Making Charcoal

why do you make it if you can buy it?

why spend money if you can make it for free?

is it so simple to make it? well,it looks just very difficult...

Another way to think of it, making charcoal is a skill and should the proverbial ever it the fan then you would have a skill that will allow you to make efficient energy for cooking and warmth...

still this all looks odd.... one video of some guy making charcoal, where everything that happens is wood turning into charcoal.... and still there are people who comment it,and do it with some kind of strange interest....

well if we enter a great depression and lose all our electricity, and the electric pumps that power the water to the water tower would cease, wouldn't it be nice to have some water to drink, specifically charcoal purified water?

Steam Distillation removes dirt but not poisons.

Not to mention, it's kind of a Heritage thing, learning how to do things Old School, in case Shit hits the fan and we all have to go Old School.

No lighter, or matches, just you and the wilderness, could you make fire?

I've done this method 8 cycles using coconut shell as raw material. Net charcoal weight yields vary from 30% to 33%. I don't know about charcoal quality but I assume this method results higher quality because not much ash produced using indirect method.
The biggest advantage from this method is you don't need special skills and shorter lead time to produce charcoal! Once the gas driven off the retort you can take some rest and let the fire stop and cool down by itself.

if the hole for the gases has a flame coming out of it for a little while while your making the charcoal is it ruined, even only if there is a flame for a short amount of time?

No, your suppsoed to see a flame. With larger quantities, especially if its pine, that will happen the entire time.

I have also given up on this method since we live in the city proper I have had the fire department called on me several times, and while they haven't told me to stop, I think it's only a matter of time.
I get about 35 lbs of completely converted charcoal out of each burn. the burn time is never more than 3 hours (sometimes less) and the fuel burned to get gasses going is less than 30lbs. The gases start in less than 45 minutes usually. The drum holds probably 150 lbs or more of raw wood.