How to Turn Wood into GOOD Charcoal!

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[@jacklewis100]

"We call them rings" said totally deadpan... That got me! LOL! Great comedy.

[@jeffschuler5659]

Ya gota love it !

[@RuanWenQing]

What?

[@mellis966]

Steel oxidizes at 500-600 °C. A few cans of high temperature paint used for car exhaust manifolds will keep you burner racks from rusting out so fast.

[@kansaIainen]

Great video again. Coal was produced in Finland by digging a hole or pit in the ground, it was filled with wood and covered with wet peat. When it was ignited, somebody had to watch it nights and days and watch that the peat does not burn. They also got wood tar from the same pit. Wood tar was used to protect wooden ships from rotting. Millions of barrels of tar was exported from Finland every year. Coal was used in steel industry in Finland, it was'nt exported.

[@patrickcleburneuczjsxpmp9558]

How did the wood in the pit burn without air? I understand excluding air is necessary to making charcoal, but to turn the wood into charcoal there must have been a fire somewhere. I've been making my own charcoal, but making other products like wood tar would also be interesting.

[@kansaIainen]

@@patrickcleburneuczjsxpmp9558 The air was precisely regulated: there were openings in the lower part of the tar pit which were sometimes opened and closed again with wet peat. The progress of the fire, i.e. the "ripening" of the tar pit was monitored e.g. about the formation of smoke and how much tar flowed from the tar gutter. At first there was tar water, later pure tar.

[@Tjensen999]

"I just call it a ring". Mom seemed a little upset. Maybe because being the only one working. LOL!!!

[@tomtheplummer7322]

Bring the box back. Reminds me 50 years ago. Get a case of 24 bottles of beer all of it returnable. 3 empty cases got a case of fresh beer. Recycling and green before it was a political thing😎🤷‍♂️🎅🏻👍🏻👌🏻🙏🏻

[@rodmills4071]

What are you suggesting..... that we have glass bottles that are in reusable timber crates that can be returned washed and reused.... you are way ahead of the curve, that kind of thinking will have you in the mental home for the crazy.... yes I am old and remember such things.. 🤔😀😎🇦🇺👌

[@davegravel3740]

@@rodmills4071 When I was growing, a local pop (soda, coke, soda pop whatever you call it) actually did just that. It was just a town club pop store. Had wooden crates, you pick the ones you want, mix and match all the flavors. Deposit on the bottles and crate, bring them back and get another crates. It's the only company that still uses glass bottles too but the stores and wood crates are long gone.

[@fernfreeman1729]

My father did that with boxes of nails.

[@Bill_N_ATX]

My senior year in high school, my best friend and I got out of school about two hours earlier than most on a work study program. This was when the drinking age was 18 and my bestie had been left back a year or two so he was 18 at the end of our junior year. In addition, you could still get Lone Star Beer in returnable long necks. The local drive through beer store sold a case of Lone Star for $2.95 if you had a case of bottles to return. So we’d get out of school, hit the brew-thru and get a case of cold beer and head for Wilson Park which was a few blocks from school. We’d start drinking and wait for everyone else to get out of school. We’d then start selling beers for 50 cents a piece. We got free beer and gas money and our friends got to have a cold one on their way home. It was a win win for everyone.

[@andyjohnson3790]

Graduating HS in 2000 almost all of the furniture in our college houses in WI were made out of returnable Leinenkugels returnable beer boxes. They were amazingly strong cardboard boxes and whenever money was short we would just bring a bunch of them back to any liquor store to get a refund of $1.50 per box. I miss those and the beer tastes so much better in a bottle vs a can

[@henogduplessis8968]

This was so fun to watch! I live on a large game farm in Zambia 🇿🇲. When we're not busy, I also cut fallen trees into planks and make charcoal with the offcuts almost exactly like that haha

[@bruceboone1232]

I would like to see the entire process.

[@daleshisler2955]

Cool. Nothing beats cooking outdoors over charcoal. Best flavor there is. Greeting from NW Sullivan co.

