"Fire the Pit" Charcoal making in Pennsylvania Part 2 of 4

Making charcoal in Pennsylvania. Charcoal was the fuel in many iron furnaces until the conversion to coal. By Van Wagner 2008.

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  Education

[sutrar]

4:30 We here in Germany and Czech Republic open the chimney several times (2-3) about each 1 or 2 hours on the beginning to refill the created empty space with wood. That will prevent the collapse you described. Also, the chances of getting a crater depression at the top of the mound is much smaller.

[vanwags]

Excellent information! Thank you. Many of the colliers who worked in Pennsylvania in the 1700's were from Germany. I wonder if they used this technique here as well and if so, why it wasn't the norm in the 1800's.

[ClubNoirHaiti]

Excellent videos. As a Danville Ironman class of '82, I particularly enjoyed hearing about the history.

[vanwags]

very cool to here from an Ironman! Thanks for the kind words. 

[morav]

What if you sprayed the outside with water? Would that slow down the burning?

[vanwags]

Traditionally they used dry soil to put out fires. coal had to be bone dry of the furnaces couldn't use it. I imagine you could experiment with using water and all will be fine but if you want to go 100% traditional, only soil.

[altologist]

you should have chucked a pig in there with some chickens and root crops. would be yummeeee!!!

[FLPhotoCatcher]

2:21 - There's dinner!

[sutrar]

Thanks for you appreciation! We use a removable grass divot (or how you call a piece of grass with soil and roots ripped out of the earth) as a temporary seal for the chimney between the refills. Then we seal it permanently with soil too.

[Daniel Demchenkov]

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