Cody,
I also will use pieces the length of the barrel, maybe between 2-3 inches in diameter and may get brands near the very bottom. Perhaps I don’t let it burn long enough, but with air coming in through slots in the side near the bottom instead of in the bottom, I think the air flow is not good. I do this with small diameter hardwood trees and limbs.
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You can use a busted grate from a curb found grill. It eventually burns through it.
A lot of times I was getting ash plugging up the air from underneath. A fan might help. but I have not tried it because that means I have to pull electric out that far.
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The TLUD worked pretty good. I’m going to use it for scrap wood that will be easier to just toss in willy-nilly. Having a pipe in the bottom worked wonders so I could supercharge it with a bilge blower.
Today I built a Hookway sort of kiln that I’m reserving for good hardwood. Still need to add the ceramic wool insulation, I’m going to apply hardener to it to make it less fragile and then put on a metal skin from a couple hot water heaters.
Reused a hot water tank pipe as the central chimney, 4" diameter. Drilled 8 3/8" holes at the base of the chimney for pyrolysis gas to self heat once it goes critical. Also put in the old baffle to help distribute that heat. The chimney is welded to the bottom, I’ll seal the lid joint with clay. I’d love to have it stop raining on my weekends.
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I went back and looked at this whole thread. Very interesting. Some video that newer members may not have seen.
I wonder what Gary is working on these days.
Anyway there are lots of paths to the same destination. I mostly use the Chuck Whitlock tilted barrel system now because it’s the easiest way to keep my dead fall cleaned up and works well with branches and small stuff which just get tangled up in a tlud barrel. I do use one if I want to burn my firewood to make fuel and have found that a little breath of air into the bottom of the barrel is helpful to keep a good burn going deeper into the barrel. Up to now wood gas and charcoal production have just been hobbies. I have to wonder what it would be like to have to keep a genset fueled and running 6 hours a day for a power supply if the grid were down. A whole different animal I’m sure.
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You do not have to wonder what charcoal fueling a reasonable daily electric maker would entail TomH.
The rough maths are already worked out.
A reasonable-useable electric making engine generator set will consume ~1/2 US gallons an hour of gasoline.
Wood charcoal replcement for engine fuel gasoline has time and again worked out to ~16 pounds of wood charcoal.
Again well worked out that it will take at least 2X the weight in wood to produce that engine fuel grade wood charcoal.
So for your 6 hour daily engine electrical generation a fellow/gal would have to handle ~200 pounds of wood to make the charcoal for each and every day electrical generating.
This is the same as full house 18 hours a day wood heating.
The same as the daily wood gas drivers are using.
Why of these three most can only wood-sweat out the one - house/shop heating.
A few doing two now.
I know of none who do all three of their energy maker needs on wood.
The good news is no one needs to heavy home/shops heat year around. And those times are generally the best traveling around times. Few need to heavy drive around daily, all year around.
Serious large animals tending and care have well known numbered daily/weekly/annual input needs.
A single cow/horse, a clutch of sheep/goats will need always 30-50 gallons of clean fresh water a DAY! Every day. Weekends and holidays too.
You must also meet their other daily needs too. No turning them off. Setting them aside on stand-by, until you have an interest or need.
Engines and motors you can do this set aside.
Thier fuels however are mostly all degrading “organic”. Hydro and winds and PV are seasonally very variable. “Organic” too.
Top score for engine fuel setting aside goes to wood charcoal along with bottled propane.
But neither cheap/easy/free to make; obtain; store.
Still Wooden-headed; S.U.
(because trees woods grow regenerate all of the time on their own in the favorable places you will want to live)
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Found a new-to-me charcoal making video. Very watchable!
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Thought i could post this here too, i made a video of yesterdays charcoal making.
This is my first try to video with my phone in a holder on my hat, so it’s pretty crappy filmed, but with some training maybe…
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Nice video Göran, as always. But when summer comes I think you will regret charcoaling your garden furniture.
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Haha, no way, those cracked, rickety old chairs was a danger to life to sit on, after endless repairs, i finally lost it, and made them into firewood with some help from a sledge hammer 
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If you would have just charred them a bit and tarred them back together. Then they will become odor eater chairs. (sorry I watched the other video and realized people buy those small quantities of charcoal for odor eating among other things.)
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Good idea, but those chairs deserved to be totally charred after all times they collapsed under me, or pinched my a**, or nails wandering out to rip clothes… 
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