You can make charcoal with your own hands in a less labor-intensive way than by digging a hole. In my case, I use a 200-liter barrel and a vacuum cleaner, which has a positive effect on the result.
I started making charcoal because of the current situation, when one could only dream of coal, and especially coke, in our area. But this did not negate the fact that for forging it was still necessary to look for something.
Therefore, I decided to go along two lines of search that could lead to an alternative fuel to coal. I tried to work with domestic gas (gas furnaces), and tried to get my own charcoal, since buying it would cost me a lot of money. It helped that I had enough fruit trees. My neighbors in the country began to actively build cottages, for this they vacated construction sites, cutting down and uprooting dozens of trees, and happily giving them to me. However, after studying the issue of coal, I learned that firewood from freshly cut trees is not suitable for burning - you need wood that is well dried. Therefore, as a test, I started burning scraps of dried linden boards - by chance I had plenty of them.
How to make charcoal at home
As for the barrel, it is advisable to take a 200 liter barrel with thick walls. In the lower part, near the bottom, we cut in a fitting. In my case, I received a barrel from a neighbor - it already had a squeegee screwed into it, since it was used for a summer shower. Through the fitting I forced air into the barrel.
Here I used an old Soviet-made vacuum cleaner.
Connection to the barrel with a metal pipe.
As for productivity and wood consumption: I use 3 barrels, the first is for burning coal, the other two barrels are for ready-made chopped wood (when I fill the barrel with them, I shake it). This way I get a relative amount of firewood per batch of coal.
At the bottom of the barrel I make a small fire, and while it flares up, I add more wood.
Combustion should be monitored at all times. Over time, you will see when the moment comes where the firewood has flared up quite well through the blower, but has not burned down to ash - then you need to add the next portion of firewood. To maintain the required airflow, you should constantly turn the vacuum cleaner on and off. To look into the barrel, you may have to put something on the ground; due to the intense heat and smoke, you can’t really see anything. I made a stand out of a stack of rubber for the tracks.
To close the barrel, the easiest way is to take the original top lid - but I didn’t have one, so I adjusted a two-piece sheet for this. To cover all the holes through which air could enter the barrel, I used earth diluted with water until the solution was thick. I also sprinkled earth on the fitting at the bottom.
At the final stage of topping the firewood, there is always a risk that the lower layers of coal may be burned into ash, so I do not allow the wood in the upper layer to burn properly. Because of this, a certain amount of firewood goes to waste - for the next batch.
I do not open the barrel until it has cooled over the entire surface. If there are some barely warm places, it means something else is burning. Usually, when I seal the barrel hermetically in the evening, in the morning it will already be cold, which means it’s ready.
It is also convenient to receive coal in a barrel because it is convenient to unload it. To do this, you just need to turn the barrel over. After receiving the next batch of coal, the barrel ends up with a lot of ash and fine coal fractions. Before pouring coal into bags, I sift all the resulting coal.
Charcoal is a biofuel suitable for lighting grills, stoves, barbecues and other cooking facilities, as well as home fireplaces. Its manufacture will require certain knowledge and equipment. Having mastered the technology of how to make charcoal with your own hands, you can obtain excellent raw materials for household use in a short time without large financial investments.
If we compare charcoal, for example, with peat or firewood, it has undeniable advantages:
- better heat dissipation;
- absence of smoky smoke and harmful emissions into the air;
- low cost;
- a small amount of ash after complete combustion of the fuel;
- absence of foreign impurities (sulfur, phosphorus, etc.);
- ability to maintain high temperature for a long time.
Charcoal is produced by combustion, and the raw material for it is wood itself. It is heated to high temperatures in an airless environment. The finished product is packaged and supplied for sale to stores, markets, wholesale centers, etc.
Thanks to a large number of positive qualities, charcoal is increasingly replacing other types of fuel. To produce it in large quantities, special burning furnaces are used, in which wood is burned at high temperatures without access to oxygen. The absence of air allows the integrity of the wood fibers to be preserved.
