[skou]

Has anyome tried making their own charcoal?  I've been doing it for a few years, and have been somewhat successful.

Sterling had a Freestone peach tree that passed on, and we chopped it up today.  I got all the crotches (hard to split) and I'm planning on turning it into charcoal, in my UDS.  I've done this a few times with mesquite, and have had some success.  (No, the county doesn't like it, but until they stop those diesel trucks from idling outside my door, I'm going to convert my wood into charcoal!)

Oh, chopping the wood, was simply amazing.  You don't really have to HIT it with an axe, just tap it.  Wecut it into 2 or 3 inch slabs, and attacked it with an axe.  Turned about 70% into smoking chunks, and I got the remaining 30% to convert.

steve

[azkitch]

When I did my UDS burn out, I came out of it with a bunch of mesquite charcoal. That was pretty neat. Most of the pieces were pretty small. Worked great, though.

[Mark]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/audioslideshow/2011/apr/08/how-to-make-charcoal-woodlands-audio-slideshow