Loading the charcoal barrel with some junk wood that was removed from a fence line. I’ll fill all the nooks and crannies in the barrel with even more junk stuff, and toss in large amounts of branches, twigs, and even some wood chips as it gets going. The neighbor was all set to make a big bonfire and burn it to ash over several days. I managed to drag or haul it all over to my charcoal making area. (
It is the 278th time I have loaded a barrel for making black gold.)
Note: When I emptied this barrel, I got some larger brands that will fit in my wood stove. Or I can add them to the next barrel…
That’s looking GOOD Ray, it’s too BAD, that people just turn it all to ash and not biochar, and then give it away for the hauling. Yes, even the UGLY pieces will make some great charcoal.
Bob
The barrels don’t last very long. Bottom barrels end up as chimney barrels, then they get smashed down into flat pieces and go to the people who buy scrap. The liners get extremely hot and burn from the ends, and these pieces end up with the nails and make the trip to the scrap yard also.
Last time at the scrap yard, I found a stack of small medical oxygen tanks. I bought one, and opened the valve and threw it into a rain barrel. A month later, I picked it out, and it was full of water! Now I can cut on it. (Wish I had picked up more than one.)
Okay there has been a lot of talk in the past months on gasification fuel, prossing it, storage of it,
Making it more dense out of sawdust, plastic, binders, and wood vs. Charcoal and a lot more.
So any comments about this you have can go here for this open discussion.
Now when it comes to making fuel wood or charcoal fuel. I have noticed something about myself. Okay this hard for me to admit but … I AM LAZY. Okay I have said it, and there is no taking it back now, so let’s move on.
The wood chunker I built. It still needs to be modified so the wood will go up a conveyer belt and into a silo cage for drying the wood. Why? You guessed it.
Charcoal making and getting it ready to put it into a gasifer. Lots of work here too. Because I am …
you guessed it. I have found just building a fire in the back yard fire ring works good. Now does it make the premium engine grade charcoal no, not like in my down draft retort with a water pool under it.
But the cool thing is they are right next to each other and they both can be running at the same time.
So what is your easiest way you prosses your fuel for gasification, and I am not saying you are lazy.
We had a saying at work. It kinda went like this "Why is it when some people find a easier way to do something they say this is more efficient. And they get a reward or pay raise. But when I do the same thing, has they did, they say I am lazy and get back to work.
Well I am lazy then and they will just have to get over it.
It is open for your input now.
Bob
When we had our Chevy, we had a limited amount of space for fuel. Family sedan with 2 litle kids you know… I wuld drive on homemade chunks for say 100 miles, then l wuld just buy pellets at a gas station and dump them in. It was not free, but calculated in cost per mile, it was about half the price of petrol. I dont think it can get easyer thain that. One 30 pound bag wuld take me 60 miles, too. And took no space at all.
When we talk charcoal, its important to go BIG if you are serious about producing your fuel. Think about it. There isnt much difference in time investment if you need to babyseat a 55gal TLUD or a half cord kiln like l have. But, the first one will produce about 50 miles worth of motor fuel. The later closer to a 1000 miles…
I didn’t do it by “design” but I found making it in a pile on the ground was the most productive. I have an old barn that fell in. To get rid of the wood I stacked in piles 6-7ftx 6-7 ft and 4-5 ft high and burned it. Yes after the fire got to a certain point I would have to be there to work it so that everything got charred. I would get about 55 gal. out of a burn. Then came the work! I had to make an electro magnet to pick the nails out and that slowed up the grinding process-- a lot. Thus I have several 55 gal drums with plain charcoal out in the barn that probably will never get ground up into anything usable. TomC
I have found that in my metal fire ring when the wood is not very dry I can make some good charcoal still. First I get a fire going hot, then I start stacking wood on top close together like a teepee or cone shape. I have a big stainless steel funnel that I turn up side down and place it on top of the wood. It has about a 12" diameter opening. Just keep putting wood into the opening and let it cook.
Transfer the charcoal to a air tight barrel or place in water. In the winter time it is always nice to feel the big roaring heat of a fire. Not so much in the summer time. I think I will go out and make some charcoal tonight with a smaller fire and enjoy it with my sweet Dana.
Bob
Five minutes later. Fire.
We have chopped, grinded, sliced, crunched, fractured, and then we screened our charcoal to go into our charcoal gasifers. Now a wood gasifer using wood chips have been problematic with bridging and plugging up with fines. Interesting a wood gasifier with fuel chunks go in and come out with ash/charcoal the size that will be used in a charcoal gasifer after screening the ash/fines out. It also produces a wetter gas then a charcoal gasifer.