[@caryward8251]

Hi there, Emerald. Thank everyone in your family for the wonderful videos y’all present every week; totally different type of working system than what I grew up around . Ours were mostly farming, some road work in the county, and even worked on a cow ranch. Your family is a prime example of an amazing hard-working group of talented people that everyone should try to emulate. At 3::02, here in Texas we call the ring for the barrel a ‘locking ring’. Continue the great work videos with all the different content. Keep Safe & Healthy!!!

[@ronv6637]

For the small chunks and powder they may be mixed with a little water and compressed in a form to make briquettes or any form you like (air holes make better burning)

[@jochen_schueller]

nice idea, ty!

[@anthonyricard7458]

Emerald thanks for the tour an explanation of your charcoal process. Putting every part of the tree to good use is great! Hope the weekend is great for the family! And, I love my shirt, it came Saturday! Great quality and design!

[@anemonemechanics3175]

First time I've ever seen charcoal made like this. I seen artists charcoal (for drawing) made in a sealed can in a bonfire, but volume charcoal in the UK is usually made in a ring kiln or (increasingly) in a retort. In a ring kiln, you use a proportion of the 'charge' in the kiln to fire the process. You can tell when the charcoal is 'done' when the smoke from the chimnies goes colourless or blue. You shut down then. Ring kilns are made of steel sheet, usually with a conical lid. air inlets are ports at ground level, often eight per kiln. Ports can be changed to chimnies by inserting a steel tube that is longer than the height of the kiln. By changing inlets to chimnies, you can control the burn, ensuring completion and limiting the amount of the charge that you actually burn to make the charcoal. Looks like good charcoal though..... Thanks for posting.

[@AnxiousCowboy]

"By changing inlets to chimnies, you can control the burn, ensuring completion and limiting the amount of the charge that you actually burn to make the charcoal." can you explain that further? I do not understand. Thanks for the info

[@anemone104]

@@AnxiousCowboy All your ports are the same and there are usually 8. You light the kiln for the 'free burn' phase and all ports are open. Air goes in the ports (you light through a port as well) and air and smoke come out of the top of the kiln where the lit is held up by logs to leave a good gap. Free burn makes a lot of smoke usually white due to all the steam. Free burn boosts the temperature. I used to run a small kiln - big surface area to volume ratio. That means you have a lot of heat loss so a long, hot free burn is good and also good to reduce burn time. We used to burn with the help of volunteers who like to go home after about 6 hours, basically at the point you shut the ports down and seal the lid. We used to 'overfill' so that the lid was about 4-6" above the rim. Each port has an open end facing out and a spigot facing up. Chimnies go on each alternate spigot to make four and the outlet gets blocked, usually with a brick and some seived soil or sand. The inlets get left as, well, inlets and air goes in. You move the chimnies round so you ensure conversion near the initial inlets. Note you can see in the inlets and monitor burning. If you get a chimney that smokes less or an inlet which burns slower, you can turn the chimney into an inlet or the inlet into an outlet. If you have a breeze blowing that causes the burn to be one-sided, you can move all the chimneys to the upwind side. By altering chimney placement you can ensure that the burn is as efficient as possible and complete as possible.

[@bryanst.martin7134]

The skills of the past are our future. Thank you, young Lady.

[@sonofeloah]

What I found in making charcoal and also char cloth is the gases thrown off are highly flammable. With that in mind, those gases can be piped off to a burner to use to cook with while making the char or to run a boiler for hot water and or steam to run a small steam turbine that drives a generator. It may seem extreme and a waste of time to some. But in these days of higher costs for EVERYTHING, any lowering of daily operational costs for doing what we rely on is like money in the pocket. Maybe chump change at first, but it sure does add up when you are doing it everyday. And powder carbon for the crops is known as "sweetening the soil". Glad to see y'all doing that.

[@tomvarcoe3100]

Could pipe the gasses back into the fire " turbo "

[@andrewczuba498]

a few years back, my daughter and I went for a trip north to maine. We ended up at a place called The Katahdin iron works. its the entry way into the north maine woods, but also a historic site where they used to make iron. there is still one huge stone kiln which was used to make charcoal , and a tall stone chimney thing that was used as a blast furnace to melt the iron ore. very cool what you guys are doing! thanks for video!

