This page is read only. You can view the source, but not change it. Ask your administrator if you think this is wrong. # Charcoal making  --- > “Ben works year-round coppicing, wood-thinning and hedge-laying. He burns charcoal from spring to autumn, packages it and sells it for £6 a bag as barbecue fuel at Bridport market. Before all this, he was the creative director of a big London ad-agency.” - Ali Wood, Countryfile Magazine ## What is charcoal making? Charcoal making involves burning wood whilst controlling the amount of oxygen present. Very little oxygen is allowed in, and the slow burn results in a product (charcoal) that burns at very high temperatures, but produces very little (if any) smoke. Charcoal is one of the oldest commodities in the world. It provided the heat to smelt metals like iron and copper - so without it, the bronze age, iron age and industrial revolution wouldn't have been possible. Nowadays, charcoal is produced in metal kilns, but originally it was made in earth clamps by piling up wood, covering it with turf to control the ingress of oxygen, and burning it slowly. <WRAP center centeralign> <figure>  <caption> _Starting to stack wood in the kiln, with kindling in the middle._ </caption> </figure> </WRAP> [Coppicing](/wodl/woodland_management) was the usual way to provide wood for producing charcoal in a perpetually recurring cycle - but alas, as with most resources, it was over-exploited and resulted in massive deforestation in Europe and North America. <WRAP center centeralign> <figure>  <caption> _Three kilns during a burn._ </caption> </figure> </WRAP> Charcoal has traditionally been used for [blacksmiths'](/blck/blacksmithing) forges; for drawing; as an ingredient in gunpowder; as a [soil](/soil/soil) additive; for filtration; and for cooking. Nowadays most charcoal is used for barbecues. Charcoal briquettes are made by compressing charcoal made from sawdust etc, along with dust and a binder; lump charcoal is just the raw product from burning hardwoods. ## What are the benefits of charcoal making? <WRAP center centeralign> <figure>  <caption> _Lifting the lid after the burn._ </caption> </figure> </WRAP> - Provides a market for poor-quality wood, although there's much more of a market now for firewood, due to the recent increase in the use of [wood stoves](/wdst/wood_stoves) - Buying locally-produced charcoal reduces the transport involved with imported charcoal, provides local employment and supports the local economy - Helps manage [woodlands](/wodl/woodland_management); woods need to be thinned to produce a wide range of products, including timber, firewood and charcoal - Locally-produced charcoal is a renewable, sustainable resource because the carbon released on burning is balanced by the carbon taken up by growing trees, and so cooking over charcoal saves on non-renewable fossil fuels <WRAP center centeralign> <figure> {{url>https://www.youtube.com/embed/IL8e0YYb0OA 560,315}} <caption> _Great video showing the charcoal-making process by our friends Pete & Anna at the Bulworthy Project._ </caption> </figure> </WRAP> ## What can I do? ### Getting started You can make charcoal for your own use, and there is a small but growing number of people doing it commercially. It would be difficult to make a living from charcoal burning alone, but it could work as one element of a woodland business such as tree surgery, hedgelaying, forestry contracting, timber products, courses, firewood etc. The biggest market is for barbecue charcoal (and there are a few specialist suppliers of artists' charcoal). <WRAP center centeralign> <figure>  <caption> _Freshly-made charcoal._ </caption> </figure> </WRAP> More and more people are buying small woodlands, or you could negotiate the use of someone else's wood. Ask the [Forestry Commission](http://www.forestry.gov.uk/), the [Woodland Trust](http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk), agents for large estates, or people you know with woodland. You may be able to produce charcoal there for free. If you don't ask, you don't get. However, the firewood market has taken off recently, so there is more demand for poor-quality hardwoods - the same raw material as for charcoal burning. So you may have to pay for the wood, even if you can put your kiln on the land for free. You could pay a forestry contractor to deliver timber to your kiln. Arborists working on street or garden trees often have a lot of cut crown wood from the tops of trees that they may have to pay to get rid of (local authorities sometimes charge £15-20 per load of waste wood, and convert it into woodchip and compost). They may be happy to deliver it to you for free. <WRAP center centeralign> <figure>  <caption> _Lifting the charcoal out of the kiln with a fork._ </caption> </figure> </WRAP> Start by attending a [course](/char/charcoal_making) to see how it's done and to have a go. [Here's more detailed information](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/infoarticle/charcoal-burning-the-basics-of-a-burn/) about the burn itself. Then [buy a kiln](/char/charcoal_making), or if you only want a small one, you could convert a 45-gallon oil drum. There's an explanation of how to do this in _[Coppicing and Coppice Crafts](/char/charcoal_making)_ by Rebecca Oaks and Edward Mills. But you have to learn the art of charcoal making