"Fire the Pit" Charcoal making in Pennsylvania Part 4 of 4

[arkbishopbonkerboy]

i be trading my sister fo your charcoal cahucks...

[turuanu]

Thank you, now I'm ready to start. One comment: The hell I would have jumped the pit. There should have been a bridge structure over the pile, no matter how tall, so that someone could tie his waist to it and dangle from it in case of accidents. Anyway... is it you singing?

[vanwags]

good luck! that is indeed my music you hear. You can find more of my music on itunes. I welcome any support!

[michaelanunez]

Wow thank you for that information. all I wanted was to grill some Jamaican Jerk Chicken now you have me digging a pit....I Love It.

[HungryHillboy]

After a few days of the burn and the charcoal was formed, didn't they douse the pit with water to begin cooling before raking? I thought I read that somewhere.

Love all your video, they are great!

[vanwags]

In Pennsylvania charcoal works I've researched I've never heard of them dousing with water. In fact I've seen quite a few cases where the wagons burst into flames taking charcoal in. That said, I often wondered if they didn;t use water simply because they often made charcoal up on the higher elevation and not near a water supply. One thing is for sure, going into the furnace the charcoal had to be dry. 

[HungryHillboy]

@vanwags Thanks for the info, keep up the great work!

[vanwags]

historically, yes. Filled to top with wood.  I think they key is no air spaces.

[0Eldone]

the chimney must be filled to the top with this pieces of wood ??

[music1account]

Your an example for 2010!

[drannard123]

thank you i got more idea how to make charcoal level on the ground thank you for this video God bless you all,,,

[mootube1234]

Great Video. Nicely done. I appreciate to hard work you guys did for this video.

[rwhendrix]

Good to keep knowledge alive. I learned from your vids.

[NightslayersEntry]

Informative and interesting. Don't know what motivated you to make this but glad you did. 5/5

[bigjunior2]

can you charcoal big round logs about a feet and a half thick/wide?

[vanwags]

You can try but my best guess is that you would get uneven charing. In the old days, colliers split every single log down to a few inches in diameter.

[bigjunior2]

i have cut down a dead star apple tree at the back of our house. the wood is quite hard when its dead. i cut it in 2 feet long logs, its thickness is about a feet and a half. i have seen the making charcoal of it but they burry it in the ground. they start a big fire and cover the pile of logs with soil then it smokes for about several day before they can harvest charcoal in it. I dont know if I could apply the same principle of yours in making charcoals in these kind of wood.

[KoN312]

Very informative and interesting! Thx for doing this Video!

[lifeseeker51]

Thanks. I always wondered how it was done. Making charcoal. The process for making charcoal for briquets must be similar. Good vid.

[IAMZONIAN]

Very interesting. Thank you...

[raiun42]

Well Done. Great Job!.

The Family of a little girl I was in scool with in Texas in the 40s were colliers. I think they were out of work and moved thru our town looking for something.

I remember her trying to explain to us about the blue smoke and tending the fires.

All that stuff along with Blacksmithing and small farming was fading away.

Thanks for keeping it alive.

[albgk]

great videos

[KarenKaminsky]

Extremely informative. As an educator myself, I commend you sir.

[sarniajeff]

Thanx so much for your efforts.

We recently returned from Haiti and they still use charcol as a fuel source for much of their cooking. It was during this mission trip that the lack of knowing how/where charcol came from came about. Your efforts have greatly helped in understanding the process of charcol making. It's amazing that a process and need that has been replaced here in North America, is still very much alive in countries that are much less fortunate regarding what we take for granted.

[davidsgoatroper]

thank you great job

[proteinman81]

Thanks alot for that awesome video, really enjoyed it and great music too! This generation doesn't know who good we have it, men back then worked very hard!

[sav20000]

very relaxing to watch thx for the info

[golddetective]

Excellent work. You should market it for educational purposes College and High school educational format.

[Bushdoctor68]

Great series!

Very, very informative.

I feel like I can do this now.

Thank you.

[dalexfilms]

A very informative series; enjoyed the music, too... (Nice harmonica!) Thanks!

[pumkinvine]

very cool, thanks for posting these.

[IrlDave71]

Nice work Van, really enjoyed the vids and loved the chicken cameos.

[tommmmmmmmx]

my mom comes from vestaburg pa. my grand pa. died from black lung working in the mines 80 yrs. ago im 52 that was hard work.... thanks for the history...i have the bird cageses from my grand pa and a lot of other things from the comp store

[vanwags]

Thanks for all your kind words of support. I am currently researching the traditional method of brick making in Pennsylvania. Many pre-1900 brick houses were made right on location out of local clay. I plan on using my charcoal to bake the bricks. More to come.....

[viper8red]

Intersting video. Good doccumentary.

[oldchemical]

That was great. Thanks for all the info.

[RUnick420]

Good, informative video Van. I learned quite a bit.

[vanwags]

I must admit I am more knowledgeable about the history of the charcoal industry. However from what I gather the current price for charcoal is quite high. You could use large metal containers to make larger batches. The key is to starve the fire of oxygen. Good luck!

[joedav2009]

cool video mate, is the coal industry good money? and how would you go about making loads of charcoal quicker?

[Jabber126]

Great work Van. I am looking forward to seeing gun powder soon..