[@jodyfannin5496]

Thanks!

[@johnlord8337]

All those slag cuts of bark and timber also make great charcoal. Doesn't always need to be chunky split wood, when you can layer in such 2-3 inch x 12 - 14 inch width x nn inch length slabs and they come out in the same 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 thick processed charcoal slabs that stack easy in a box ... and can be put into a fireplace at any angle for burning - and achieve the same amount of airflow and heat. A good process for all that slab wood that would otherwise go for pennies as cut firewood sections.

[@russellkeeling4387]

If you grind the charcoal to powder, mix it with potassium nitrate and sulfur you can make you own gun powder. I do this and use it in my black powder firearms.

[@gotsloco1810]

This might be a good basis for collaborating with multiple Black Powder channels.

[@mortyrickerson6322]

Im sorry but i gotta say it! I love seeing when gorgeous people are doing hard work. 😍

[@elidawn4971]

I make my own charcoal in a 55gal drum. You must have a few small holes to allow the wood gas to vent. It usually takes 5-6 hours for it to cook off but when there are no more jets of flame coming from the vents, its done. The large splits may be why it takes more burns.

[@paulrambone6705]

I like seeing the knowledge that you have of what you want for your business. Good for you. You will be successful.

[@rexwoodall2179]

Love it! Emerald, more great teaching. Often I’ve wondered how and now I know. Beautiful stuff by the way, carbon, the building blocks of life!

[@AR15231]

Sounds kinda high-end, that's some top shelf charcoal.

[@Devon-3point1]

Would love to see you guys grilling so we can see the product in action. 🙂

[@KenBreon]

Sounds like a great video idea. Boss Man.

[@jimbrown4661]

Good idea!!!

[@rolandgraff414]

What a nice way to live. Your a beautiful young woman with a loving family. God Bless you all🇺🇸✌️

[@Tangaroa1dollarway]

You go girl, good to see young ones doing good, Keep up the good work.

[@collinsganson5115]

Thanks! I had no idea, so that was very educational for me. I may have to give it a try, along with the compost bin tip.

[@migueljose2944]

Wonderful post as always, thank you! I've been charring for 10 years now, not as consistently as you guys so your know what you're doing. A couple of ideas you might want to think about: insulate your fire if possible, you could make clay/ash/vermiculite etc. bricks or just throw together a batch of mud and stuff that give you air in the mix, sawdust will work to create air pockets around the burn between the steel box and the concrete blocks. thanks again

[@dougalexander7204]

Great job. I just started making biochar for my garden and lump charcoal. Thank you for sharing.

[@duser2326]

that was very informative. The creosote tip was the key. Thanks for sharing.

[@jamesweir2943]

thank you for the education. you do a good job of explaining as well.

[@pauljmchenevier7581]

Hello Emerald. Good morning from Paris, France. I've read your team presentation, which I found so natural and straightforward. I've had various experiences in personal entrepreneurship, in France and abroad (in Mexico), and I know what it means to fight for a company, with ups and downs. I wish your team the best for the days to come.

[@wayneweis653]

I missed the Mom comment the first time. After the dad comment, I went back to hear the video again. Excellent family values.

[@martinflaherty7755]

This is my first video of yours I have seen. It was great, informative and entertaining. I will be checking out more.

[@rontech1671]

I've made my own before. Same way! I loved to see the different colors of smoke during the process!

[@paulyoung5327]

Great presentation on homemade charcoal. Very informative. Thank you.

[@greywolfwalking6359]

Another income stream from your lumber..very innovative! Good job! 👍🧙‍♂️🐺!!

