron pipe on fire and cook until the steam/fire/smoke stops coming out of the small holes. remove from fire. allow to cool. remove ends. charcoal. no waste.
Watch Cody'sLab video on making charcoal. When making charcoal with the method without oxygen you only need additional wood to start it. After it starts you don't need additional fuel, the fire burns from gases released from charcoaling wood. Much more efficient, greater quality charcoal and less CO2 released to the atmosphere.
I have watched his videos - and he proved that the retort method wasn't more efficient at all and you didn't get more charcoal. Also, because retort kilns generally burn at lower temperatures you get more co and co2 losses from them. So I'm not sure you're correct.
You can determine water content of wood with a moister meter. So 60 cubic liters of wood at 20% water content would contain about 12 kg of water. I don’t have a moisture meter as they are pricy. If I hold it against my cheek and it feels cool I assume it is > 16% water- probably not too accurate.
if you were to try retort, I am certain that it would change your opinion on the effectiveness of it. what if all of the heat you lost would go into heating up wood instead of air. thanks. always loved your content, no matter what you´ve done
Lol it actually has been on my mind lately. I saw a video on bio char years ago. And the facts are astounding. I know this is definitely something that I am going to implement into my garden this year!!!! Can you put that burner in a smokehouse and smoke some meat?
I wonder if using a second kiln inverted over the top with an adjustable vent would increase your yield? Making it a little more like a conventional sod built charcoal burner where the rate of charring is controlled by more or less oxygen getting to the burn.
@@WayOutWestx2 You can watch Cody'sLab video on charcoal. His method without oxygen doesn't require additional wood as fuel after it start charcoaling, it just uses the gases released from charcoaling wood. Simple setup, just two oil drums, more efficient, greater quality charcoal and less CO2 released to atmosphere.
I think you'll find that Cody proved that retorts weren't more efficient, didn't he? And also, because they often aren't burned hot enough, they are more polluting and the charcoal is less clean and so less suitable for biochar.
What would happen if you put another kiln on top (like a hat) rather than quench it with water? Would that exclude enough air or would it just keep burning ?
LOVE THE CHANNEL THE PAIR OF U ARE AMAZING HUMANS ,THESE PEOPLE WHO COMENT WITH SUCH STUPID NONSENCE CLEARLY NEED A MOUNTHS HOLIDAY IN TILAND XX SAD JUST ENJOY THE FREE INSPARATIONAL CONTENT XXX S
Mechanize wood splitting huh? If only someone made a mechanized... possibly hydraulic wood splitter, maybe with an engine, a pump and a hydraulic ram that drives a wedge through the wood. But that can't exist right? :D
I just love the process, just don't have the need nor convinced it adds any value to the soil. Charcoal retails for about £1.00 per kg here in the UK, is that potentially an income stream for you?
I hope you realize how much wood shrinks when it carbonizes. If you wanted more accurate yield you would have to factor out the non carbon elements of the wood which is around 50%.
Have you had your land analysed properly. You could be going to an awful lot of work and expense adding unnessesary elements. Even if lacking in elements given by biochar adding your sawdust and stove wood Ash to the compost will have the same benefits for a lot less work, though granted, not as interesting. Academic papers, easily found on the WWW, don't really give a lot of evidence that biochar is better than wood compost.
I think you're confusing the purpose of biochar - it's not a fertilizer; it's for improving the structure of the soil. And of course wood compost has a detrimental effect on plant growth if you dig it into the soil because all the available nitrogen goes towards decomposing it further - unlike biochar. Also wood compost disappears after a few years, unlike charcoal. I think in water-logged and sandy soils biochar has been proven many times to be beneficial - we've used it for years. I just need a way to heat my house as a by-product of the process and then it will make more sense - but it's all just an experiment.
