Preparing and Loading the Charcoal Making Kiln

Drying the earthen kiln insulation, preparing the floor, and loading kiln in preparation for making a batch of charcoal. The first fire is relatively small and is intended to dry out some of the moisture in the clay/earth around the kiln remaining after construction and before winter. After cooling and cleaning it out, a "floor" is created above the steel floor slats using thin boards and brown charcoal from previous charcoal runs. Then the wood (mostly Pine) is split and stacked vertically from back to front leaving only a small airspace at the top. The front will be filled with kindling and bark and then the opening closed up and mostly sealed before lighting. Controlling the air intake slows down the burn and prevents loss/crumbling/cracking of charcoal wood.
the kiln: islandblacksmith.ca/2019/11/ch...
making charcoal: islandblacksmith.ca/how-charco...

[@MrChickadee]

Awesome bro, so nice to see the kiln up and running! Hope there is a prt 2?

[@architect_bulkov]

Familiar faces! Glad to see you here

[@jt659]

Thanks for your work on building an efficient kiln for charcoal. A friend and I were discussing his homemade retort so I decided to look for something more efficient and found you. J

[@islandblacksmith]

definitely check out the iwasaki style kiln, you will find some charcoal links on the process page of my website...

[@islandblacksmith]

Drying the earthen kiln insulation, preparing the floor, and loading kiln in preparation for making a batch of charcoal. The first fire is relatively small and is intended to dry out some of the moisture in the clay/earth around the kiln remaining after construction and before winter. After cooling and cleaning it out, a "floor" is created above the floor slats using thin boards and brown charcoal from previous charcoal runs. Then the wood (mostly Pine) is split and stacked vertically from back to front leaving only a small airspace at the top. The front will be filled with kindling and bark and then the opening closed up and mostly sealed before lighting. Controlling the air intake slows down the burn and prevents loss/crumbling/cracking of charcoal wood.
the kiln: islandblacksmith.ca/2019/11/charcoal-kiln-v-4-0/
making charcoal: islandblacksmith.ca/how-charcoal-is-made/

[@Kurokubi]

You should really consider wearing some kind of particle mask when you crawl inside the kiln if you're going to be doing it often. Breathing in, unintentionally ingesting and absorbing the soot through your skin can actually cause all kinds of cancer from esophageal, lung, and skin cancer to bladder, and even scrotal cancer.
"Exposure to soot was first associated with skin cancer of the scrotum among British chimney sweeps in 1775. Since then, many studies have found that chimney sweeps have an increased risk of scrotal and other skin cancers."
So, in short, if you foresee yourself being exposed to soot often and for a long time, be careful, it already looks like you're covering yourself pretty thoroughly (whether it's because the inside of the kiln is still hot or it's cold outside, I don't know. I'd assume so.) Which is why I only recommended the mask.
I only made this comment out of care for your well being and no other reason.

[@islandblacksmith]

a respirator mask is certainly a good idea for a charcoal maker...something further to consider in your research is that the type of soot in a charcoal kiln is different than in a chimney, the temperatures are quite different and the whole point of charcoal making is to remove those harmful materials from the wood by the process of kiln cooking...the inside surface of the kiln is basically cooked clean to the steel, in the same way you know your wood-fired pizza oven is hot enough when the sooty black bricks turn white again...

[@tickertape1]

Glad to have you back again

[@sodalines]

miss your videos brother. great job. love the work you do

[@islandblacksmith]

finally got some footage, need some time to get editing again...

[@yopyopu3258]

YAAAS you are back ;D I'm a happy man.

[@adamcfmacdonald]

Great to see. Thanks for making. Stay well.

[@nickbutler9831]

Could you do a more in depth tutorial on lacquering the sheaths of your blades. Im remaking a saya for my katana as the original is cracking and cant find any real advice

[@LocNguyen-us4gg]

Along time ❤ back

[@daviSilva-co3ov]

Ensina a fazer a laca

[@Dotori1724]

Long time no see

[@pascalbruder6620]

Sorry that this question is not directly related to this video :) When you use the Fuki-urushi technique for laquering, do you need to have an urushi furo for curing in between coats or are the layers thin enough to cure it without one?
Thanks for your inspiring videos!

[@islandblacksmith]

every layer is cured before the next...

[@pascalbruder6620]

@@islandblacksmith Thank you for the quick answer! Did you build your own cabinet for curing? I want to learn more about what to watch out for when curing urushi, especially if its possible to overexpose your items to moisture and how to avoid that.

[@islandblacksmith]

you can make a very simple furo/muro, especially for small projects (plastic container, wet rag, etc)...if you watch everything fushimi~san posted you will learn a lot about handling urushi...too much moisture and too thick a layer can make the surface wrinkle...don't rush the process...
ua-cam.com/channels/_KYw3EZl26xsQoCvgVDH7w.html

[@NKG416]

damn i miss you dave

[@thecrazylousianastormtuber6208]

He reminds me of ilya from man at arms reforged just my personal opinion

[@cerocero2817]

How much charcoal will you be able to produce in a batch with this klin? IIRC you wrote that you needed a couple batches a month with your previous klin to keep up.

[@islandblacksmith]

i used to average about one batch every 2 months, i estimate this one could produce enough for 4-6 months per run possibly...with the added bonus of being a dry storage bin in between batches...

[@naimhoxchi7764]

Супер👍👍👍💪💪💪 хочу туда к тебе

[@architect_bulkov]

уголь складывать?

[@user-fw9sq5or8p]

🍿👌🖤