[@supremepizza3710]

Used to just start off with sticks too kindling in the grill till it burned down to coals and cook... I liked it. Roommate didn't, he wanted charcoal briquets and he having barbequing skill extraordinaire and loved doing it. Who was I to argue... If someone else is doing the cooking. I'm all in! The last two seasons we have had gypsy moths and it rained caterpillar poo... So much so you could shovel the sidewalk with a snow shovel, no outdoor grilling. It looking like winter, not a leaf for miles! Have a setup was thinking of giving a go, basically a small barrel inside a larger one, but haven't. Your setup gives me an idea. Have a cooking oil dumpster I liberated from my restaurant as the recycler ceased business and wouldn't remove it. So took it home to where it resides behind the pole barn collecting water mostly. Certainly, heavy metal and would likely work... Have plenty of storm down oak and woodlot full of standing deadwood too some recently fallen. Used to work in the woods dodging skid steer and felling trees, not for the faint of heart. RESPECT! RIP Troy: Take care

[@paulmartin2348]

I enjoy anything where I learn. Thank you. (yes, I was reading other pages about charcoal production at the same time) 😀

[@madeonearth6506]

So beautiful and helpful thank you!

[@Ukepa]

I didn't know the process, or the reason, for making charcoal but I love the glowing coals. Thanks for the info!

[@garyworokevich2524]

I had no idea how it was done. Thank you Em.

[@pnwcruiser]

During the char production process flammable organic compounds (and H2), called wood gas, are driven off which can be used as fuel (running a wood gas powered vehicle or generator, for example). Also, the little stainless steel wood gasifier stoves you can purchase online very inexpensively burn the wood gas at secondary heated air vents at the top of the combustion chamber, which is why they are smokeless and very efficient at operating temperature. After the organic compounds are driven off heat from combustion of the remaining char can be useful for keeping a pot simmering (CO burns cleanly at the secondary air vents). Those are great little stoves for camping or emergency prep, enabling cooking and water purification with a remarkably small quantity of twig bits or small chunks of wood. You can also take 100% cotton cloth place it in a metal container with some holes poked in it and then heat it to drive off volatile compounds leaving char cloth which is useful for catching the spark from a ferro rod when starting a fire.

[@thomashare6211]

Do a video where yall actually fire it up and make it. Maybe time-lapse and narrative style?

[@scottreese5492]

Awesome set up, another way to know is done is the steam/smoke coming out of the vent holes should be reduced to a very minimum, almost none, thanks for the video

[@Ram-1231]

I'm just here for the really cute redhead!

[@loucinci3922]

Interesting insight into how its made. Thanks for sharing

[@jhonmorenocastro3010]

Thank so much for the video !!

[@mcc1483]

That was really interesting! I loved seeing the whole process and then the carbon at end. Wow! Great Job! Really cool.

[@ramhornjoe]

Awesome video, thanks for the detailed information 💖

[@JosephDeLuna-yj8vg]

Thank You That Was An Excellent Presentation. Very Informative! I Learned A Lot.

[@thunderheart7072]

Emerald, thanks for the beautiful video. Well done ❤

[@rustyrobinson8027]

thanks for the upload and all the hard work best wishes

[@stephenwilliams4118]

Funny I use charcoal on a regular basis since I grill quite a bit as well and never knew nor did I give a second thought to how charcoal is actually made. This was a real education as are many of the videos you post. Looking forward to more videos this week and thank you for another good one. Mom wasn't interested in giving a tutorial ?

[@brianthompson3060]

Your videos are very informative and interesting. My brother worked in the woods and during mud season worked in the mill for 35 years, so very cool

[@brianthompson3060]

I would like to see more of your videos on what you do outside of work

[@kevinbates6979]

Thank you so much ! You changed my life .

[@mikeg9b]

I didn't know anything about charcoal. Now I do. Thanks!

[@Gertbfrobe407]

I learned something today, well it was this morning.... thank you!

[@tomwolfe6063]

You have the most unbelievably awesome hair I have ever seen in my life. Head to head, you would straight up kick Rapunzel’s ass. No contest.

[@davidwhitten928]

Nice one em thanks for sharing that everyone should know how to do that 👍

[@sunline24]

Cool! A bonus video on a Sunday night.

[@raymondrobinson5251]

One very interesting point about lump charcoal. You can simply put the coals out with water. Let it dry and reuse on your next BBQ. Bisque coals, once fired up, it's total wasted product. No reuse. Bonding agents used not good for soil amendment.