@@WayOutWestx2 there is a little truth in what you say about the sawdust, but if it is well composted before application then it doesn't totally rob all the available nitrogen and en route to full decomposition it pays it all back. I think you are using biochar for the correct purpose if you have clay so I now understand your purpose, body building not nourishment 😊There are so many academic papers out there with long term studies showing it has no benefit for feeding the soil. I think before you start adding "nourishment" a decent soil analysis would help you tremendously.
It's not just heavy clayey soils (that we have) - it seems to benefit light sandy soils too. Because it slows water transmission - and so reduces leaching. We have floods everywhere at the moment here in Ireland and slurry and fertilizer run-off is a huge problem for fresh-water habitats. Bio-char has been shown to reduce this - and help retain nutrients in the soil too. Yes, compost would do that too, but for a very limited time only.
Here in the Southern US we tend to put large pieces of pork over such fires.
I had a friend that showed me that if I do the same thing and as we eat the pork/beef/chicken we put the bones into the fire ,the ash will also contain calcium from the bones . Plus a few stories from friends .
I'm trying to figure out why UA-cam waited so long to recommend your channel to me. Your a real gem.
I have zero interest in charcoal. I'm here for the narration.
Ditto!
Jeff Watt
😂👍
measuring volume is easy, just hold a microphone to it.
Ha!
Heh, heh, heh ... brilliant! :D
You calculated the wood volume as a solid log and the charcoal volume by how much fit in buckets. But the charcoal will have air gaps in it, which I imagine is at least 10% of the volume in the bucket.
You're right, Matthias, but there will always be holes in charcoal - I just chose a size where it was useful and compared that. I guess you could grind it down to a size that eliminates the air, but if you go that small it would be useless for gardening. (You'd have to make diamonds with it and what good are they?!)
In Kenya, for a small quantity like this, I've often seen them use a pit, and when it's all going nicely, they seal it up with a ready steel lid and some clay. Some use a ⅝" id. steel pipe to feed just a little air to the top of the burn for better control. Seems to involve quite a bit of skill.
Yes, that's how you would do it if you want to burn the charcoal afterwards
Cody's Lab recently did a video on charcoal making and the different yields you get from different methods. You might find it interesting.
Yes, thanks, Samuel
one bonus of retort charcoal is harvesting the pine tar (or wood tar) as it is forced out.
Tim I have been making biochar from bales of old hay, I am getting about a 1/3 back, My process is a retort with the excess heat going into my house. It's been working pretty good, and the best thing is it can go straight on the garden no grinding. Thanks for all your videos, great stuff.
Interesting!
Very interesting Tim! Thanks for sharing. Cheers from Montreal!
It's of no importance at all, but I always liked the sound of charcoal! Thanks Tim for letting me remember. :)
Could always try making your own hydraulic wood splitter if you wanted to go a bit faster. Certainly have all the tools laying around for one!
Dear Onahill.
Yeah, they could put something together. Meanwhile I found out (with the help of dozens of Utube videos) that there are definitely a lot better, much faster and more efficient ways than with hydraulic power. At least for cutting and splitting the size of wood they usually have.
Best regards luck health and wisdom.
I gave thumbs up good vid. I say that, because, well, water. He is using this in other ways, than smelting. Making charcoal by method of not actually burning it, the oxygen and hydrogen in the wood escape in amongst the smoke. They can be harvested, the hydrogen itself burns so hot it melts almost everything. To re introduce water into burnt charcoal, this charcoal is so impaired, it cannot melt iron, or maybe possibly even gold ( almost half the temperature). Bit charcoal has seemingly infinite uses. This may be great fertilizer, so I'm gonna try it because I watched this. Inferior charcoal works to grow plants. But inferior charcoal might not fill the bill when it comes to smelting. Again I found your bid informative. Thanks for sharing.
The magic of the retort method is the fact that it is easier to use the wood gas produced as fuel, converting the whole process of carbonization into an "exothermic" one. You only need a little bit of fuel at first to heat the wood enough to start "dry distillation". I want to build one myself one day, because you can also collect and store the aforementioned wood gas, tar and even some interesting things depending on the wood used and/or the top temperature. Also, is easier to make it more efficient and cleaner, insulating it to keep heat inside it and adding a chimney to burn all combustion gasses and ending with a smokeless and more efficient burning.
