I heard that Henry Ford is the man who popularised charcoal for cooking, He had a partner with a huge land holding named king and also the cuts from making wooden car parts were saved and used for the source of wood,, thus we have Kings ford charcoal today, or something along those lines,
Actually, clear up into the 1800s charcoal was the fuel of choice for foundry and blacksmith forges. And throughout the iron age, until techniques for using coal to smelt iron were developed, charcoal actually fired furnaces that smelted iron from ore. Here in the South Bend IN area there was actually a German village devoted to charcoal production. It was called Coalbush. All that remains of it now is the church.
You can also build the lay, pile dirt atop, light it and let air feed in from the bottom, then bury the bottom once the fire reaches good heat. It works better with a pile about 4X that size.
Some small discrepancies - you don't have to watch it ALL the time - each hour or so the first 12 hours is sufficient, then every two hours. Pounding the surface hard to close all the pockets of air at dawn and dusk should allow for up to 2 hrs of sleep between night controls. I did all this last week under the supervision of an experienced coalyer - he knew his stuff. If you don't have a watch or cell phone at night, drink lots of water before lying down - you'll wake up to pee soon enough :)
This is amazing info! I'm writing a fantasy book right now and the main character is raised by charcoalburners--you actually saved me from making a few dumb mistakes!
surely this would be a team job... probably a family business - while one person watched the fire the others gathered the wood for the next kiln, they must've taken turns watching the fire too... I can't imagine they just watched while the fire burned.
Often charcoal burning was a byproduct of land clearing in Colonial America. Farmers would make charcoal in the off season between planting and harvest and during the winter. It was very much in demand by blacksmiths and foundries. It wasn't until someone discovered that you could use a similar process to bake coal into coke that the iron and steel industries shifted to coal.
This is an old comment but you might still see it. There is a german series called "Der letzte seines Standes" which basically means "The last of his kind(that does that job)" and one episode was about the "Köhler" which is a person that creates charcoal. Translated directly it would mean somehting like "Coaler". And the guy did all this alone. He said that you develope sleep rythm of 3 hours. You sleep 2-3 hours and watch the kiln and do it over and over again. Some kilns are easy and you barely have to watch it while others are "unruly". At his prime he would operate up to 9 kilns by himself.
The information in this video is pretty stripped down not to be boring for the common public. The burn must be driven by poking smokeholes through the mantle. If you seal off everything, then it could go out in the beginning phase, or worse, in case of regular-size mounds (20-40 cubic metres wood), lead to detonation - the whole thing becomes pressurized due to accumulated gases inside,the soil mantle is thrown off and the sudden oxygen supply ignites the gas, leading to a tremendous explosion
That is because they were making charcoal for the town. Had they made the piles smaller the could have done the same thing in less time but have to keep their eyes on more then one mound. But its nice to see the young still make the mistake of making it bigger then life. If not controlled the center would burn faster then the surrounding wood an hat would be the waste. They should have dug a trich an started them burning an then covered them with dirt but that would have been to much work for one man. An back then it was a thankless job. An it did take time to hunting down wood was hard having to go father an father. Back then people still want to have tree nearby. So its not that hard if you take your time an you have a few tree stumps laying around. Thank You Loader this was good.
Oh yes, and by the way you're right about them making more of the kilns - usually, there were three. One was being made, the other burned, and the third was being taken apart as demand for coal came, with the remaining coal being left inside as storage.
@CescoPisicoli All the smoke that leaves during the making of the charcoal is the stuff that creates tar and chimney fires, and a lot of moisture. The dryer the better, and charring is as dry as it gets =)
Smaller ovens burn less time, but be advised, that the burning time versus yield becomes more and more disadvantageous with decreasing size of the mound. For example, a 9 cubic metre mound burns approximately 5-6 days, cools one, meaning a week. A 24 cubic metre mound needs 11 days in total, the double amount of time, but yields THREE times more charcoal than the previous case. Also, I would not go below 1.5 cubic metres wood..
Hi ! I wonder where I could find production tables for this ? Non systematic observations regarding production and yield would also be very much appreciated !
I think the metal kilns they use now are a lot faster. I watched a guy use one and it seemed to be an afternoon event. It was about the same size as that mound.
