View Full Version : Charcoal
arctic hobo
31-05-2005, 19:26
I've been chatting with a Norwegian friend about my trip this summer, when he mentioned charcoal as an excellent lightweight fuel. He said that not only was it very light but the beauty of it is that it can be reused many times. He said he fills a lightweight billy with it, (fires are illegal in Norway between May and September), and it produces no smoke. It sounds ideal! I can't think why nobody has mentioned this to me before, or why it's not used more. Apparently a jerry can full of charcoal is enough for a family for a year! :eek:
Anyone got any experience of this?
Maybe it depends on the wood that the charcoal come from? All I know is that our chimenea can go through half a bag of commercial charcoal in an evening - that's probably half a jerry can. I'd love to know how to conserve it better - is it used just for boiling water or for heat as well?
I went through a bag and a half on in around 5 hours (guessing!) Sunday... Other than digging out the old coals (which went on the fire whilst people were boiling water), I don't think I understand the reusable bit?
steven andrews
31-05-2005, 20:17
Apparently a jerry can full of charcoal is enough for a family for a year! :eek:
Our family get through that in a fortnight! - and that that's using a kettle BBQ that means you can suffocate the unburned charcoal and save it for next time.
I've had a barbeque every day this week, and twice a day on some days!
I love a bacon roll done on the bbq...with a brew from my kelly kettle :D
Any excuse to light a fire...
arctic hobo
31-05-2005, 20:22
Well apparently decently made charcoal can be burnt again and again. The stuff that my friend uses he gets from a charcoal burner he knows.
bushwacker bob
31-05-2005, 21:39
I know a bloke who produces pukka charcoal from new forest oak, but unless you burn it without heat,you still end up with just ash. It could be used for other things afterwards,like soap production or plant food but isn't combustible any more.
innocent bystander
31-05-2005, 22:18
I suspect he means relighting the unburned charcoal. Light it for long enough to cook, extinguish. Relight the unburned portion for the next meal. There doesn't appear to be any evidence to support burning it completely, twice or more.
Maybe someone should do a long term test of a simple charcoal brazier ?
OldJimbo
01-06-2005, 06:18
Charcoal is great stuff - other than that making a lot of it was a time consuming activity - but it sure isn't re-usable unless it's doused and the unburned parts re-used.
There's a neat Timeteam episode showing how it was made in quantity. I've wanted to try that!
Charcoal is one of the best, if not the best, fuel you can have. If it wasn't for the humble charcoal burner the Romans would of never invaded England.
You burn charcoal so you won't have any left if allowed to burn through, you will just be left with ash ( some woods will leave more ash than others). The problem you will have for using it for bushcraft is that it is bulky and if you use any of the foreign rubbish you will end up with very poor results due to it having a very low carbon content.
If you soak lumps of charcoal in parrafin, you then have a great fire lighter.
Cheers.
Jack.
Jack,
On the subject of charcoal do you make it with seasoned opr greenwood.
We've got several oak & ash tree that came down earlier this year that I fancy making small batches of charcoal with. Is it best to season them or just use the wood as is?
Keith_Beef
01-06-2005, 09:32
Good charcoal is high in carbon, low in other components. The other components are what is left behind (or what blows away in the wind) as whitish grey ash.
My barbecue has a cast iron tray, with no ventilation holes, so even without dousing, there is a fair quantity of charcoal left in the bottom, with the ash, once it's gone cold.
Charcoal is great, gives very, very little smoke (once it's got going properly), but is very light. You might think that's a good thing when hiking, but it also means that it's very, very bulky.
My 100l rucksack, filled with charcoal, would probably weigh no more than about 5 kilos... but that should be enough to cookl for four people for a whole week.
My idea for a charcoal stove, would be a sort of hobo "paint tin" stove, like I've seen mentioned on here, but with a second tin, that is a close fit around the stove.
To extinguish, you'd put the stove inside the larger tin, and put the lid on. The lack of oxygen should do the trick.