I've noticed that there are three great ways to make charcoal. Each of them has pluses and minuses.
Cone or pit kilns: easy and simple, all you need is a shovel and a water bucket. Great for biochar because you can take/make the kiln where needed. Doesn't make good lump charcoal and wastes most of the heat.
Retort kiln: Still relatively simple, but requires a container. Makes great lump charcoal for burning, but wastes material because needs external heat to get started. Usually wastes the heat, though you can make a small one and use it in your fireplace (like Edible Acres -channel).
Wood Gasifier: Most complex design (because you need to think about the airflows alot). Makes charcoal AND cooks food at the same time. Heat can also be captured to heat a space.
You can add to your list a pyramid kiln. I've make 2 metal kilns, a large and a smaller one. Relatively inexpensive. Both works great. Makes heaps of biochar in a fairly short period of time. Easy to shift.
Wonderful stuff ! And I dare say the post burn surface area is exponentially greater than that of the original tree ! Eagerly awaiting your calculation 🤣
How fun was that!!! Blessings
I go ahead and bury the pieces that didn't finish converting into charcoal. It can still be charged with nutrient and the rest will still rot down and improve the soil. Like a new and improved hugelmound material. or dig it in at the end of the garden season during clean up. I've watched some videos on the Terra Preta soils in South America and there was one local man who had access to one ancient deposit and he would dig it out and sell the soil. He said it didn't matter because the soil would grow back. There you go, Tim.. try to figure that out with your math! LOL. And I love biochar! I have some soaking in a bucket now with manure tea.
I thought putting a fire on kept the wildlife away but some birds use smoke to clear their feathers of parasites, not sure if it works that way for a donkey. haha Also looking forward to the garden implementation.
Tim "Heath Robinson" Rowe, we love you!
Next project, mechanised log splitter. This would die down slower if you excluded the air with soil.
Thanks, John, but we don't want to cool it slowly - we want it to split open so it works well in the soil
On Amazon bio-char sales for $10.99 USD for 2 cups or about 600 ml.
Lovely video! It's great to see people making sure the volatiles are driven off and it's clean charcoal before quenching. Did you measure the moisture content of your wood? I just use the brash from felling for biochar, keeping the logs for home heating even though sitka burns away so fast. I use the same type of method but with a trough shaped kiln so that I can lay whole branches across without cutting them up, just breaking the char down when I add more branches. I've also used the heat over the fire to dry out some of the wetter branches from the bottom of the brash pile as it never really air dries properly in Ireland. This helps to reduce the smoke. Also, having a baffle around the walls of the kiln increases the temperature of air going to the fire and reduces wind chill and disruption of the flame cap. I just use a few old corrugated steel roofing sheets to act as the baffle. There's a lot less smoke since I started doing this.
Thanks, Fynn. I'm wondering about scaling up production so I'd have to move to spruce logs then anyway. Lots more work to do on the kiln set-up first and making the most of all that heat. So many interesting things to do..!
60%, that's increcible! I only get about 30% conversion. I follow a similar method but not entirely the same. The last time used my woodchipper to brake down the large chunks and that was very effective. From experience I found that using a mortar and pestle takes way too long.
Great idea! Looks like I have something else to do this summer. Just joined up on your Patreon, keep up the great videos!!
well done, Shelly - thank you!!
Great timing. The conversion ratio has been 'bothering' us as we've been making our own biochar this winter. Made me laugh out loud when you said it. Useful info and thanks for making a video about it. We'd roughly decided it was about 50%, depending on how dry the feed stock is, but it depends on how much the charcoal is crushed afterwards (a disastrous first attempt using the cement mixer and stones resulted in a very low volume slurry....). Crushing using a steel pole with a 2" head is simple and effective but we're on the lookout for a second hand garden shredder to see if that's any better.