That's right, from what I know about three times as fast with the retort. But in our opinion and own experience (our iron smelting group) and logically, a faster burn needs more oxygen from outside causing more of the carbon to burn away - that's how you accelerate even a classic earth mound, by letting some extra air in at the base, but it was historically never recommended as the charcoal is somewhat overcooked and not as dense. Still, the difference is not soo tragic.
BollocksUtwat It's in investment in quality charcoal. lol That one legged stool only works if the guy sits on it all night. With multiple people at least he won't lay down and fall asleep on the ground.
depends how wet the wood is at the start, for air dried wood it's roughly a 3:1 ratio. so about 1 tonne in this case (some of the wood looked a bit green to me so probably the ratio is not that good).
@@Dracounius Hi ! I wonder where I could find production tables for this ? Non systematic observations regarding production and yield would also be very much appreciated !
Was it not coal they were using? I think some people confuse both. Coal is a fossil fuel mined from the earth. Charcoal is made from wood. Also why not just burn the actual wood?
Something changes in the chemistry of the wood when it’s turned into charcoal so it burns longer, whereas with wood you have to keep constantly feeding the fire, and ensuring that it’s not too damp, as damp wood when burned creates terrible smoke and often makes the fire go out, so charcoal is a much more efficient fuel. Actual coal is a superior fuel to wood for the same reason, but I’ve always assumed it burns hotter and longer than charcoal, hence its value. I don’t know when mined coal became commonly imported and used as a fuel in Britain, or when they started mining their own, but it wasn’t used in the Middle Ages, just wood and charcoal. Coal I believe was first mined and used as a fuel in Asia. Marco Polo brought back stories of seeing strange, shiny black rocks extracted from deep in the ground in his travels in the Far East, that turned bright red when ignited, gave off amazingly strong heat, and burned for hours. It was only coal he was describing, but it really was a magical substance in the sense of how much it changed the world; modern Western history wouldn’t have happened without it.
It seems like it would have been more efficient to have several smaller mounds rather than 1 massive mound. As in set out 5 mounds the first day then 5 more than next day and so on.
why didn't they just dig a hole and use it multiple times ... the wood would be under ground and it can't collapse and catch fire, aand less dirt mixed with the coal
Some cultures did that, others didn't. Everyone had their own method. The first method for charcoal making that I saw, was with a crucible and a small clay bottle kiln.
It's Baldric!! Holy shit! Love your new job, dude!
@hackamore - yes. the process is called pyrolysis. Incidentally you can bottle and compress the gas that is driven off and run a car on it.
I heard that Henry Ford is the man who popularised charcoal for cooking, He had a partner with a huge land holding named king and also the cuts from making wooden car parts were saved and used for the source of wood,, thus we have Kings ford charcoal today, or something along those lines,
Actually, clear up into the 1800s charcoal was the fuel of choice for foundry and blacksmith forges. And throughout the iron age, until techniques for using coal to smelt iron were developed, charcoal actually fired furnaces that smelted iron from ore. Here in the South Bend IN area there was actually a German village devoted to charcoal production. It was called Coalbush. All that remains of it now is the church.
You can also build the lay, pile dirt atop, light it and let air feed in from the bottom, then bury the bottom once the fire reaches good heat. It works better with a pile about 4X that size.
Some small discrepancies - you don't have to watch it ALL the time - each hour or so the first 12 hours is sufficient, then every two hours. Pounding the surface hard to close all the pockets of air at dawn and dusk should allow for up to 2 hrs of sleep between night controls. I did all this last week under the supervision of an experienced coalyer - he knew his stuff. If you don't have a watch or cell phone at night, drink lots of water before lying down - you'll wake up to pee soon enough :)
This is amazing info! I'm writing a fantasy book right now and the main character is raised by charcoalburners--you actually saved me from making a few dumb mistakes!
I can imagine how many people were driven insane by staring at that kiln for days on end.
I have a feeling they had the process figured out so constantly watching it wasn't required.
Great concept for a story right there.
surely this would be a team job... probably a family business - while one person watched the fire the others gathered the wood for the next kiln, they must've taken turns watching the fire too... I can't imagine they just watched while the fire burned.
