the village idiot

Crikey! That's some mighty big twigs for charcoal production. I presume it must have been viable converting them to charcoal rather than firewood?

On the contrary, I think he's hot

The Exeter measures the temperature of the flue gasses as they exit the charge chamber. I try to maintain a retorting temperature of between 450 and 500 degrees C for no other reason than this is what was advised by the designers. This produces a very nice, pure, but potentially light charcoal. The Exeter, as opposed to a lot of other retorts heats the charge wood directly from below along its whole length, resulting in an even temperature throughout and no unconverted wood (so far). I'm surprised Steve that you had to be quite so precise with your temperature control.

Would you like to come and have a look. I have a lot of Ash that I think would be suitable. I am in Suffolk

Do you do the extraction as well as the felling?

Well there's a thing. If they can cope with the Arctic I might get them to quote for my new lawn:biggrin:

I agree with this 100%, but am not articulate enough to express it as brilliantly as Rob. Keep posting Sean and more pictures please, they are fantastic:thumbup:

Others may disagree but I don't believe the economics stack up with the Exeter unless you can secure a grant to help with the purchase cost. Charcoal is not worth enough and the Exeter is in my view not strong enough to get a guaranteed decent return if shelling out the full whack. You might well get 300 burns out before the steel of the retort chamber gets too thin, but it will buckle to the point of needing attention long before this, potentially after only 100 burns or so. What I don't know at present is what the remedial work would cost to get the kiln to 300 burns. I still think the Exeter is the best option out there for the woodsman producers wanting a retort kiln. All affordable charcoal kilns buckle so it is well worth having a metalworking friend who owes you a favour or two. Better still, use blackmail- steal the omnipresent nudie girl calendar out of his workshop and replace it with soppy kittens 2015. Once the kiln work has been completed you can return his diary of dirty desire. I think your figures are good for the potential of the Exeter. 300 burns over 4 years is very doable. I would slightly lower the yield per burn to 150kg unless you exclusively use beech or hornbeam, and with a conversation ratio of 4:1 (dry wood:Charcoal you would need more like 45 to 50 tons of wood per annum. If you can produce a kiln capable of three times the yield at half the capital outlay, producing consistently good product you would bring a smile to the blackened whiskered lips of many a humble Wood Collier! My suspicion is that as you suggested earlier you would really need to use heat resistant stainless to produce a non warping retort, but that would necessitate pricing it out of the reach of the people who want it.

I presumed he meant four seasons fuel as Nick's yard is littered with burnt out retorts, but maybe Fuelwood are developing one? That would be cool.

Very interesting posts charcoalman. The treewood kiln is still warping all be it very slowly. It is a good machine but it's high cost and lack of mobility make it unsuitable for most burners. It is also quite heavy on the brown ends. I'd be interested to see what Nick comes up with next. There is another arbtalker looking into getting one of his new designs so hopefully in time he can join the information exchange. I too am a Biochar Bore. Very excited by it's potential:thumbup:

The retort in the video is the prototype. There have been some alterations since then. My experiences with the Exeter are documented earlier in the thread. I'll try and put together an update in the next couple of days.

You may have a stinking Bishop, but I have a Magic Johnson.

You wouldn't need a felling license to cut small coppice material but if there is an existing management plan you would have to fit in with that. If the coppice is very overstood (big) you would need a felling license. Hazel does sometimes reach a large diameter but it is generally considered exempt from the licence. If the wildlife trust has a retail site of some description they may be interested in your idea. or perhaps you could volunteer your services in return for wood? You will need to be clear if approaching woodland owners what you mean by thinnings. Normally thinnings are the trees removed in phases to benefit the final crop and are a very saleable commodity. You might be better off going into sites after the contractors have been in. You can then 'clean up' the huge amount of charcoal sized material they leave behind. They really shouldn't charge you for this as in most cases you would be doing them a favour. I started out by going into overstood coppice woodlands before the contractors. They are generally very happy to have the small diameter (under 10cm) out of their way before they go in to cut for firewood and timber.