Now this as got me thinking. The end results of a charcoal gasifer is pretty much ash and ash clinkers, the reason is less moisture in the charcoal and no tar to bake out. Even if you use water injection it is just ashes and sometimes some clinkers.
By the time you get to the reduction zone and restriction opening of a wood Gasifer it is charcoal with more moisture in the gases vs. Going through a charcoal gasifer restiction open and drier gases.
Question: what if you placed bigger charcoal pieces in and not dry, but with a higher moisture content. Use no water injection and run the gasifer. If it is a charcoal gasifer it should force the water vapor to go through with the charcoal like in a wood gasifer, because there is no hopper moisture recovery system. The H2O that can be turned to Hydrogen will happen, and the rest of moisture goes with the gases out through the gasifer to the cooling rails to drop the moisture out that way.
The ideal type of reactor firetube to use would be a WK Firetube for pull heat out of the firetube and heating the incoming air to be use. The results hopefully no charcoal and just ashes in the bottom of the unit. No clinkers because of the moisture is controlling the high heat that can be related with using dry charcoal.
No dust in handling the charcoal bags when filling the hopper. No water drip needed great for winter use.
Just thinking OUTSIDE THE good, the bad, the ugly, wood for charcoal making BOX.
of gasification.
Bob
I am putting this video here because I have found a new way to handle my charcoal to get the ash out of It when I make down and dirty campfire ring charcoal.
If it is then they the courts have undone what the DOE mandated with the fish and wildlife departments two years ago. We took them to court over this. I will check with the North Centeral Washington Prospector. Our president Scott Brown is on the board of the Coalition on fighting back. It turn over in Calif. against Mr. Osterbrink he was found not guilty on two counts he did not put anything new in the water that was not there already. This our argument too in Washington State and federal courts for no addition ruling 5650 intent this is a big win so we can start dredging and highbacking again. This happen in Sept. 2020.
I will check if we have a new ruling. I hope we can now, that would be great news for sure.
Bob
The most expensive thing about prospecting is the fuel, getting you to the claims where the gold is. Unless you live on your gold deposit claim. If you do find some gold you spend ii in fuel going to, running the equipment and going back home again. Unless you find a big nugget.
Bob
That’s what I am doing. Not going to let fuel bite into my gold profits. Lol. Even if I find only some small flakes I am not spending on Gasoline.
If you want I will take you out on one of the 18 claims. The water is just now going down into the safe flows zones.
Did you know the Wenatchee River is a no one can make a claim river? You can prospect on it if you have land ouners permission to pass on it. Or at any public fishing, US Forestery, BLM lands.
Bob
First, how the heck are you going to dry the charcoal? That was the issue I ran into but I don’t have a nice place where I can do it without neighbors asking questions. …
Second, I thought it was legal to navigate any waterway, as long as it was considered a navigatable stream. IE you cannot be on the bank, you have to be in the water. I don’t know about mining rights because mineral rights are actually a separate property deed here.
In washington State you can not claim water front land to the high water mark on navigatable waters, the Columbia River is another no claims on the shore line to the hight water mark. But you can not trust pass on privite land to get to the high water to prospect. You need permission to cross. No problem on US Forestry land and BLM or pubic places like boat launches or picnic places along the river.
I have no neighbors next door. A day in the hot sun and it is down to 20% moisture. I run my charcoal with about 10 to 15 moisture in it after I get the gasifier started up. I do not need to water drip. The moisture is already there in the gasifier like a raw wood gasifier.
The more hydrogen I can make the better, is the way I see it, and it helps with keeping the gasifier nozzles to run cooler. Charcoal gasifiers have a way of getting way to hot moisture helps control this.
Now when I am adding charcoal to my wood gasifier it is always dry charcoal to help pick up the extra moisture in the hopper before being burned in the firetube. This make more hydrogen. I like it.
Bob
I think that is about the same as michigan. I was always told to just stay in the water, and that avoids any and all arguments. but I wasn’t prospecting either. I do have a gold pan, but supposedly we only have placers gold in this state, and I can’t imagine making money off that.
Oh that is really good to know. I never got it to dry down that fast Ill have to try again, i don’t like the dust of the dry charcoal methods. I also like the ash for soil amendments but that can be a slurry when it is applied.
Ill have to try again, i don’t like the dust of the dry charcoal methods. I also like the ash for soil amendments but that can be a slurry when it is applied.