+Green My guess would be that they would have been busy with some type of hand craft while watching.
Often charcoal burning was a byproduct of land clearing in Colonial America. Farmers would make charcoal in the off season between planting and harvest and during the winter. It was very much in demand by blacksmiths and foundries. It wasn't until someone discovered that you could use a similar process to bake coal into coke that the iron and steel industries shifted to coal.
This is an old comment but you might still see it.
There is a german series called "Der letzte seines Standes" which basically means "The last of his kind(that does that job)" and one episode was about the "Köhler" which is a person that creates charcoal. Translated directly it would mean somehting like "Coaler".
And the guy did all this alone. He said that you develope sleep rythm of 3 hours. You sleep 2-3 hours and watch the kiln and do it over and over again. Some kilns are easy and you barely have to watch it while others are "unruly".
At his prime he would operate up to 9 kilns by himself.
The information in this video is pretty stripped down not to be boring for the common public. The burn must be driven by poking smokeholes through the mantle. If you seal off everything, then it could go out in the beginning phase, or worse, in case of regular-size mounds (20-40 cubic metres wood), lead to detonation - the whole thing becomes pressurized due to accumulated gases inside,the soil mantle is thrown off and the sudden oxygen supply ignites the gas, leading to a tremendous explosion
hey, great channel!
how is the hole in the middle of the "pyramid" made? wouldnt the structure collaps around it?
Well. I was only looking for something like Primitive Technology, and instead I got a history lesson from Tony Robinson. Hell yeah.
we still do this in Africa...
Af
That is because they were making charcoal for the town. Had they made the piles smaller the could have done the same thing in less time but have to keep their eyes on more then one mound. But its nice to see the young still make the mistake of making it bigger then life. If not controlled the center would burn faster then the surrounding wood an hat would be the waste. They should have dug a trich an started them burning an then covered them with dirt but that would have been to much work for one man. An back then it was a thankless job. An it did take time to hunting down wood was hard having to go father an father. Back then people still want to have tree nearby. So its not that hard if you take your time an you have a few tree stumps laying around. Thank You Loader this was good.
that's a great idea. would it go faster on a smaller scale? i don't need all that charcoal all at once
In traditional Cambodia we build the clay-mud like the Iglu, fill with dried wood burn them than close the Iglu door.
Oh yes, and by the way you're right about them making more of the kilns - usually, there were three. One was being made, the other burned, and the third was being taken apart as demand for coal came, with the remaining coal being left inside as storage.
@CescoPisicoli All the smoke that leaves during the making of the charcoal is the stuff that creates tar and chimney fires, and a lot of moisture.
The dryer the better, and charring is as dry as it gets =)
This is sooooo interesting. :) I'm just a nut for medieval stuff.
Smaller ovens burn less time, but be advised, that the burning time versus yield becomes more and more disadvantageous with decreasing size of the mound. For example, a 9 cubic metre mound burns approximately 5-6 days, cools one, meaning a week. A 24 cubic metre mound needs 11 days in total, the double amount of time, but yields THREE times more charcoal than the previous case. Also, I would not go below 1.5 cubic metres wood..
Hi ! I wonder where I could find production tables for this ? Non systematic observations regarding production and yield would also be very much appreciated !
kingdom come brought me here
I think the metal kilns they use now are a lot faster. I watched a guy use one and it seemed to be an afternoon event. It was about the same size as that mound.
That's right, from what I know about three times as fast with the retort. But in our opinion and own experience (our iron smelting group) and logically, a faster burn needs more oxygen from outside causing more of the carbon to burn away - that's how you accelerate even a classic earth mound, by letting some extra air in at the base, but it was historically never recommended as the charcoal is somewhat overcooked and not as dense. Still, the difference is not soo tragic.
I have a cunning plan my lord!
When the first is lit you start the second, while watching the first. Rinse and repeat.
What did ppl want charcoal for??
anyone else just looking up random stuff about the medieval era cause of Kingdom Come: Deliverance ?
name of the documentary
Also, it is best for a good forge, so as to make Iron and low grade steel. Hell, it is even good for higher grade carbon steel.