[@stantilton2191]

Thank you for the informative video.

[@1windsock]

It is called a clamp ring. Love learning the logging side of things. Your videos are great.

[@chipwhitely1490]

Thank you Miss Emerald and Bosslady for this video, Thank you the explanation of the use of the barrels, when producing charcoal. A great additive you this akly Rocky soil of Southern Arizona. Next month gonna pick me up a Orange LCLY hoodie if it's still available. Really nice advertising there BossLady. Thanks again Miss Emerald/ Buck, still miss Ole Bo n Buck but time will tell or not if they will return.

[@mihovilgovorcin7125]

"I just call them rings" LOL...Great video!

[@terrywong7879]

Interesting subject, thank you.

[@bruce-le-smith]

great video thanks. the creosote tip is super helpful thank you. biochar is great for compost and garden soil, thanks for showing how you produce it

[@billrichardsjr]

Your mom never smiles. Tell her to cheer up!

[@qcasey]

I love when people explains the science behind it. Hugs from Brazil!

[@elarcadenoah9000]

son dos bariiles cada uno con un pequeño agujero encima y uno pequeño en la base para poca entrada de oxigeno y poca salida de co2 asi la madera quema sin combustionar con mucho oxigeno asi se produce el carbon ,podria tardar unas 4 o 5 horas pero erl producto es carbon ,si el barril tiene poca entrada de oxigeno la madera no se transforma rapidamente en ceniza sino que se transforma en carbon ,se pone la madera dentro del barril se prende fuego dentro del barril y cuando empiece a arder la madera se tapa con la tapa de arriba y se coloca el aro sellador ,se abre los pequeños agujeros el de la tapa y el de la base de preferencia un centimetro encima de la base para que el oxigeno entre y que pueda salir un poco de co2 por la tapita de arriba o el agujero de la tapa de arriba y se espera a que el humo sea menos denso despues de 4 o 5 horas cuando el humo sale mas blanco ya esta listo el carbon,no es necesario dos barriles puedes empezar con uno ,supongo que esas barreras de cemento son para que el carbon conserve el calor mas tiempo y este listo mas rapido,creo que con eso se puede jugar un poco pero la tapa de entrada de oxigeno debe ser lo mas pequeña posible

[@dennishinkle5010]

That was an informative video and entertaining as well. Great job. Thank you.👍👍♥️

[@richardhawkins2248]

The metal container won't soak up as much heat as the concrete will. You might be able to create panels using plaster of Paris and perlite. It's an insulative firebrick, but it can't take abrasion. I just do it in 55 gallon drums with an after burner, but that's mostly for the garden at this point. Nice video.

[@WhatDadIsUpTo]

I make my own (Oak) lump charcoal using a tracking solar (FREE heat source) retort. I can run my whole-house generator on the fume too. I make individual 20-inch by 4-inch logs to fit my bedroom fireplace, one at a time. For me, it's a hobby.

[@YT512llc]

That is so interesting! Another great video! Thanks!!!

[@markkromer1238]

Wow! Cogan Station. I drive by there several times a week on 81. Someday I'll stop in and get a box. 🙂

[@ssprofirewood]

Very informational, thank you for sharing that. 👍

[@johnshearing]

I've been watching a lot of KZbin about biochar. Those are the largest pieces I have seen so far. Thanks for the tip on how you know it's ready. I would like to see the full process in a future video please. Much thanks

[@PurpleCollarLife]

Very informative and interesting. Great job.

[@Busted-Buzzard]

Very interesting , thanks from Colorado 👍

[@SickPrid3]

3:00 i laughed more than I should 😄 It's literally called drum locking ring

[@LastChanceTinyHouse]

If you live in places where the water isn't drinkable, charcoal is one of the best filters for water besides ceramic you can use if your doing an DIY water filter.

[@jamesmcgrath1952]

Also good for treatment of ingested poisons.

