[TheForge] Re: charcoal

[Saint Phlip]

> I wonder what the economics of charcoal production would be today.
> The only business I knew of personally (in Leverett, Mass) shut down
> 20 or more years ago.  They had two brick charcoal kilns as big as
> small houses, held several big truckloads of wood each.  I wonder if
> you could tool up, presumably using something a bit more high-tech and
> less expensive that huge brick bee hives, and still make a profit if
> the supply of slab or scrap wood was essentially free.
>
> - Mike

Well, I suspect you might do quite well, if you went the other wat- LOW
tech.

Instead of a big kiln, a ditch in the ground and a dozer or perhaps a
tractor with a front end loader.

Dig your ditch, pile your wood in, fire it up, cover with dirt, poke holes
in the sides, and let it burn. Pull the dirt off, and put all your charcoal
someplace. Roy Wilson and I were discussing just that sort of thing a couple
months ago.

As far as getting your wood, coppicing would work just fine. First time
through, burn the wood from the tree, 10 years later you'd be burning the
suckers. Easily sustainable and cheap method of production, and in the
meantime you'd be earning your living with your dozer or tractor ;-)

Phlip