CHARCOAL MAKING COURSE –

LEARN HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN CHARCOAL AT IVYLAND FARM, NETHERFIELD

Charcoal making is essentially heating wood in an atmosphere sufficiently devoid of oxygen that it will not burn freely whilst it is being made. A Charcoal kiln therefore, can be anything that restricts the air to the wood being heated and is capable of being made air-tight.

Production methods fall into two distinct categories, Indirect Heating and Charring. Indirect heating is where the wood is heated by an external source, but does not catch alight owing to a lack of oxygen or no source of ignition. With charring, the wood is partially burnt to provide the heat source.

The earliest method for producing charcoal (other than an accidental by-product of a fire) was to use a pit, filled with wood, and covered with brush and soil. The pit method (still used in some third world countries), developed into the clamp or Earth Kiln, the method traditionally and still commonly associated with charcoal burning. Clamps comprise of mounds of stacked wood, with the outer gaps filled with smaller wood, brushwood and bracken, and then covered with (sometimes turf) and sieved soil.

The best way currently, is to use a metal drum. Commercially these are very large and take several days to burn. To learn the technique however, we run courses based upon converted oil drums, which allow the technique to be studied in a day, and even practiced at home.

THE COURSE WILL COVER THE FOLLOWING
History
By-products & Usage
Small Kiln Design
Wood Types
Loading & Lighting
Assessing the Burn
Closing Down
Emptying/Grading
Selling your Charcoal

Name(s):

Address:

Telephone: E-mail:

I/we would like to attend the above course.

Please return this form to:

The Netherfield Centre, Netherfield Place Farm, Battle, TN33 9PY

For more information call 01424 775615 or email info@thenetherfieldcentre.co.uk