[TheForge] Charcoal

[Saint Phlip]

Now if we could just start making kudzu charcoal popular...

On Wed, Sep 17, 2008 at 4:34 PM, John Husvar <jhusvar at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Y'all ain't been close by Abilene, TX, Have ya? Mesquite is a weed down
> there comparable to kudzu in other southern areas. Came up on cow feet from
> Mexico and loved the place so much it's trying to take over the whole
> Republic of Texas! Well, it and Prickly Pear cactus.
>
> If mesquite charcoal gets more popular, y'all could stop an ecological
> disaster. :)
>
>
> On 9/17/08 1:06 PM, "Andy Gladish" <gladish at cablerocket.com> wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 17 Sep 2008 08:56:24 -0700, Saint Phlip <phlip at 99main.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Andy, charcoal is actually quite a sustainable resource, unlike coal
>>> which will be gone when it's gone.
>>
>> Yes, you're right- I was responding to his "now talk me out of this"
>> comment by saying that there's a downside to anything. Most of the
>> charcoal in stores comes from areas of Mexico and the American southwest
>> that are more or less strip mined for wood.
>> Sure it comes back, theoretically, but the habitat destruction is
>> significant, even though most of us don't have to look at it. If you make
>> your own, a charcoal burner almost by definition produces a large amount
>> of particulate matter and wastes much of the potential heat energy of the
>> wood.
>>
>> There are ways around this, and I personally think that charcoal produced
>> with all this in mind is the best possible forge fuel.
>> We either pay the price by making it ourselves in a responsible way, or we
>> all pay in the long run because we treated our planet unkindly.
>> Now to walk my talk and make charcoal in the winter, using the burnoff to
>> heat my shop!
>>
>> Andy G.
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>
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-- 
Saint Phlip

Heat it up
Hit it hard
Repent as necessary.

Priorities:

It's the smith who makes the tools, not the tools which make the smith.

.I never wanted to see anybody die, but there are a few obituary
notices I have read with pleasure. -Clarence Darrow