Technology for making charcoal at home
If you do not need a whole trailer of charcoal, then purchasing in large quantities will not be rational. You can make a small amount of fuel for a barbecue or stove yourself, having a small supply of knowledge and the necessary materials.
Selection of raw materials
The quality of coal will depend on what type of wood you choose to produce coal. It is better to give preference to logs without bark. Thus, during the burning process, a lot of smoke will not be released.
To save money, it is better to use the wood that is available or that is easier to obtain. The quality class of coal is determined by the type of wood and is marked accordingly:
- “A” - hardwood trees such as oak, elm, birch;
- “B” - a mixture of coniferous trees and hardwoods;
- “B” - softwood, alder, fir, poplar, etc.
The most common and affordable type of wood is birch. It produces excellent coals with high heat output and even heat.
Making charcoal by burning wood in a pit
To make charcoal with your own hands in a pit, you need to prepare the raw materials and the place where it will be laid. The logs, cleared of bark, are sawn. The smaller the size of the logs, the better the quality of coal you will get. It is better that the dimensions of each workpiece do not exceed 25 cm.
Next, a cylindrical hole measuring 60 cm in depth and 70 cm in diameter is dug. This volume is enough to get about two bags of fuel. The walls of the pit must be exactly vertical. The bottom is thoroughly compacted with feet or any available devices. This is necessary so that the earth does not subsequently mix with coal.
When the pit is prepared, you need to build a fire in it. Brushwood or dry bark is suitable for this. Do not use chemicals for ignition. The main task is for the bottom to be completely covered with branches, so you constantly need to add new ones as the previous ones burn out.
Wood is laid out in a well-burnt fire. The logs are placed as close to each other as possible. When the first layer burns out, new logs are placed on top of it and so on until the pit is filled to the top.
The time it takes for the logs to turn into charcoal depends on the density of the wood. Their hard rocks will produce higher quality coal and will take longer to burn. From time to time you need to rake out burnt logs with a pole or a long stick.
After 3-4 hours, the log pit should completely burn out. The finished fuel is left to cool completely before packaging. To do this, the coal is covered with fresh grass, earth is thrown on top and everything is compacted well.
It will take approximately 2 days for the fuel to cool down. After this, it is dug up, sifted and put into bags. Charcoal is completely ready for further use.
Just like burning coal in a pit, you must first prepare the wood. The logs are cleaned and sawn. You also need to prepare a thick metal barrel. The volume is selected individually, based on the principle of how much coal is available or how much coal is planned to be prepared. There are two ways to make charcoal with your own hands in a barrel.
- Heat-resistant bricks are placed at the bottom of the container with the ribs up. A fire is built between them using paper, wood chips, brushwood, etc. Prepared logs are laid on top until the coals cover the surface of the bricks. A metal grate is placed on the burnt wood, and the next batch of logs is placed on it. There should not be large gaps between the logs and their layers. As soon as the barrel is filled to the top and a flame appears on the surface, it is covered with a metal sheet or lid. The readiness of the coals is determined by the color of the smoke coming out. If it is gray in color, then the barrel is tightly sealed and the fuel is left to cool. Afterwards, the coals are taken out and used at your discretion.
- Prepare a platform on which the barrel will be installed. To do this, a sheet of non-combustible material, such as steel, is laid on the bricks. A fire is built between the bricks. A barrel filled with firewood is placed on top. The container does not close completely. The cracks are necessary for the escape of gases during the oxidation of wood. When the process of gases escaping stops, the barrel is left on the fire for a while, then removed, and the gas outlet holes are tightly closed. In this form, the coal is left until it cools, then it is checked for readiness and quality.
The process of making charcoal at home is quite labor-intensive, but the result is excellent biofuel without harmful impurities.
