Charcoal

Not to be confused with Coal

Charcoal production in Namibia, 2021

Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents.

Materials used

• Wood, bamboo or other ligneous sources of carbon

• Mud or clay

Crafting instructions

Accidental

Any fire, as a result of some of the wood falling and getting covered with ash, will naturally produce charcoal. The yield may be enhanced by dousing the flame with water, and allowing the rest of the wood to smoulder. After a night's rest, the charcoal should be cool, but test it by holding your hand near. It should not radiate heat. This produces low quality charcoal in small quantities, but does notably work in every scenario, and is theorized to be how ancient humans first discovered and harnessed charcoal.

Mound

Wood is collected and cut or broken into lengths of roughly 40-70cm. A hole is dug and a larger piece of wood is driven into it so that it stays upright and acts as a central "post" for the other pieces of wood to lay against. The rest of the wood is stacked around the post upright, with the largest pieces in the center and smaller sticks and leaves around the outside so that its sides slope downward, to build a mound up to 5-6 metres in diameter and 3 metres high. The woodpile is then covered with mud and leaves to prevent gas exchange, except for a hole at the top and 8 smaller air holes around the circumference. A fire is lit at the top hole to set the covered woodpile alight.

Once the fire has burned up against the lower air holes, plug all the holes to seal the mound and let it fire. When the mound is cool to the touch (depending on the size of the mound it can take as long as 2 weeks) excavate the mound and harvest the charcoal. This process cannot recover other products such as tars or wood gas.

Pyrolysis

You can use most fire-proof containers as a chamber for making charcoal. An example would be a paint bucket. Fill the paint bucket with chunks of wood (preferably hardwood for the best charcoal), then drill some small holes in the paint bucket. A visual indication of the charcoal being finished is when the gas escaping the small holes stops burning, however even if you cannot tell if it is burning or not you can just estimate that the charcoal will take 2-5 hours to complete. Take the bucket out of the fire and let it cool down before removing the charcoal for later use.

If a larger pyrolysis chamber, such as a closed brick structure, is being used for mass producing charcoal then the process will take longer, maybe even over a day. Since each structure or method of heating is different, no exact time can be given so this is a matter of personal experimentation to figure out the timing of your own charcoal production.

Uses

Fuel

Charcoal is very light, burns for a reasonably long time, and has a consistent temperature throughout, which makes it an ideal fuel source for carrying long distances. Charcoal is most commonly used as a fuel for cooking, heating and manufacturing processes.

Charcoal is harder to light than dry wood, but burns much hotter. Due to its porosity, it is sensitive to the flow of air and the heat generated can be moderated by controlling the air flow to the fire. For these reasons charcoal is still widely used by blacksmiths. A chimney starter, camp fire or electric charcoal starter can ignite charcoal, as it cannot be directly lit easily.

Filtration

See also: Activated charcoal

Charcoal processed into activated charcoal is commonly used to filter contaminants from water and air, among many other uses.

Activated charcoal readily adsorbs a wide range of organic compounds dissolved or suspended in gases and liquids. It is also used to absorb odors and toxins in gases, such as air. Charcoal filters are also used in some types of gas masks. The medical use of activated charcoal is mainly the absorption of poisons.

Carbon feedstock

Charcoal can be used as a carbon feedstock for the production of items like as black powder. Only the best pieces of charcoal should be used for these purposes; they will have the lowest impurities, and produce more consistent products.

It is usually ground into a fine powder, with airfloat grade being the finest particle size available commercially. When used in black powder compositions, it is often ball-milled with other ingredients so that they are intimately mixed together.

Dependencies

• Wood
  • Charcoal
  • Fuel

See also

• Activated charcoal
• Black powder
• Coal
• Tar
• Burning gas

References

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article charcoal, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article activated_charcoal, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).

External links

• Making Charcoal - primitivetechnology.wordpress.com, 19 February 2016
• Reusable Charcoal Mound - primitivetechnology.wordpress.com, 17 June 2017
• Blower and Charcoal - primitivetechnology.wordpress.com, 18 May 2018
• Primitive Technology: Charcoal - Primitive Technology, 19 February 2016, YouTube
• Primitive Technology: Reusable charcoal mound - Primitive Technology, 17 June 2017, YouTube
• Primitive Technology: Blower and charcoal - Primitive Technology, 18 May 2018, YouTube
• charcoal stove | charcoal making oven In forest. pre technology .survival - Pre Technology, 14 June 2022, YouTube