[TheForge] Re: charcoal

[Bruce Freeman]

Phlip,

I like this idea.  The sod-covered woodpile a collier made was called a
"pit"!  The name had to come from somewhere.  

But groundwater could easily make a collier build his pit up instead of
down!  You can't burn wood that's under water.  And even a slow trickle
of water may reduce the yield a LOT - both because of the heat it takes
to dry it off, and because the resulting steam will erode the hot coal,
making coal gas.

A compromise for high water table areas might be to pile up the dirt
and dig a pit into the pile.  
Bruce

<snip>

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