Scope of use of charcoal
Home use of charcoal is far from the only area of its application. Burnt wood can be used in industry for the following purposes:
- for “filling” filters;
- to saturate steel with carbon and obtain pure alloys;
- for the production of glass, plastics, etc.;
- in pharmaceuticals for the production of activated carbon;
- for creating natural food dyes;
- for use in agricultural needs.
The significant concentration of carbon makes charcoal a strong reducing agent. Such properties made it possible to use it in metallurgy, chemical, paint and varnish and electrical industries.
To light the forge, some use coal, others use gas, and some prefer to use charcoal.
I read about charcoal and identified three of its main positive qualities: it burns cleaner than coal, it costs an order of magnitude cheaper, and you can cook it yourself.
I looked at several instructions for making your own charcoal, and this method seemed to be the easiest and cheapest. I originally dug it up somewhere on the Internet a couple of years ago, but in that video the guys used 210-liter barrels with pipes. I don’t have such steel canisters or closed barrels at my disposal. How did I get out of this situation? Now I will tell you everything in detail.
Tools and material
In general we will need:
- Firewood and coal wood.
- Tools for cutting and splitting wood.
- A metal container and everything needed to seal it.
- A cordless chainsaw, although a regular hand-held one will do just fine.
- A Ka-Bar combat knife for cutting small wood, a wedge and a hammer, although you can also use a shingle knife (like in my story about making a forge, so I'll make a shingle knife from an old lawn mower blade).
- A block of wood for hitting the knife (or a knife for splitting shingles).
- Red oak for kindling.
- Coffee can as a container.
- Aluminum foil to seal the container.
Chop, prick and throw into a jar
I couldn't capture everything properly on camera because I lost my tripod somewhere, but I think you'll understand everything anyway.
First I sawed the red oak to lengths just short of the height of my coffee can, then I chopped them into pieces about 20mm thick.
I estimated the thickness by eye. Since I plan to use these coals to light the forge, I thought that small blocks would not work for me. Considering, moreover, that everything was done as an experiment with an unknown result, I needed bars with as much surface area as possible for combustion.
I then filled the jar as tightly as possible with wood and then covered it with aluminum foil. I made a small hole in the foil to allow moisture and wood gas to escape.
When wood smolders in the absence of oxygen, it releases wood gas, which, by the way, can be useful on the farm. In principle, this gas can even be used to fuel cars! It is because of the gases that a completely sealed container in our case will turn into a time bomb. Aluminum foil with a hole avoids this effect.
Let's make a fire
Safety comes first!
A bucket or other container with water nearby is a must. I had rain for 2 days, but the fire can break out suddenly and very quickly, so you need to be ready to stop it at any second. I had about 40 liters of water on hand.
I started the fire in a homemade steel container that I made during a welding course a couple of years ago. I planned to make a grill out of it.
I have a fairly long beard and I've singed it before, so here's my advice to anyone with long beards: braid it or tuck it into your shirt! I think fishtail braids are a good option, while traditional three-strand braids tend to wear out pretty quickly.
For those with long hair, tie it back in a braid or bun to avoid singeing. It's not that easy to grow them back. My hair length now does not exceed 3 cm, so this issue no longer bothers me.
So, I decided to cheat a little by using a gas blowtorch to ignite. I used pine shavings from my workshop for tinder and dry pine sticks for the fire starter - all of which will help the red oak fire.
I lit a fire and put oak on top, but the fire burned weakly. The traditional method of cooking charcoal requires patience, but I was eager to get it done before the evening! That's why I turned a fan on the fire, and after about half an hour it completely engulfed the tree. It's time to move on to the next step.
We watch and wait
I lined the coffee can with logs and left the fan on to keep the burning temperature high.
After about 20 minutes, smoke came out of the jar, but it was just the water vapor that I talked about at the beginning.
