Ebo David

Bob Stuart wrote:I have about four bushels of wood chips, ranging from green to rotten.  I have a tent-heater airtight available, and some open-burn opportunities in the fall.  Is this enough material to bother with, and how would you convert it if it is?

What is the size range of the chips?  Normally when people biochar they want to at least have some chunks left.  That said, if you can put the chips in a *nearly* airtight can, then it would probably work for you.  So, give it a try...

* if it is airtight, then the heat will cause it to pop open or explode.  You want enough leakage so that the volatiles escape.

@Hans, with the white bags, have you ever tried burning the edges to melt the threads together?  The seed bags are better, but I think the other ones might work with a little prep.

The place I live now has all sorts of restrictions, and for large brush piles they require a permit, and you have to check in with the local PD.  Probably not required for an enclosed barrel, but then again, I would like to think I am smart enough not to burn on fire-hazard days.  The real problem I have is that when I was clearing a bunch of dead/down stuff, one of the people helping me decided to push a 20T to 50T pile into an old breached fishpond (basically a big hole in the ground).  I have to deal with all that eventually in some way.  That is likely going to be a winter burn in the snow to control everything.  That or maybe I will try to use a timber hook on the backhoe and start dragging things up, splitting, and charing...

@Timothy, very good point.  If it is old enough, it may well be a lime based mortar instead of cement.  You do NOT want to mix the two! I have heard stories of buildings in the UK becoming permanently damaged by someone repointing brick/stone with cement mortar.  In fact, people working on old buildings in the UK have to go through a training course so they do not make that mistake.

I do not know how to test the difference for these mortars.  Anyone here know how, or can provide links to tests?

@Thekia, sure.  But lets take a walk down memory lane with all fo the fun diseases accidently introduced into the environment like the Chestnut Blight (Cryphonectria parasitica), White Pine Blister Rust (Cronartium ribicola), Dutch Elm Disease (Ophiostoma ulmi & O. novo-ulmi), Citrus Greening/Huanglongbing (HLB), and more.  Most of these are not directly comparable to what you might get by resprouting a vegetable shipped in from a foreign source, but my point is that the recommendations were made for a good reason.  If you want to do it anyway, you can study up and learn how to do so more safely.

I think you or I are not understanding or missing something.  If I am not mistaken, the higher the minimum temperatures, the higher the zone number.  So you will not have a problem with your plants freezing more often, but with the summer heat cooking them to death.  I could be wrong or missing something, but I think something is the other way around.

@Timothy.  If you lived within 100 miles of me, I would invite you over to help me feed a couple of hundred tonnes of materials through whatever retort we can keep lit -- I have at least another 20 or so 50' to 100' trees that got snapped in the tornado that came down in the neighborhood.  You are welcome to any of it you are interested in.  No SERIOUSLY, Come I Beg You ;-)  

On a more serious note, ask around.  You might find some neighbors that have down trees/shrubs that they are having trouble getting removed.  Baring that, check to see if there are tree removal, or landscaping folks, that are willing to give you branches from some job site.  They typically have to chip and/or remove the stuff, and you can probably pick up truckloads to trailer loads, and it is just that much more they do not have to deal with.  Also call around your city/county and see if there is a place for people to haul old downed trees.  If you find one, ask if you can pick up some wood from it for some projects.  There might be rules against it, but it is a no until you ask...

I agree with a lot of what people have said -- there is good advice about chiseling away the old mortar, wetting the stone,  and even using constructive adhesive to hold the stones in place and using grout to "(re)point" <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repointing>.  All that said, it would also be helpful to take some pictures of the damage so that we can see what we are dealing with.  Sometimes there are details in the job that changes the advice.  This reminds me of a story when one of my best friends was in grad school and...  

One of the students in the lab asked, "I have my father's old farm truck, and I heard that it is a good idea to have all the fluids flushed every once in a while."  Basically, all the car heads in the room said, "yea, it will help clean everything out inside and things will run more efficiently," and they interjected various details.  Then one of them asked, how many miles does she have on her.  The answer was, "I think it is just over 400,000 miles."  Everyone in the room shouted at the same time: "DON'T TOUCH IT!!!"  You see, the truck was made back in the 70's when a good run on an engine was between 100K to 200K before requiring a rebuild. If it had 400K, that means it has run at least 2x the max life expectancy, and you really do not want to do *anything* different to it than had been done to it over the last 30 to 50 years.  At this point, half of what is holding the parts together are likely to be sludge and grime, and everything is worn together.  Running the cleaners through the engine is probably going to do more harm than good.  So keep up the unbelievable good work.  Any vehicle that has lasted that long has had a good maintenance schedule.  Now, a new vehicle (or an old vehicle with a new engine) will benefit from getting cleaned out every few years...

Anyway, back to my point about the wall...  There could be details in the wall that will change the advice, but yea, any wall that has stood the weather and test of time for 75 years, is well enough built that you are likely only going to need to put the rocks back in the same place, and then repoint them (or clean up the joints).