I think the water-content shouldn't matter too much - though it would affect the time it all takes. more experiments needed (as always!)
I was just wondering about this! That is pretty much how you resize my firewood, though I use an office chair:-)
O ..nice ...u make charcoal..same as my process...i make charcoal as well as briquettes with the powder left..for my barbecue 😋
When times get a little bit better (which will be soon) I will increase my Patreon amount :)
Love your videos! Keep on going :)
Thanks, Blackdread, but you're doing enough already : - )
Dear charcoal making couple.
Simply fantastic! 👍👌👏 That's exactly what I was wondering about all my life! How much charcoal out of a tree! Hooray, now I'm able to sleep well and soothed finally! Thank you so much! ;-) :-)
Best regards luck health and wisdom.
Postscriptum: Seriously, I was wondering why not use the heat to heat up water or the house? I bet that you are able to invent a possibility that does not waste so much energy.
I'm glad we sorted that out for you : - )
Dear @@WayOutWestx2 couple .
Thanks for replying. Yeah, I'm definitely glad respectively relieved too! ;-) :-) At least one less.
You didn't say/answer anything to the last part of my comment. No ideas yet?
Sincerely yours.
It will be easy to heat the house as the burn is going on - lots of heat available. But what I'm working on is a way to store that heat for a few days. Any good ideas?
Dear @@WayOutWestx2 poor carpenter ;-)
Thanks for replying again.
One thing I saw in a relatively new big house in Austria: A big water tank/bulb (made out of metal) above an extremely efficient "Kachelofen" (no metal inside the oven!) in the middle of the house.. This guy burned softwood only (nothing else available there) and had only one cup of ash per day!
Tank was 3 or 5000 l capacity (can't remember) and not insulated but completely embedded in the stone walls and ceilings.
Even after a one week journey in a cold winter the house wasn't cooled out completely.
Indeed nearly the complete building was built around that oven and tank (additionally with warm air channels in the walls).
It's very old and impressive craftsmanship how those Kachelöfen are constructed in Austria and Germany for instance (important: without any metal inside!).
So if you have an already existing building this method will not be so efficient/effective unfortunately. Otherwise: An extremely well insulated water tank always helps. Even if you have a really huge not insulated cooking pot of hot water on your kitchen oven, it will stay hot/warm for a very long time.
Heating up mud/tar (Fango?) or stones is another possibility (a bit like having a hot water bottle or hot stone in your bed but bigger of course).
Using the exhaust heat is another option. Maybe you will like Kris Harbours channel (for instance heating coil around exhaust pipe) etc.p.p..
ua-cam.com/video/l5jUUrDle00/v-deo.html
Until there is no really efficient affordable material to store heat, maybe the best way is to use a heat exchanger/heat pump to make electricity to storage in batteries!?
Maybe the very best way would be to use fire heat directly (to dry wood or cook food for pigs for instance)!?
Sincerely yours.
stuff wood in large steel or iron pipe. cap ends. drill small hole in each cap. place sealed large steel or iron pipe on fire and cook until the steam/fire/smoke stops coming out of the small holes. remove from fire. allow to cool. remove ends. charcoal. no waste.
Actually there's lots of waste that way. All the fuel needed to heat the pipe, for a start. I used to use your method, Scott, but never again.
Love it. Will you mix it with pig manure? Most people mix it with manure or compost and let it age a bit.
We have tried all sorts of teas/soups/manures - now we're on to an exciting new secret recipe..
@@WayOutWestx2 It's not secret... We all make it. ;)
This *is* actually a question that has bothered me!
With the retort method, you should be able to use the woodgas to fuel most of the burn. Thus only a little fuel at the start should be needed.
That's the theory, but in practice you need much more, depending on how dry your wood is
Watch Cody'sLab video on making charcoal. When making charcoal with the method without oxygen you only need additional wood to start it. After it starts you don't need additional fuel, the fire burns from gases released from charcoaling wood. Much more efficient, greater quality charcoal and less CO2 released to the atmosphere.