After about an hour, wood gases began to appear. HOORAY! This means everything works as it should and the wood turns into charcoal! After an hour or so the fire was almost gone and I decided to hold some heat to the hole in the foil to make sure the wood gas was no longer escaping. Everything is almost ready!
I removed the jar from the fire using two rods and threw a little earth on top to completely seal the container - no air should enter there, otherwise, due to the pressure difference, it will allow the charcoal to smolder further.
I waited another hour or so before opening the jar and seeing the finished product.
Result and final thoughts
I opened the cooled jar, cleaned off the dirt, dumped the charcoal and broke it into small pieces about 5 cm in length. Really, I just wanted to make sure the wood was charred enough. And I was convinced of this! I ended up with about 3 cubic liters of pure charcoal!
My thoughts on the experience:
Until I complete my forge, I won’t be able to say for sure how good this coal is, and the resulting material will clearly not be enough. So I'll have to repeat this process a few more times to replenish my supplies.
In fact, I was surprised at the amount of coal received - after the experiment, the jar was only half filled.
If you don't have a coffee can like this on hand but have some spare cash, you can buy a paint can. I would recommend looking for one of those shiny metal canisters they sell at hardware stores.
I advise you to use hardwoods, since they are usually denser than softwoods, and during smoldering there will not be as much resin and juice released.
I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and I hope someone finds it useful!
I finally finished my forge and used the resulting charcoal. It turned out well - the coal gives off powerful heat, and flares up quite quickly.
Charcoal is a porous mass of shiny black color with a blue tint. You can make your own charcoal if necessary. This is a unique material, the most ancient type of fuel. But besides this, it has a lot of useful qualities.
Properties of charcoal
Areas where charcoal is widely used:
- Household sphere
- Chemical industry
- Metallurgy
- Agriculture
- Blacksmithing
And this list is not complete yet.
Important: All over the world, charcoal is considered the main source of energy.
Coal is able to perfectly absorb moisture; it rids the room of unpleasant odors and toxic chemical compounds; cleans water from unnecessary impurities; protects products from spoilage. Activated carbon, which everyone often buys freely at pharmacies for stomach problems. In a word, this is truly a useful product in almost all respects.
How to make charcoal yourself
In fact, making charcoal with your own hands is a rather multifaceted process, with many nuances and methods. But there is one, the simplest and most accessible to absolutely everyone, and therefore universal. We are talking about burning wood in a pit.
It is very important here to find a suitable place for the pit. In the city, near the house you should make allowances for the wind, the presence of trees around and anything that could accidentally catch fire. In the forest it’s enough to just find an open place, in a country house it’s the same.
Important: firewood should be small in size.
A round hole is dug with a simple shovel. Its depth is directly dependent on the amount of raw materials. The walls need to be made as vertical as possible. The bottom must be compacted so that the earth does not mix with coal.
Then a fire is made from twigs at the bottom, gradually adding fuel until the hole at the bottom is completely ablaze. Now you can throw the prepared firewood. It is better to pack them more tightly as the fire burns. It will take approximately 2 to 4 hours for everything to burn through. The type of wood, humidity, and thickness of the logs matter here.
When everything has burned out and the fire has gone out, the pit must be closed tightly. Some people lay it with a sheet of metal, others with turf, the main thing is to ensure tightness. You can open everything in about a day, when the coals have cooled. Unnecessary impurities are removed by sifting the coal through a sieve.
Charcoal for barbecue and flowers
Few people don't like meat cooked on the grill. In addition to the correct marinade and other tricks, there are also nuances associated with coal. Although you can buy charcoal in briquettes for a long time, it never hurts to learn how to make charcoal for the barbecue with your own hands.
The main thing here is to have enough material at hand. Coal can be burned in a pit, as described above, or you can take a galvanized barrel. By the way, getting coal is only half the battle. You need to be able to light it up. To do this, coal is placed on the bottom of the grill in a thin, even layer and poured over with lighter fluid. Then you can add coal, sprinkle it again and wait a little for the liquid to dissipate. Now you can set it on fire.
