More charcoal needs to be made for smelting experiments
Digging a pit for charcoal
Lining pit with clay
Conical pit is 50 cm wide and 25 cm deep
A rim is made around the edge to stop dirt falling into the charcoal and contaminating it
Time lapse of making fire
Drying the pit with fire
Drying wet wood with fire in preparation for making charcoal
2 thin sticks laid down as foundation
Alternating layers of wood stacked on top
Each layer is perpendicular to the one below
Fire is lit from the top of the heap and burns down
Water is collected to douse the coals when carbonized
The fire burns back down the heap against the draft converting the wood to charcoal without burning it up
Wood is stacked against the pile to stop logs rolling off
When the fire has reached the bottom, the sticks are pushed in causing the coals to fall into the pit
Unburnt wood is stoked to the top to further burn in air and convert to charcoal. Coals at the bottom of the pit remain unburnt
The coals are then doused with just enough water to extinguish them. The whole process took an hour.
The residual heat dries the charcoal
The charcoal is passed over a woven sieve. Lumps over 2.5 cm roll into the pot while lumps smaller than this fall on the ground.
The larger grade of charcoal is used for smelting and forging because air is more easily blown through the larger void space in this fuel bed giving a higher temperature.
The smaller grade charcoal is used to supplement fire wood in ordinary fires
This centipede came out of the wood/small charcoal pile. Be careful handling wood and charcoal piles as venomous creatures make their homes here.
Now it lives in the roof with the scorpions
Charcoal pit
Wood left over for the next method
A small stable pile of wood is laid down first
Then small pieces are laid against this at an angle so they won't fall over
As the pile grows, larger pieces are added
Take time to neatly stack the wood so there are few spaces
When the mound is the desired size (50 cm tall, 50 cm wide here) fill any gaps with smaller pieces of wood
Collect mud and bring it to the mound
Coat the mound in layers of mud starting at ground level and going up, but leave it open at the top so smoke can exit
Make air holes about 25 cm apart (6 holes are made here)
Light the fire from the top and let it burn down
Stay outside when it gets this smokey, it fumigates the hut
When fire can be seen through a given hole it should be sealed
Use mud to do so
Finally, seal the top with mud (this took 2.5 hours)
Add water to cool the mound, the charcoal won't get wet
The next day the mound is opened
The mud is set aside for use in the next batch
Unburnt wood is set aside for the next batch too
The charcoal yield
The charcoal is better quality than the that of the pit method. It is larger and denser with a higher energy content
Sieved again to grade the charcoal, there are fewer smaller lumps with this method too
For the third method a permanent charcoal kiln is build to save labor with each batch
A cylindrical kiln is made of mud
This one is 50cm tall, 50cm wide and has 6 air entries
The kiln is fire dried so it won't crack during a firing. Cracks let in air that burn the coal to ashes.
Wood is stacked into the kiln in horizontal layers
It is finished with a conical pile on top
This way only the top needs to be coated in mud with each batch, saving labor
The kiln is lit from the top and allowed to burn down
When fire reaches the bottom it's time to seal the air entries
Finally the smoke hole is closed after the air holes are sealed after 2.5 hours
The next day the temporary top is removed while the rest of the kiln remains intact
The charcoal is good quality for less work than the mound method
The charcoal is sieved again
The kiln also made more charcoal than the mound for the same time and floor space due to it's greater volume. It can be reused when ever charcoal is needed to be made