by actually doing it. Charcoal burning a scientific process, but there are so many variables, that it really does become an imprecise art. <WRAP center centeralign> <figure> {{url>https://player.vimeo.com/video/218664167 640,360}} <caption> _The art of making woodland charcoal._ </caption> </figure> </WRAP> Variables include: - species of wood used; - moisture content of the wood; - how wet the ground is and whether it's free-draining or not (clay soils can be problematic, as a huge amount of water is driven off during the burn, and it has to go somewhere); - the wind can inject unwanted oxygen; you can put [hurdles](/hrdl/hurdles) around the kiln, although this is more of a problem on open land than in enclosed woodland; - the time of year; - how much oxygen you let into the burn; - the skills of the charcoal burner. <WRAP center centeralign> <figure>  <caption> _Biscuit tin of twigs for making artists' charcoal: before burn._ </caption> </figure> </WRAP> ### Regulations & other people Talk to the planning department of your local authority first. You don't need formal planning permission to site your kiln, as it will be temporary, but the local authority won't like it if local residents complain about smoke in their house or garden. The planners probably won't know much about charcoal burning, so you might like to invite them and show them a burn. It pays not to get in their bad books. When you start a burn, before it gets up to operating temperature, there are usually huge clouds of smoke, and someone might call the fire brigade. You must tell the local fire brigade HQ that you are intending to start a controlled burn. Tell them when you've closed it down too. Plus it's polite to tell any neighbours who might be affected by the smoke. <WRAP center centeralign> <figure>  <caption> _Biscuit tin of twigs for making artists' charcoal: after burn._ </caption> </figure> </WRAP> You need to get insurance before starting charcoal making. If you already have insurance for your business or for your woodland, then you can add charcoal burning to it. ### Managing the burn There are usually 4 inlet ports and 4 outlet pipes on a kiln. Typically, pipes (or chimneys) are 5" (13cm) diameter. The inlets are at ground level. These are to control the oxygen input, by covering or partially covering the end of the inlet with a house brick or soil. A burn with a 6ft (2m) diameter ring kiln, approx. 1m high could take around 10 hours, depending on the variables above. Ideally, wood should be up to 4-5" (10-13cm) diameter, or up to 3" (8cm) for a small kiln / oil drum. <WRAP center centeralign> <figure>  <caption> _Bagging the finished charcoal._ </caption> </figure> </WRAP> The burn should be managed - you should never leave a lit kiln, and you should stay with it for at least an hour after the burn has finished as well. The whole process from start to finish can take 3-4 days. On day one, get the kiln filled and ready to light. Start day two as early as you can - light the kiln around 5-6am, and be prepared to come home around 12 hours later. It's best to leave the kiln for 24 hours to cool, so perhaps on day 4, lift the lid and carefully extract the charcoal. Most people use an asphalt / tarmac fork, or a potato fork - one with a good curve and lots of prongs. The charcoal needs to be graded and bagged. Grading can be done on a sloping chute of 17mm mesh (used for rabbit pens, and sold in rolls from pet supply shops). Grading allows small pieces and dust to fall through the holes - dust in the charcoal prevents it from burning well. It can then be tipped into sacks that can be carried easily, for use or for sale. <WRAP center centeralign> <figure>  <caption> _Bag of Devon lump barbecue charcoal._ </caption> </figure> </WRAP> Kilns can be taken away, or left in the woods. The pipes can be taken home, or if it's a mini-kiln, everything can be taken away in the back of an estate car. You can get the next load of wood delivered to your kiln, or you can roll the kiln to where the wood is stacked. [Here's some more detailed information](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/infoarticle/charcoal-burning-the-basics-of-a-burn/) on the burn. ### Buying charcoal If you want a more sustainable product, look for lump charcoal, which is made from wood only. Briquettes can contain anything from limestone and borax to sodium nitrate and lighter fluid. ## Further resources - [Basics of a burn](https://www.lowimpact.org/categories/land/charcoal-making/further-info/charcoal-burning-the-basics-of-a-burn/) - [Coppice Products](https://www.coppice-products.co.uk/product-type/charcoal-bio-char/) - listing of local UK charcoal producers - [How to make charcoal at home](https://prepperswill.com/how-to-make-charcoal-at-home/) - [Charcoal production using a transportable metal kiln](https://www.lowimpact.org/wp-content/uploads/Charcoal_Production_Using_A_Transportable_Metal_Kiln_1980.pdf) - [Art, science & technology of charcoal production](https://www.lowimpact.org/wp-content/uploads/Charcoal_Review-iecr03.pdf) - [The story of charcoal](https://www.lowimpact.org/wp-content/uploads/Charcoal-Making.pdf) - [Charcoal burning in Anglo-Saxon England](https://www.regia.org/research/life/charcoal.htm) ## Specialist curators of this topic char/charcoal_making.txt Last modified: 2025/12/17 11:11by asimong