And this is far from the only place where charcoal can be successfully used. For example, you can make your own charcoal for flowers. This is excellent drainage, which saves plants from death due to overwatering. A natural antiseptic, it absorbs salts and prevents roots from rotting. It is usually placed in a pot at the bottom with a 2-centimeter layer.
And since it is always better to see more than once than to hear a hundred times, for clarity, it is suggested to look at different options for preparing coal yourself. DIY charcoal video
Charcoal is a natural biofuel that can be used in various fields of activity. What are the advantages of charcoal?
- does not contain phosphorus and sulfur;
- does not have a negative impact on the atmosphere;
- has a large ;
- burns completely;
- is a renewable resource.
Those who have already encountered the need to purchase charcoal know that this type of fuel is very expensive. Therefore, in order to minimize costs, you can make charcoal yourself. When making charcoal, both hard wood (beech, oak, birch, etc.) and soft wood (aspen, alder, poplar, etc.) can be used. The quality of the fuel also depends on the feedstock: from hard grades we get grade A coal, from soft grades we get grade B coal.
How to make charcoal in a pit
This method was used by our ancestors. So it will be easy to make coal yourself. First you need to dig a small hole. The pit is made in the form of a cylinder, making sure that the walls are vertical. With a diameter of 75-80 cm and a depth of 50 cm, approximately two bags of coal are obtained.
The bottom of the pit must be compacted (you can use your feet) so that the soil does not mix with the finished product. Then a fire is made in the pit (use small branches, dry birch bark, etc., but no “chemistry”). Gradually add dry thin branches or firewood to the fire, so that the entire bottom is covered with burning wood. When the fire is well lit, we proceed directly to burning the charcoal: add prepared firewood.
Important! Firewood for charcoal must be without bark. It smokes a lot, and the coal from it is of poor quality. To make it more convenient to use fuel, you can cut the firewood into “portioned” pieces. Select the sizes yourself, but it is not advisable to use more than 30cm.
Gradually, as some firewood burns out, we place fresh ones on top, periodically moving them with a long pole - the firewood should lie tightly. And so on until the pit is filled to the top. How long the burning lasts depends on the size of the firewood, its density (hard wood burns longer, but the charcoal is of better quality), and on air humidity. It takes at least 3 hours to fill a hole of the specified size.
The filled hole should be covered with green grass or leaves, sprinkled with a layer of earth on top and compacted well. Under these conditions, the produced charcoal will cool for about two days, after which it needs to be sifted and packaged. After all these procedures, the coal is completely ready for use.
This video clearly demonstrates this technology, inherited from our ancestors, but large pieces are burned here. This takes more time. Firewood smokes a lot due to the fact that the bark is not cleaned. Try repeating the process, but without the bark, and compare.
How to make charcoal in a barrel
Another way to make your own charcoal. You will need a thick walled metal barrel. Select the size depending on the amount of coal you want to make in one go (if the barrel is large, it will take a lot of time to fill it). Chemical containers must not be used under any circumstances; if petroleum products were stored in the container, it must be burned out and used only cleanly.
There are two ways to make charcoal in a barrel. In the first, a fire is built inside it and then the process itself is no different from getting coal in a pit. Only if you are using a large container (100-200 liters) so that the firewood laid on top does not “crush” the fire, place six bricks (preferably fireproof) standing on the bottom. Build a fire between them, carefully add wood until the coals almost cover the bricks. Then you place a grate on the bricks and place the next batch of logs on it. Lay this wood tightly in rows. Having filled the barrel to the top, wait until flames appear on the surface, after which you cover it with a sheet of iron, leaving a small gap. To speed up the process, air can be supplied into the hole made in the lower part, for example, from a vacuum cleaner, but it is quite possible to do without it. The wood is burning, and you are watching the color of the smoke. As soon as it turns gray, the barrel must be sealed and left in this state until it cools completely. Then remove the lid and take out the finished coals.
