Charcoal Bags

[Ty Unnos]

I think the small branded bag is supposed to take 3KG and the bigger one 5KG.

 

They also do plain non-branded bags

 

If you look the small plain one is slightly smaller than the branded one and I could only get 2.5KG in it.

 

Either way you will get a lot less weight in the bags than imported charcoal as native charcoal is lighter.

 

You just have to convince your customers that less is more due to better quality!

[smiles]

I went for the smaller ones as well - on the basis that I haven't made that much yet and the bigger bags would gobble up my meagre supply in no time!

 

For the last burn I used some bits and pieces of seasoned birh and dead hazel,but for the next one I have loads of birch of around 2 inch dia as byproduct from firewood cutting - however it is not seasoned at all - is this a good idea,or best leave it for next year and use more seasoned stuff in the meantime?

 

Any ideas welcome

 

Cheers

Steve

[Chris Sheppard]

 

For the last burn I used some bits and pieces of seasoned birh and dead hazel,but for the next one I have loads of birch of around 2 inch dia as byproduct from firewood cutting - however it is not seasoned at all - is this a good idea,or best leave it for next year and use more seasoned stuff in the meantime?

 

Any ideas welcome

 

Cheers

Steve

 

We did burn with unseasoned birch and hazel last year in oil drums and it seemed to work - was proper smoky though but didn't really have anything to compare it too though so maybe it was half normal

 

Done a few burns in a smll retort I made out of a 50kg gas bottle and an oil drum - was green nearly every time and seemed to work fine - just needed to get it hot.

[smiles]

Cheers Chris - I'll give it a go then,what's a little more smoke amongst friends!!

[northumbriaforestry]

Let it dry out for a year. Burning it green will just mean you get less product out as you've burnt more of it to get the kiln hot enough top dry what's left out. Charcoal is hard enough work as it is, you should at-leastget a as much return as you can. let it dry, fill every inch of the kiln, get it hot, keep an eye on it & wait!

[Chris Sheppard]

Let it dry out for a year. Burning it green will just mean you get less product out as you've burnt more of it to get the kiln hot enough top dry what's left out. Charcoal is hard enough work as it is, you should at-leastget a as much return as you can. let it dry, fill every inch of the kiln, get it hot, keep an eye on it & wait!

 

Hadn't thought of it like that - good point

 

Am liking the idea of a retort as none of the wood in the kiln is burnt, only scrap wood for firing it. The few times I've burnt it's been green it didn't seem to take much firing to get it running on it's own gases. When I get time, I want to try and build a bigger retort but still be really portable - ideally want to be able to load it up first thing, get it running and look after itself (other than a bit of stoking) and then b ready for opening the next morning - meaning we can still be felling etc the rest of the day.

 

Sorry for the hijack

[smiles]

Thanks Natalie - that does make sense,just thought that I might get away with it being such a small diameter - but I suppose the overall sap content for the volume of wood doesn't change unless seasoned.

 

Chris - how long does your retort take to get up and going in the morning ? I am operating in the same way and trying to do a couple of small burns when I've got other jobs to do around the yard,but obvioulsy don't want to be too far away from me barrels!!

 

Cheers

Steve

[Chris Sheppard]

Thanks Natalie - that does make sense,just thought that I might get away with it being such a small diameter - but I suppose the overall sap content for the volume of wood doesn't change unless seasoned.

 

Chris - how long does your retort take to get up and going in the morning ? I am operating in the same way and trying to do a couple of small burns when I've got other jobs to do around the yard,but obvioulsy don't want to be too far away from me barrels!!

 

Cheers

Steve

 

Beauty of retort was that it's pretty foolproof - as long as there's enough heat it keeps on working. When I used to burn in the garden on a night, I'd get it going and pop back out about every 30 -45min or so to shove a bit more wood in. Worst case, if you ignore it too long is it'll go out and have loads of brown ends - rather than it burning itself away.

 

Time wise, it didn't take long to get it burning the gas - been a while but think it was usually less than a couple of hours on green birch.

 

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/forestry-woodland-management/21912-my-first-charcoal-burn.html

 

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/forestry-woodland-management/31057-mini-charcoal-retort-mk2.html

 

Going to have to try and make some time to get to do more making stuff and less "crash bash" forestry

[smiles]

Thanks for the links -hmmmm retort kiln,veeery interesting,may well be back to bend your ear on this one!

 

suspect that I might now regret cutting up the stainless steel barrels that had lids and clamps!