@CescoPisicoli It burns FAR hotter than the wood, and burns much cleaner, less ash, less smoke.
One legged stool? How about, a charcoal-maker assistant? Take turns watching the thing so the other guy gets to sleep....
Oh heck yeah,you know there were people taking turns about this stuff.
Surely you've seen the movie where the guy on watch falls asleep and everyone wakes up to find the prisoner has escaped, yes?
BollocksUtwat two assistance's then.
Darth Krayt Why waste so much man power when you can just make a stupid one legged stool?!
BollocksUtwat It's in investment in quality charcoal. lol That one legged stool only works if the guy sits on it all night. With multiple people at least he won't lay down and fall asleep on the ground.
How much charcoal on average did they get from three tonnes of wood?
depends how wet the wood is at the start, for air dried wood it's roughly a 3:1 ratio. so about 1 tonne in this case (some of the wood looked a bit green to me so probably the ratio is not that good).
@@Dracounius Hi ! I wonder where I could find production tables for this ? Non systematic observations regarding production and yield would also be very much appreciated !
OH MY GOD ITS BALDRICK
@CescoPisicoli It emits bigger amount of heat than wood, an its easier to obtain than coal.
So charcoal is made by heating up, but not, burning wood, with the goal to remove everything except the carbon and hydrogen?
Was it not coal they were using? I think some people confuse both. Coal is a fossil fuel mined from the earth. Charcoal is made from wood. Also why not just burn the actual wood?
Something changes in the chemistry of the wood when it’s turned into charcoal so it burns longer, whereas with wood you have to keep constantly feeding the fire, and ensuring that it’s not too damp, as damp wood when burned creates terrible smoke and often makes the fire go out, so charcoal is a much more efficient fuel. Actual coal is a superior fuel to wood for the same reason, but I’ve always assumed it burns hotter and longer than charcoal, hence its value. I don’t know when mined coal became commonly imported and used as a fuel in Britain, or when they started mining their own, but it wasn’t used in the Middle Ages, just wood and charcoal. Coal I believe was first mined and used as a fuel in Asia. Marco Polo brought back stories of seeing strange, shiny black rocks extracted from deep in the ground in his travels in the Far East, that turned bright red when ignited, gave off amazingly strong heat, and burned for hours. It was only coal he was describing, but it really was a magical substance in the sense of how much it changed the world; modern Western history wouldn’t have happened without it.
Très instructif
I assume the oven would generate a lot of heat - would charcoal makers have utilised that for cooking?
hahah cool, i'll make a mini one =)
It seems like it would have been more efficient to have several smaller mounds rather than 1 massive mound. As in set out 5 mounds the first day then 5 more than next day and so on.
Well… no, that would actually be less efficient. It might be safer and easier to look after though.
anyone come here from kingdom come: deliverance?
Man, if only they had steel charcoal retorts back then...
I hope you plant trees double the amount of what you cut. Save the environment.
why didn't they just dig a hole and use it multiple times ... the wood would be under ground and it can't collapse and catch fire, aand less dirt mixed with the coal
Some cultures did that, others didn't. Everyone had their own method. The first method for charcoal making that I saw, was with a crucible and a small clay bottle kiln.
+key2010 Air needs to go in from the bottom and rise up through the pile. Some methods included poking holes in the bottom to let air in.
Because they had to move keep close to the woods. Charcoal burning used up entire forests.
Aww shit... I didn't look at how old his comment was. I broke the rule.
Now how much coal do you need to cook a delicious turnip soup.
To think now we can do this in a tlud stove set it walk away perfect charcoal next day or two.
ماذا تفعل الان
@Serostern hmm interesting, im a really smart guy, and i never knew that!
They make it sound bad.
That was a lot of charcoal not to mention one guy would probably watch and manage many at once
Nice video tho
woow im sure my family didnt do this lol on my fathers side we fall asleep whenever we get a chanse :P
O M G DATS BOLDRICK!!!!!!!!!
it's not that bad >.>
hi
Easiest job ever sit around doing nothing all day
literally the easiest job ever. gather wood, cover it with leaves and mud, set it ablaze and then wait.... pft