You'd have to leave the stove long enough, so that the coals don't re-ingite when you open the tin, but not so long that it cools down so completely that the pressure inside gets too low to take off the lid. Maybe just a flat plate, placed over the top (a billy can might be enough) would be better than a tightly fitting lid...
Rambling, idle thoughts for a dreary Wednesday morning...
Keith.
Jack,
On the subject of charcoal do you make it with seasoned opr greenwood.
We've got several oak & ash tree that came down earlier this year that I fancy making small batches of charcoal with. Is it best to season them or just use the wood as is?
Eds.
You can use either. You can charcoal any organic matter ( including yourself) but it all comes down to moisture content of the wood, higher the content the poorer the results. Most burners will want to be using wood that is well seasoned, has been around for many years in the stack, unfortunately this is seldom the case as the landowner needs his return from the wood instantly so it is normally left for a year. If the burner is using oak then this will still be green and have a very high moisture content but if he is using ash then he will be ok as this has moisture content of around 35% when green so he doesn't have to wait long before he can use it with good results.
If you want to use the oak you have then split it out now and take advantage of the summer heat and use a 40 gallon drum as a charcoal kiln.
Cheers.
Jack.
A clear guide with pictures for making charcoal at home is here:
http://www.eaglequest.com/~bbq/charcoal/index.html
OldJimbo
01-06-2005, 14:32
Jack: Does anyone still make charcoal the old way using a clamp setup?
There used to be a guy near to where my parents live in Fife who was a charcoal burner using traditional methods - i.e building circular stacks of wood, covering them in turf and soil and building a chimney etc up the middle - last time I was home they told me he's stopped doing it now as it wasn't profitable enough due to the vast amounts available from supermarkets etc :( I might try and track him down next time I'm back there and see if he's up for passing on the skill, even if I don't have an active use for it just yet...
OldJimbo
02-06-2005, 00:55
That's the method. I'd never actually seen how it was done until I watched the Timeteam episode - Ironbridge - and it didn't work out too well for them because they ran out of time. Quite a skill to master.
Jack: Does anyone still make charcoal the old way using a clamp setup?
Hi Jimbo.
There are a few skilled people left in the UK that practice the art, and it is an art. The burners who use this method do so for historic reasons and not for commercial resason.
Like most things rural, everything changed when the industrial revolution arrived. Charcoal is an amazing substance and is used in so many industries araound the world it is only until resentlt that we have used it for BBQ's. It is with wonder that many of us do not know the power and the importance that this humble piece of burnt wood had on our society.
TIP OF THE WEEK.
Place a piece of charcoal in your boots when you have been living in them for a week, leave it over night.....................natu ral odour eater.
Cheers.
Jack.
TIP OF THE WEEK.
Place a piece of charcoal in your boots when you have been living in them for a week, leave it over night.....................natu ral odour eater.
Cheers.
Jack.
That makes so much sense now you say it.
I'll give it a whirl, though I may need more than one lump - stinky feet!
It will work Lurch, but make sure you use lump wood charcoal..............and make sure that it is British :D
That's the only stuff I buy Jack.
:cool:
OldJimbo
03-06-2005, 16:42
Thanks, Jack!
Interesting stuff - I've only made small amounts of charcoal for sketching. I can see that I've got lots to learn!
I did some charcoal-burning in a re-enactment context at Rufford park [outskirts of Sherwood forest I think..... Notts] a few weeks ago.
Not the most successfull effort, mainly because of time constraints. The wood we were burning was mostly new cut and consequently a bit wet. As we only had 24 hours to accomplish our burn the amount of good charcoal was limited, considering the size of the clamp [approx 4 feet high..... maybe 4-5 feet in diameter]
Basically we dug a shallow [6"] pit, and stacked split wood into a mound in the middle of it, leaving a hole in the middle. Then we covered the mound with pre-cut turf and stopped the gaps with earth before putting a large amount of burning kindling into the central mound-hole. Once it was well alight, we covered the top and sat there watching it [for safety] for 24 hours before we had to break it apart, before time. Apparently when the smoke changes colour the burn is complete, which had not happened when we reached the end of our weekend. An interesting experiment, and one which I am keen to repeat, hopefully with a little more success next time.