First try at bone char

Actually, a mixed batch. I've never made bone char, so I had no idea how long it would take in comparison to wood charcoal. I had enough bones to fill my retort about a third of the way and filled it the rest with wood. I thought bone would take longer. Not sure why. To my surprise, it turned out to be excellent. The entire mixed bone/wood batch was perfect, with that musical sound you get when the planets align and it turns out exactly right. It was very exciting for my first batch.

Nice! I've been contemplating calcium issues in my garden.

These appear to be of bovine origin, yes? Was this green bone or previously roasted?

Green cow bone. Minimally processed by my dogs 🙂 and then into the retort.

Forgot to add, in the fourth picture, that white stuff is snow not ash.  After the burn completed, I let everything sit overnight to be sure everything is cold.  That night it snowed, so there was snow in the barrel around the retort.  I pulled the retort out to drop the charcoal, and that's why you see snow around the charcoal.

Nice work, Trace.

From what I've read, pure bone biochar is ineffective.  I don't remember exactly where I saw the research, but they said that a little bit of bone char mixed in with plant material might be better than say, just wood only.  They recommended a small percentage, though.  I only have chicken bones from when we eat chicken.  I save the bones and throw them into  the mix.  I make sure they completely dry out in the garage, so varmints aren't attracted to it.   It's only about 2% or so.  When I read about buying bone meal, it seemed weird to throw it away and then buy it, so I'm glad to have a way to use it.

JOhn S
PDX OR

John Suavecito wrote:Nice work, Trace.

From what I've read, pure bone biochar is ineffective.  I don't remember exactly where I saw the research, but they said that a little bit of bone char mixed in with plant material might be better than say, just wood only.  They recommended a small percentage, though.  I only have chicken bones from when we eat chicken.  I save the bones and throw them into  the mix.  I make sure they completely dry out in the garage, so varmints aren't attracted to it.   It's only about 2% or so.  When I read about buying bone meal, it seemed weird to throw it away and then buy it, so I'm glad to have a way to use it.

JOhn S
PDX OR

Hey John. That could very well be true. I did it more as an experiment to see how well it would char than anything else. Based on what you read, it may be better that I just throw a handful of bone into the retort each time so there is far more wood in comparison.