In the second option, cover the barrel, filled to the top with tightly packed wood, with a non-flammable lid. It needs to be closed almost hermetically. There should be holes (for gases to escape), but small, since the temperature inside needs to be brought to 350 o C. We place the barrel on a platform isolated from the ground. In its simplest form, it is several bricks laid on a sheet of metal. Between these bricks we make a fire, on which we “warm” the barrel. After some time, the process of wood oxidation (combustion) begins and gas begins to escape. After the gases have stopped escaping, leave the container on the fire for some time (to give you a guide, let’s say that it may take 2-2.5 hours to burn a 20-liter container of firewood into coal). Then remove the barrel from the heat and seal the holes in the lid. Leave until completely cool. Having opened the barrel, we have a certain amount of charcoal that you made with your own hands. Nice…
These methods are not the only ways to make charcoal at home, but they do not require much expense. Their disadvantage is the difficulty of tracking the process: if in an open pit or barrel you can still somehow navigate by the type of firewood, then in a closed barrel such “means” of control are not available. You can only rely on experience. After several independently made batches, you will learn how to burn coal efficiently, avoiding underburning or, conversely, burning out of the raw material (this happens to almost everyone at first).
An easy way to make your own charcoal
If you have a wood-burning stove, you don’t need any special devices: firstly, you can select burnt, but not collapsed, red coals and place them in a container with a well-fitting lid. It is advisable that it be a large ceramic tub, but you can also use a bucket or small barrel. Just remember that when using metal containers, you must not forget about fire safety, and you can get burned. The lid must be closed until the coal cools completely. After everything has cooled down, you already have coal.
To have more coal, you can, after the firewood is well lit, close the doors and the blower, close the dampers, give it 15 minutes to burn out, and then scoop out the coals into an airtight container. The result is more significant, but the method is also riskier.
Charcoal production as a business
If you consider charcoal production as a business, then you won’t be able to get by with a pit and a barrel: the volumes are not the same, and it takes a lot of time. You will have to purchase equipment for the production of charcoal. You will need:
- coal burning furnace;
- scales, charcoal bags and packaging equipment;
- source or generator of electricity;
- means for chopping firewood (chainsaws, devices for splitting firewood, etc.).
The expenses are considerable, but you can save on premises: production is located in an open area. At the start, you can get by with one kiln, but to reach serious capacity, you need to consider a chain of kilns, since the process is quite lengthy: first loading wood and drying it, then firing, cooling and unloading the product. A more serious installation contains separate containers - retorts, into which raw materials are loaded. There can be several retorts: while the wood is dried in one, the coal is burned in another, the third cools down, the next one is unloaded and loaded (). This chain provides for round-the-clock operation.
Making a furnace for burning coal yourself looks problematic: even the simplest designs are far from elementary, you will have to work with thick-walled metal, and the welding must be of high quality. For example, here is a drawing of a charcoal stove called UVP-5B, developed by TsNIIME.
This development by TsNIIME looks simpler. Their portable charcoal kiln is simple and has good performance, but it requires compliance with all proportions.
In general, as a business, charcoal production is not the easiest option, but it is quite promising and, if properly organized, profitable: demand is growing steadily, prices for good fuel are high. Moreover, even waste and substandard products (crumbs and fine coal) can be processed into fuel briquettes.
Conclusions. The simplest ways to make charcoal at home are publicly available: you mostly need dry firewood (even thin branches and dead wood will do), a small plot of land and/or a metal barrel with a lid. If we consider the production of charcoal as a business, then considerable costs await. But charcoal can be made from any type of wood, even from waste from the woodworking industry: scraps and substandard residues. You can even use sawdust by pre-forming pellets. Some of the product coming out of the kiln is substandard, but charcoal screenings can also be converted into good fuel using . In general, despite the difficulties, this is a fairly promising type of activity.