Making charcoal..

[Twice boom]

Any of you ever make charcoal for the forge .
If so how did you go about it..

I'm thinking maybe I can make little charcoal for heat treating out of my soldering iron pod..
Regular charcoal wont cut it as far as heat temps..

 

TB,

Sometimes you can find 'real' charcoal sold as 'lump' as opposed to 'brickets'. If not, get some good hardwood burning nicely and then smother it with dirt. Let it sit overnight or until its cold and wal-la. You may need to play with how much you let it burn and how you smother it.

You will need an air source under your fire if you want to get metal hot enough to reach non-magnetic temps.

Sean

 

[Rod Lassey]

I know several guys who've purchased bags of plain non-briquette charcoal at Wal-Mart, they like to use it in their braziers at places that don't allow open fires. If you were to want more, I'd try cooking the wood in an old steel drum--kinda like charcloth on a grand scale. I've also heard from guys that have done it the old way, stacking logs up into a cone, covering with dirt, and dropping lit coals down the center to start the burn. From what they've said, you really have to know what you are doing, and watch it diligently day and night, or you'll end up with a cone shaped pile of ashes.

Rod

 

[Twice boom]

Thanks guys I found several way on google search how to make charcoal in your back yard. Seems simple enough .

The soldering Iron heating pod is like a small forge itself. It has a sliding gate-up or down- with a sliding lid that one can control the air flow.. It does a nice job heating my soldering Irons when I reline box gutters . Whether it will bring a blade or an axe head to heat for hardening is yet to be seen..If not, i'll rework it till it does......
Thanks a bunch.
Twice.

 

[Homesteader]

I've actually made charcoal just to see if I could do it. Laborious, dirty, and time-consuming. (Which means I loved it!) :wink: Hardwood chunks in a pile, get it burning, and cover it all with dirt with a little chimney on top. Same principal as making char-cloth.

Nowadays I just buy hardwood lump charcoal (Qik Joe brand) from my local hardware store. It's the same stuff.

1000% better for cooking than that glue & sawdust briquette crap, btw.

 

[BillinOregon]

I get mine free. Here in Oregon, the BLM and Forest Service burn piles of hardwood and softwood slash in fall and winter. I just walk over the burn piles and fill buckets with the stuff. Works fine for my washtub forge with hand-cranked Champion blower.

 

[aprayinbear]

:thumbsup:

Recently I made a little forge and have been making charcoal to fire it up. Sounds like you already came up with some good internet info on making charcoal. Here's my 2 cents worth from what I've learned as a newby.

First of all, you can use hardwood or softwood chunks (I use softwood, because 2x4 scrap is so easy to find.) Softwood charcoal burns hotter and faster (so you need more of it) while hardwood coal burns slower, but not as hot. What's important is using the same type with each firing so you can control the burn more easily.

To make my charcoal I cut up 2x4 scraps into 2x2x6" pieces and pile them like Lincoln logs in an old pretzel can I have. I prepare the can by poking holes around the bottom. Next I fill around the 2bys with tinder of any kind and start the burn. Soon the pile is blazing and once I'm sure the pile has caught, I put a lid on the top of the can to starve the fire of oxygen. This way the wood only chars and does not burn to ash. I find this method very successful for small lots.

I plan on trying the same method with a full size garbage can. Just for fun you might enjoy this video that shows the way the old colliers used to make their charcoal back in the day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxW7g3IwD1k&feature=related

All The best :thumbsup:

 

[Twice boom]

That's one of the many perks you have by living in Oregon,I wish I still did.
It seems here are couple of ways to make the stuff .One is by direct heat to where you dig a pit,set the hard wood on fire then cover it with dirt. The other there is an indirect method. With the indirect method you use the gasses from he heated wood to help with the cooking. You place a small container in a larger one that is packed with wood . You fill the smaller container with hard wood,place a lid on the two containers while you set fire to the larger container that acts as a fire box.In about three hours you should have good charcoal.So the article claims.. :wink:

Twice.

 

[Twice boom]

Thanks for the video,good stuff.
Twice.

 

[ameling]

A simple way to make small amounts of charcoal would be to put a metal bucket of water next to your normal campfire. Once you have a good bed of coals built up in that campfire, shovel some out and dump them in the can/pail of water. Later, dump your bucket out on a screen or somewhere to the side, and let your new "charcoal" dry out. Just be sure the coals in your campfire are full glowing coals with no or very little flame.

Another way to make small batches is to use something like a 5 gallon metal paint/grease pail with the metal lid. Loosely pack the pail full of wood chunks and put the lid back on. It does help to punch/drill a few air holes in it. Then set that pail on a regular campfire. Just like making charcloth in a tin, smoke will start coming out of your pail throught those holes and around the rim of the lid. When the smoke coming out stops or slows way down, then set your pail off to the side to cool. Plugging any holes will help, and setting it lid side down with a little dirt scraped up around the pail helps seal that up from air.

Most methods involve burning your wood part ways down to just coals left, and then smothering out the fire. Part of the wood to make your future charcoal is burned up to provide the heat to convert the rest into charcoal. The "sealed drum" method uses an outside fire to "bake" your wood inside the drum without any oxygen. This drives off all that smoke - volatile gasses and moisture - leaving just the carbon fuel left. It's the same process as baking up charcloth in a tin. The "sealed drum" method leaves you with more charcoal inside your container, but takes more wood outside to provide the heat to bake the drum. And it is a little less -- messy.

Around here, Menards carries those big bags of Cowboy brand lump charcoal. Wally world occasionally carries some. But more people are starting to use the lump charcoal for their bar-b-qing, so more places are stocking it.

There is a Japanese "national living treasure" crafstman that only used softwood charcoal when he forges up saw blades. Each saw that he makes sells for 5K to 10K!!! But he is using all the old methods - including starting with wrought iron. He uses softwood charcoal because that is how he learned.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

 

[Twice boom]

I can buy the charcoal from my building supply wholesaler same place I bought my little tin forge for heating soldering irons. The Irons are 1 1/2" square, by the way....

All good suggestions Mikey. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to make the charcoal to burn in my forge or not. It will depend on how much the forge eats up and how labor intensive it is to make the charcoal. I do though like to make enough to have around for heat treating,and for Bar-B,Queuing little meat....

Thanks buddy.
Twice.

 

[chipper]

I listened to all of your suggestions, they all seem like good ones. From the explanations, it seems to me, a fella could simply build a wood fire in a bbq'er. Once the wood is completely on fire, simply put the lid on the bbq, shut all the vents, and let it burn out. I've never done this before so I'm only guessing. Most of us have a bbq of sorts in the back yard, no special equipment required.
That's my suggestion.
Regards
Loyd Shindelbower
Loveland Colorado

 

[Twice boom]

That's pretty much it .Except I haven't made any yet. :grin:

The info I posted came in part from "How To Make Charcoal at Home" by Don Gill. Worth while read.. Google..

Twice.....