I have watched his videos - and he proved that the retort method wasn't more efficient at all and you didn't get more charcoal. Also, because retort kilns generally burn at lower temperatures you get more co and co2 losses from them. So I'm not sure you're correct.
Thanks for this info. Love your channel.
Great and interesting video really enjoyed it
Thanks, Colm. Did you plant any trees this year?
I would use sawdust to cook lumber and create charcoal.
That was interesting. Thanks
You can determine water content of wood with a moister meter. So 60 cubic liters of wood at 20% water content would contain about 12 kg of water. I don’t have a moisture meter as they are pricy. If I hold it against my cheek and it feels cool I assume it is > 16% water- probably not too accurate.
You're right, of course, Frank. I'd still need to dry the charcoal out though, till it matched the wc of the original logs. But it would work
Can you do a video on how to use charcoal? Thanks! Great video
Sure thing!
How does smoked donkey tastes like he standing in the smoke
if you were to try retort, I am certain that it would change your opinion on the effectiveness of it.
what if all of the heat you lost would go into heating up wood instead of air.
thanks. always loved your content, no matter what you´ve done
I have Magnus - and I hope to again. There are advantages in both ways and trials and experiments would keep me busy for years..!
@@WayOutWestx2 me and a friend made one from an oil drum back in september, and it blew our minds when it started fueling it self 😀
Here in the phils we used fresh tree to make charcoal.
Lol it actually has been on my mind lately. I saw a video on bio char years ago. And the facts are astounding. I know this is definitely something that I am going to implement into my garden this year!!!!
Can you put that burner in a smokehouse and smoke some meat?
This was just a small burn - I think I'd end up cooking the meat and burning down the shed once I get going!
Way Out West Blow-in blog hahaha!
I find the Swedish log splitter is good for making smaller bits for kindling but then our wood doesn't split as result as yours did
need a medium size boiler with dropping grates, capture and use the lost heat.
I wonder if using a second kiln inverted over the top with an adjustable vent would increase your yield? Making it a little more like a conventional sod built charcoal burner where the rate of charring is controlled by more or less oxygen getting to the burn.
I will put a cowl over it, but mostly to collect the heat. I'm not sure if it would affect the yield though. More experiments needed..!
@@WayOutWestx2 You can watch Cody'sLab video on charcoal. His method without oxygen doesn't require additional wood as fuel after it start charcoaling, it just uses the gases released from charcoaling wood. Simple setup, just two oil drums, more efficient, greater quality charcoal and less CO2 released to atmosphere.
I think you'll find that Cody proved that retorts weren't more efficient, didn't he? And also, because they often aren't burned hot enough, they are more polluting and the charcoal is less clean and so less suitable for biochar.
I'd like to see you use the charcoal in the garden
Ok!
Watching some of those homemade Russian contraptions for processing wood might give you some interesting ideas, just be careful with those fingers
The Air in between all those small bits of charcoal may be the exact amount of what you cut away with the Chainsaw so it evens out? :)
❤
What would happen if you put another kiln on top (like a hat) rather than quench it with water? Would that exclude enough air or would it just keep burning ?
I'd say unless you can fully seal the gap, it would just draw air in as it needed.
We could seal it up like you suggest, but we want to qunch it with water so it splits open ready for adding to the soil
@@WayOutWestx2 oh yeah I know why you quench it, it was more of a thought exercise on my part lol
Bio efficiency is very tricky.
👍
Love your videos! What species of wood are you using to make charcoal in this video?
Thanks, Vic. This is spruce.
bout 3/4 volume. 20% mass. is my guess
LOVE THE CHANNEL THE PAIR OF U ARE AMAZING HUMANS ,THESE PEOPLE WHO COMENT WITH SUCH STUPID NONSENCE CLEARLY NEED A MOUNTHS HOLIDAY IN TILAND XX SAD JUST ENJOY THE FREE INSPARATIONAL CONTENT XXX
S
I wonder if reflecting sunlight onto the fire increases the conversion.