You definitely want to be getting your raw material wood as cheaply as possible, so I would generally recommend taking the kiln to the wood source. It does depend a bit on the scale of production. There may be a case for getting it delivered in if you are going large scale. Access into woods can often be tricky. I like hazel for charcoal. There us lots of it about, it is cheap to process (chainsaw and portek type chainsaw bench). It is viewed as a bit of a weed by the timber guys and it makes very nice charcoal. The nature reserve would definitely be worth approaching, but unless you are coppicing for them they will probably need paying for the wood. The main issue I think with 'homemade' retorts is insulation. You will need to make sure it is very well insulated to achieve a predictable burn time and to save on fuel wood. Poorly insulated retorts can get through a surprising amount of fuel to get it to the self sustaining gassing phase. You also need very dry fuel wood if possible. Using wet wood for retort fodder is a thankless task. Keep us all posted on your progress. No one has yet cracked the mobile affordable durable kiln conundrum. It will be really interesting and potentially revolutionary if you manage to pull it out of the bag!

I can't go into specifics but there is more to the Oxford Charcoal/ Waitrose arrangement than meets the eye. It is not a realistic price point and I doubt you will find British charcoal in any other supermarket at that price. I could not produce 1.5 tonne a week with the Exeter retort. I would need two to get anywhere near that figure. You may be a bit far away but you would be more than welcome to trial your kiln at the wood I manage in Suffolk. Do you have a caravan, or even better a tour bus/private jet? I think you are right about the huge size of the market. If bbq charcoal prices rise a little bit more it should become a viable option for a lot more 'one man bands'. The key as always is to educate the public on the huge benefits that using British charcoal brings, not just in terms of a better product, but the knock on effects for undermanaged woodland.

At £16 for 3kg someone is laughing, and it won't be the maker, the one who actually does all the work! I believe Bioregional were bought out by Rectella (the big boys) a while back. Bioregional had ethics but still couldn't pay the producers very much so I very much doubt whether Rectella (non ethical) are doing any better. Does anyone know what 'bioregional' producers are paid now? I would imagine that the producer is not seeing much more than a pound of the £5.30/kg selling price. Almost all my charcoal goes ungraded in bulk to other wholesalers. I get around £1.20/kg for this. I would be well advised to push for more but I am a terrible businessman! To retail customers (graded and bagged hardwood) I sell by volume (large selway 'coppice association' bags) £7.50. They sell on for around £10. I can't remember exactly what these weigh but it is around 4kg. I'll try and put one on the scales later today.

Sorry to backtrack a few posts, but thought this one was rather splendid and wanted to give it a

Is that not causing you some difficulties?

Love it! :thumbup:

Very kind words, thankyou:) I just like being silly. For the real deal set aside a few years and read the late great Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. The audiobooks are also fantastic and might be a good distraction for you Sean to while away the hours while before you get more mobile. The genre is comic fantasy which puts a lot of people off, but they are so much more than that. And to echo the spot on sentiment from Mr Gerbutt. Keep on being amazing Sean.

Happy Birthday Guys:)

Good tip that:thumbup1: I used a similar technique when the woodland dwarves got a bit uppity (apparently they objected to the Balsa wood mine shaft props I sold them. I may or may not have told them it was Oak, I don't remember now.) Anyway, I digress. Knowing full well the startlingly repellant properties of Mrs Idiot's scrambled eggs, I stuffed many pan fulls down my double stiched rhino hide battle pantaloons before heading out to face the hairy little midgets. Unfortunately it was a ten mile trek in 40 degree heat, but the eggs although pungent, stood up well. As soon as he saw me approaching, the chief Dwarf scampered over on his little legs and took a swing with his razor sharp dual headed War Axe at my omlette clad thigh. As anticipated this commonly fatal blow was deflected with such velocity by Mrs Idiots scrambled eggs that the rebounding axe took the Chief's head clean off. This was a more impressive result than I had even hoped for, and the remainder of the dwarf hoard trudged back to their caves dispirited whilst I began the long squelchy walk back to the yurt, desperate to relieve the stress of the event pneumatically but terrified of the consequences!

Thanks Brushcutter, that's very helpful:)

That's a great idea. Might have to be a metal owl though as a wooden one might go up in flames. As the kiln is called Billy maybe a goat would be more fitting. Are blue tits scared of goats? I know I am!

I haven't used a forwarding trailer before. Could you tell me what makes the standard timber cranes more versatile than the parallel ones?