My biochar production tally thread.

1250

Going to try and get one more batch in today before things dry out for a few days...

1280

1320

Also burned 2 piles, but I'm holding off adding them to the totals until I measure how much they produced.  Hopefully another 60-70 gallons there.  

1350

Got 30 gallons shoveled up out of one of the piles before I needed to come in for the evening.  Wasn't even half of the pile...

1460

Totals for the two piles were 95 gallons and 45 gallons.  Quite a difference despite the exterior dimensions of the piles appearing about the same. The larger yielding pile was mostly dry white pine branches that stacked quite a bit denser than the green maple/tulip poplar branches that made up the other pile.  The pine also burned quite a bit hotter.  Both piles burned in 10-15 minutes.  We don't add anything bigger than your wrist to the piles.  The 2-4" material has been going into the barrel with good success.

1515

Got a couple more piles built and burned.  Got 55 gallons off of one, still need to clean up the other one.  Might only have enough small wood for one or two more piles.  Then I start on the logs...

Wow Gray. You're a machine!

We're in a heat wave. I'm making supper. It's 35C in my kitchen (humidex 40C+). I can't even imagine making char right now. But I'm setting up a big pile for winter burns, when fire will be a delightful companion.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:Wow Gray. You're a machine!

We're in a heat wave. I'm making supper. It's 35C in my kitchen (humidex 40C+). I can't even imagine making char right now. But I'm setting up a big pile for winter burns, when fire will be a delightful companion.

Just trying to make the most of my labor before they return to school/work in the fall!  It hasn't been too bad here.  Misty, rainy, and in the 80's here today.  If it gets up into the 90's we usually wait until the evening and can get an hour or two in before dark.

Oh yeah, did another barrel burn;)

1550

1630

Spread one of the last piles and burned another.  

1710

Got the last pile spread.  I anticipate things slowing down going forward.  All the brush piles I wanted to get rid of are gone but I've still got lots of logs and I'll have some prunings as I cut tree fodder so production will continue, just slower.

Gray,
Are you going to sell it, or do you have a big farm?
Thanks,
JOhn S
PDX OR

John Suavecito wrote:Gray,
Are you going to sell it, or do you have a big farm?
Thanks,
JOhn S
PDX OR

Its getting spread on a 4 acre silvopasture.  There a pics a few posts back...

1740

Finally got around to burning another batch.  I thought I had burned most of my smaller feedstock, but keep finding more!  I've got a good size pile ready to go after we get a good rain.

1825

Burned two twig piles and a barrel batch using larger logs.  Even with the logs split down to stove size it still took 2.5x as long as using twigs and was a lot more work.  Charring logs just might not happen.  I think I want to save my joints for other things!

I have a method for my wood cutting and clearing.  There is a lot of overlap between the categories, and it isn't set in stone.  Anything smaller than a couple inches across is made into wood chips, anything 2 inches or so to about 4 inches is for charcoal, and anything bigger than that is firewood.  As I said, that isn't set in stone.  If I'm using the chipper on any given day, sometimes things go into it all the way up to 5 or 6 inches.  Sometimes firewood goes down to 2 or 3 inches if I need some kindling type wood because I'm getting low.  

Even at 4 inches, I try to split the wood for charcoal.  If I didn't need so many wood chips, I would use the smallest wood for that.  Smaller and dryer works best for charcoal in my experience.

I envy your motivation for making charcoal.  Very impressive the amounts you have made.

Gray, just wanted to say thanks! This thread has motivated me to make char. I used the same method you explain - a 50gal metal halved long-ways. Worked great! Bought a few inexpensive grinding wheels from Harbor Freight to cut and it worked great for me. I had a stack of split and dried water oak that seasoned for a year or so. The pieces were fairly large. To finish a burn took about 2.5 hours. The longest part of the process was building up a good, hot coal bed with smaller twigs and branches. After that, the bigger material and split wood charred quickly. The flexibility of the metal drum proved useful too. I walked around the drum and kicked the corners to make the logs settle better, which seemed to help choke and starve the underlying coals of oxygen. I’ve made ~70 gallons in total. Don’t have any immediate plans for it but I’ll likely charged it with comfrey, various weeds, and chicken litter.