[@dimmacommunication]

@@jamesmcgrath1952 Just make sure it's natural

[@Andyman269]

And if you drink water with activated charcoal mixed in with it, it also acts as a detoxifying agent for your body

[@phaledax3661]

This also works for airflitration, where you make a charcoal slurry, and have an air tube with tiny holes fastened to the bottom of the slurry to allow air bubbles to interact with the slurry to have clean air as a result, pump it into the house for an allergy/polutent free home.

[@marvinalone]

activated carbon it is

[@bobburnitt5761]

Wow, what a fine video!! Lump Charcoal is a good thing to have, cooking meat on it is great as it does not produce "Stagnant Smoke" etc. For Blacksmithing it burns very clean and is great for that. It is kind of labor intensive to make, especially for Blacksmithing. It is a really fine soil amendment for sure.

[@cinemaipswich4636]

I have always admired the Japanese way of making "white charcoal". Basically put wood in a vessel, seal a cap on it with some small holes in the lid. Turn it upside-down and place it in another vessel, raised slightly. Place all your rubbish wood inside and set it alight. Put a cap and/or funnel over all ,and do a slow hot burn as optimal. Making charcoal is the art of cooking wood, with the absence of air. All the water is cooked out, but the sap and other volatiles are cooked in. The residue fiber, although black, is the essence of charcoal. Not too hot and not too cold. Not too long and not too short. The true art is to end up with it being white, but black is okay for everyday use.

[@garyoliver9987]

Great video Emerald i always wondered how charcoal was made. keep them coming look forward to the next video. from your fans in Alberta!

[@rjacj]

I've made Char Cloth (think Lewis and Clark, with a flint and steel to make a spark), using the same method, of corse on a much smaller scale. Amazing that the cloth as well as your wood does not turn to ash, but retains most of its shape and burns so hot after the process.

[@MrOldzimm]

For my Flint & Steel I char punk wood, the punk wood must be spongy, if not it won't work. I char and keep the punk wood in a tin, strike sparks into the tin of charred punk wood and hold my birds nest (Tulip popular inner bark, cedar bark grapevine bark, dry grass etc) into the tin and blow on it until I get flame. I did this because when our ancestors went into the wilds they didn't tear their shirts up when they ran out of char cloth. All you need is the steel, the forest can provide everything else to make fire.

[@rjacj]

@@MrOldzimm Very interesting. I'll keep that in my memory bank. I thought that they would keep every scrap of warn out clothing to use as char cloth, but the punk wood makes sense as you would never run out of it.

[@RogueSmithers]

Yes sir, char cloth is a great way to use old scraps of Tshirt or jeans

[@damirlorca1298]

this video help me a lot! thank you! i was loking for this information well delivered i want to do charcoal for my forge

[@3DCHome]

Really enjoy your videos. Very interesting and well done.

[@PAI93]

Videos keep getting better and better

[@buckchamp9011]

Love the video, very interesting charcoal system. Noticed that awesome jacket and hoodie, mine should be here tomorrow. 🤙🏻☕️❤️👍🏼🇺🇸😎

[@cat-cambodia1801]

Your presentation is amazing My friend 👍🤗

[@user-id6ke6xz9n]

Very well presented. 👍

[@keithbennett5519]

Amazing video and i pray u all had amazing weekend

[@ahill209]

The Boss Lady got it right . The retention device is called a "ring". Sometimes called a locking ring.

[@Robert-cd2ht]

Great vid Em, you could recover heat and pipe into your greenhouse and even home either air or water of course you need to make a remote shed. I amend soil as well and also make DIY substrate for my aquariums and emersed plants.

[@KenBreon]

Our grow bed in the green house are heated with our waste wood. Boss Man.

[@AuDive0]

Very interesting thank you for the information

[@fredmonroe6042]

I’m a beginner blacksmith. This is one of the better tutorials about this process thanks.

[@carlosfinlay874]

Thanks, good work

[@jaquespierre4426]

Just Bcuz you are so practical in your tips on ''How to'' i subscribed.

[@VerumAdPotentia]

"I just call it a ring." Priceless.

[@hudson8865]

Thank you very much.