Any new small charcoal retorts out there?

[Woodworks]

Hi Steve

 

Probably just under 50% by volume. Never checked by weight but I fill 7 of these per barrel and they weigh around 2kg each. No obvious problems with warping since the initial burn and subsequent modifications. Snag is I don't make much charcoal so it's not getting worked very hard to show issues. Barrels are holding up remarkably well and still using my original ones. Not trying to keep the retort temps down now and run it between 500C-700C. It gets a lot less smoky above 600C. Just had a chap make 30 mile round trip to buy 10 sacks of charcoal as it's the best he has ever bought

[richardwale]

Looks great charcoal. How much do you sell 2kgs for?

[Woodworks]

Looks great charcoal. How much do you sell 2kgs for?

 

Thanks Richard.

 

£5 selling direct and £4 trade. Financially it's madness when I consider the time involved in cutting, drying, loading, unloading etc etc but it's good fun non the less.

[the village idiot]

Thanks Richard.

 

£5 selling direct and £4 trade. Financially it's madness when I consider the time involved in cutting, drying, loading, unloading etc etc but it's good fun non the less.

 

Fit's my experience to a t Beau!

 

I think a small, cheap, manufactured retort for the hobbyist/small producer is a great idea though.

[Woodworks]

Still mulling over the whole CE mark side of things. Cant even work out if it needs it or not from the guidance on this site https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ce-marking

 

From a quick search the Fourseasons one has a CE mark but cant find a webpage saying the Exeter has but doesn't mean it doesn't have one. In reality mine has more potential danger which is inescapable with changing charge chambers while everything is hot.

 

Could sell it as a one burn and if customers work out they can change the charge chambers while hot it's their own risk

 

So out of my depth with sort of stuff

[TRADITIONAL LOGGERS]

I am looking at the Kon - Tiki kiln. Interesting design!!

[sjs5060]

Hi, last week I knocked up a retort pretty similar to the one woodworks originally made. Fired it on Sunday afternoon, left it alone, result perfect charcoal.

Lit it again last night, get up all excited this mornin, look in my barrels, a **** load brown ends.

Any advice on what went wrong?

My only variables are, Sunday I used some kiln dried beach logs, which where standard sized and yesterday I used semi seasoned (down 12 months) ash but cut and split very small.

Also Sunday I panicked a bit thinking the gas hadn't come of so stoked the fire after and hour or so to get it roaring again.

Any advice greatfuly received

 

Thanks, ste

[Woodworks]

Hi, last week I knocked up a retort pretty similar to the one woodworks originally made. Fired it on Sunday afternoon, left it alone, result perfect charcoal.

Lit it again last night, get up all excited this mornin, look in my barrels, a **** load brown ends.

Any advice on what went wrong?

My only variables are, Sunday I used some kiln dried beach logs, which where standard sized and yesterday I used semi seasoned (down 12 months) ash but cut and split very small.

Also Sunday I panicked a bit thinking the gas hadn't come of so stoked the fire after and hour or so to get it roaring again.

Any advice greatfuly received

 

Thanks, ste

 

I would be looking at the wood used and how wet it is. Only ever used very dry logs in mine off the advice of Openspaceman who says this aspect is makes a huge difference to a burn.

 

Did you vent the gas the same way as mine with holes drilled in the side of the barrel? If so interesting that you did not get any ash in the barrel if they were just left in the retort to cool.

[HertsWood]

I cooked a batch of Hornbeam last week.

Pre-burnt it on the Thursday to drive off some moisture - took it to about 250 degrees and then shut it down. On Friday I lit it and fed the firebox until it was gassing well at 450 degrees and then closed the top vent, temps rose to 540 degrees and stayed there for the rest of the day.

On Saturday, I cracked the Retort open at 10am - temp was still 90 degrees and I had no brown ends.

 

The Hornbeam was felled between oct16 & march17 and has been air drying in the woodlands until last month. I split it into 400mm billets that were then thrown into the retort, with split logs to face up. [ATTACH]221611[/ATTACH][ATTACH]221612[/ATTACH][ATTACH]221613[/ATTACH][ATTACH]221614[/ATTACH][ATTACH]221615[/ATTACH]

[richardwale]

That's the way to do it. Very very nice.