Anyway, just wanted to say thank you! This has been a very encouraging and motivating thread. Not to mention making this stuff is rewarding!

Andrew

Andrew Gross wrote:Gray, just wanted to say thanks! This thread has motivated me to make char. I used the same method you explain - a 50gal metal halved long-ways. Worked great! Bought a few inexpensive grinding wheels from Harbor Freight to cut and it worked great for me. I had a stack of split and dried water oak that seasoned for a year or so. The pieces were fairly large. To finish a burn took about 2.5 hours. The longest part of the process was building up a good, hot coal bed with smaller twigs and branches. After that, the bigger material and split wood charred quickly. The flexibility of the metal drum proved useful too. I walked around the drum and kicked the corners to make the logs settle better, which seemed to help choke and starve the underlying coals of oxygen. I’ve made ~70 gallons in total. Don’t have any immediate plans for it but I’ll likely charged it with comfrey, various weeds, and chicken litter.

Anyway, just wanted to say thank you! This has been a very encouraging and motivating thread. Not to mention making this stuff is rewarding!

Andrew

Awesome, glad it worked well for you!

1985

Finally got enough rain to burn!

Weather has been either dry or windy.  Forecast finally looks like we might be able to burn tomorrow. I have a massive amount of brush to char!

Biggest burn ever!  Probably have a small pickup load of charcoal and we are only halfway through the brush.  Going to have to calculate gallons from my wheelbarrow.  One son is back in school, so I only had half my help, I’m whipped!  Might wait for good burning weather on the weekend for the rest so I have all my help…

2045

Got it all burned.  Extra help sure made a difference!  Figured up the wheelbarrow holds 30 gallons and spread two loads.  Still lots to go. Got a lot of rain today, going to let dry out a little more before I do, lighten the load a bit.

2220

Got the rest of one pile spread, total for the pile came to 235 gallons, biggest pile ever!  And the other pile looks even bigger!

You are my biochar hero.  

Trace Oswald wrote:You are my biochar hero.  

Thanks, but I couldn’t do it without the help from my sons!

Gratuitous char pic…

The carbon powerhouse…

The cow preparing more innoculant…

2280

Got some of the pile in the pic spread.  Still lots to go!

When i started adding it to my fortnightly fertilizing routine, i started seeing amazing results.

2490

Spread the rest of the big pile this morning, 270 gallons total in it!

Time to start piling again…

Sean Wright wrote:When i started adding it to my fortnightly fertilizing routine, i started seeing amazing results.

Your fruit looks amazing!

Prepping a few more burn piles.  White pines are the gift that keeps giving!  

Things are greening up!

Found an old picture of a burn…

2610

Both piles burned, one spread and one to go…

2760

Spread the second pile and reserved 30 gallons for hopefully composting some fish carcasses in a couple weeks!

Another pile prepped to char.  Almost all white pine, most came from 3-4 windy days last week.

2820

Ended up adding a bit more to the pile in the pic.  Lit it off last night after a good rain.  All the resin in the pine made for a nice flame column:).   Got 60 gallons spread this morning before we broke for lunch. Still lots to go. Might go out this evening for a bit more…

Did some math; 82,000 gallons will put an inch on the three acres I am spreading it on, got a little work to do…

2950

Got the rest of the pile spread!  

*Noticed my acreage numbers have varied throughout the thread.  It breaks down like this: 4 acres in my original fence enclosure, of that, 1.5 acres is in white pines where I am not spreading char. In addition to the 4 acres, there is .5 acres of additional silvopasture we developed over the past year where I am also spreading.