Wait... I use charcoal for burning? I never thought of using it in gardening...
interesting, interesting. Any reason why you use perfectly good fire wood & not say scraps?
scraps are firewood here too. I'm trying to work out whether I could scale up, and if I do I'd have to use bought-in logs
Yes, all that heat - a turbine of some sort, charging a 'bank of batteries?
Hmmm, maybe - but I'm not keen on batteries. I'd rather find a way to store the heat
Mechanize wood splitting huh? If only someone made a mechanized... possibly hydraulic wood splitter, maybe with an engine, a pump and a hydraulic ram that drives a wedge through the wood. But that can't exist right? :D
Ha! but can I power it with a horse?
@@WayOutWestx2 no.. but you could build a steam engine to harness that heat, though that is dangerous.
Is this the same thing as 'activated charcoal'? I think that can filter water or air in face masks, if needed.
Yes, quenching it with water activates it (splits open the structure)
I just love the process, just don't have the need nor convinced it adds any value to the soil. Charcoal retails for about £1.00 per kg here in the UK, is that potentially an income stream for you?
Is that rain-forest charcoal, Steve? Or local? And how dry is it? I sell the biochar I make at less than a €1 per litre..
I think its from local sources, sold as 'lumpwood' or 'briquettes' (, briquettes look like compressed dust) very dry , sold for barbecues
worth checking the label - almost all the charcoal sold here comes from the phillipines..
Why you dont put molasses or compost or other inoculation.
We do innoculate - just not in this video
@@WayOutWestx2 OBRIGADO.
I hope you realize how much wood shrinks when it carbonizes. If you wanted more accurate yield you would have to factor out the non carbon elements of the wood which is around 50%.
I'm not sure what you mean, Tate. The experiment was to establish the shrinkage rate, surely?
Cody’s lab has a pretty good video with some comparisons also. ua-cam.com/video/-_qe_ITKf_0/v-deo.html
why didn't you do pyrolysis within a closed bin?
because this way works better. It gets hotter, it's simpler, cheaper and you get to toast marshmallows on it.
Have you had your land analysed properly. You could be going to an awful lot of work and expense adding unnessesary elements. Even if lacking in elements given by biochar adding your sawdust and stove wood Ash to the compost will have the same benefits for a lot less work, though granted, not as interesting. Academic papers, easily found on the WWW, don't really give a lot of evidence that biochar is better than wood compost.
I think you're confusing the purpose of biochar - it's not a fertilizer; it's for improving the structure of the soil. And of course wood compost has a detrimental effect on plant growth if you dig it into the soil because all the available nitrogen goes towards decomposing it further - unlike biochar. Also wood compost disappears after a few years, unlike charcoal.
I think in water-logged and sandy soils biochar has been proven many times to be beneficial - we've used it for years. I just need a way to heat my house as a by-product of the process and then it will make more sense - but it's all just an experiment.
@@WayOutWestx2 there is a little truth in what you say about the sawdust, but if it is well composted before application then it doesn't totally rob all the available nitrogen and en route to full decomposition it pays it all back. I think you are using biochar for the correct purpose if you have clay so I now understand your purpose, body building not nourishment 😊There are so many academic papers out there with long term studies showing it has no benefit for feeding the soil. I think before you start adding "nourishment" a decent soil analysis would help you tremendously.
It's not just heavy clayey soils (that we have) - it seems to benefit light sandy soils too. Because it slows water transmission - and so reduces leaching. We have floods everywhere at the moment here in Ireland and slurry and fertilizer run-off is a huge problem for fresh-water habitats. Bio-char has been shown to reduce this - and help retain nutrients in the soil too. Yes, compost would do that too, but for a very limited time only.
joke
I think your method of making charcoal is too wasteful for me
larry cherrington - Please share your better one.
Wasteful because the heat isn't collected? (Yet)