Charcoal Maker

a smith showed me one day, he's passed on now, it's the same jist and all, but on a larger scale. i believe he said that from a 55gal drum. he was lucky to get a sacks/buckets of charcoal.

here's a pic to help understand.

-You take a 55 galon drum, cut 5 1'' squares in the bottom, and place the drum upon 5-6 bricks, then spread a curb of dirt around the bottom, but not against the drum yet.

-then fill as tight as possible with scrap 2x4's of any length, just packed tight. he did say that believe it or not pine was one of the chearest and best woods to use as it had a higher carbon content than other woods.....just what i was told.

-then he took kerosene and pour it on the wood till it dripped through the bottom. And light. let it continue to burn till all blue smoke (from the kero) was burnt off. but that time the wood should be going good and you can cover the drum with the lid, and put a couple bricks on top, to keep from blowing off.

-then you back fill arround the bottom of drum with the dirt you put there earlier. this will choke most of the air off and cause it to just smolder, but not suffocate it to the point it goes out.

-leave burn till next day, and then open.

He said thats how he used to do it to work in certain shops or reenactments, that required every thing to be period correct, including the fuel they forged with.

SORRY dan if I kinda got carried away, this is just something i always wanted to try, but never got arround to it. Someone might as well use the info.

thanks for not objecting to the post,

andrew



pic

charcoal.bmp
 
I saw something like this that seemed to work.
charcoalbd2.png


The tube going down is to flow the vapors down into the fire, to allow it to sustain itself after a while of working.
 
For anybody who has never forged with charcoal ( I am not talking briquettes)

High quaity pine or hardwood charcoal is a rare pleasure that is as differnet as using coal is from propane.

How I wish all of my forgework could be done o charcoal.

It is cleaner and done properly using the clean (neutral) portion of the fire will forge with less scale and greater heat than most would think possible.

I will not get into the idea of forging in the carbon rich portion of the fire because then we will be off to the races in a huge TOO DOO with the metallurgists and scientists.

Charcoal will be the way I forge when I am old and forge because I can remember nothing else but the fire and the hammer.

Shane
 
I know where your going..and I'l say this:

Japanese use charcoal, because the say it gives them better control, especially in the way they heat treat.
but..

using charcoal doesn't add carbon content to the steel




:D
 
SShepherd said:
I know where your going..and I'l say this:

Japanese use charcoal, because the say it gives them better control, especially in the way they heat treat.
but..

using charcoal doesn't add carbon content to the steel




:D
Click to expand...


ok, then how about when they cook blades, next to the coal fire out of direct heat, or cook them in rice straw, does that add carbon content? just curious ?
 
Wait a dang second....Mr Shepherd,

I said I was NOT going to bring up the idea of carbon content and enriching steel...

NOT...did I say NOT? here's what I said

"I will not get into the idea of forging in the carbon rich portion of the fire because then we will be off to the races in a huge TOO DOO with the metallurgists and scientists."

This is Dan's thread...and I got too much respect for him to try to make his thread something it is not.

And I got the zones wrong...should be reversed. (Too many hours in a long day befuddles my brain.)

This is Mr. Dan's very good thread about HOW to make charcoal.

Mr. Dan forgive me for letting my mind wander a bit...I should have edited the comment about carbon zones in a charcoal fire. ( That conversation is best had over a warm fire and a cold beer...or many cold beers)

I also said I will leave the discussions of "why and what fors" to the great minds....and there are many on this forum.

Shane
 
lol..well, I guess we can classify it under thread drift


btw..lump charcoal -not the kingsford type:barf: is pretty darn expencive !

plus..it tastes aheck of a lot better when you cook with it than pressed black hockeypucks
 
not a problem guys,,
of coarse I've been known
to stray off coarse myself many times.. :)
but I would like to keep it some what on the subject :)

yes Kingsford has all kinds
of stuff it their so called charcoal..
coal, starch, accelerators, lime, ( I think that's right)
it was on the TV show how it's made a few times..

I'm using spruce 2x4's right now . it's the most common building wood up here.. Bruce Evans using his own charcoal and feels soft wood works better than hard wood charcoal,, thinking it puts out more BTU's... it makes sense
the charcoal should end up a little less dense and therefore burn faster..

I just tried charring sawdust in a few tuna cans too, they fit just right in the tube laying side ways..
now I just need to figure out how I want to use that..

maybe like burning sterno in a Can but with small holes in the bottom for venting it's draft..:confused: for cooking not the Forge
 
James_Terrio said:
All this talk of charcoal is making me thirsty for a sip of bourbon :D
Click to expand...

Quote:
I'm not a steel snob as much as a steel slut. - Rupestris
that reminds me...

you know what a slut backwards is ?????

about $100 Bucks :D quote,, Larry the Cable guy.... :D
 
Dan Gray said:
Quote:
I'm not a steel snob as much as a steel slut. - Rupestris
that reminds me...

you know what a slut backwards is ?????

about $100 Bucks :D quote,, Larry the Cable guy.... :D
Click to expand...

talk about thread drift....:p

funny, i think i heard that one before.:D
 
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