Primitive Technology: Charcoal

Collecting dry wood Breaking up wood Putting central post in place Stacking larger pieces of wood against post Stacking smaller logs around them Thinner sticks go on now Dry leaves Digging soil to make mud Plastering mud onto mound The top is left open to vent smoke Air holes are made around the base to let combustion air in The mound is set alight from the top with hot coals from a fire The fire burns back down the heap against the draft Any cracks are sealed with mud More wood can be added from the top is space appears for it When fire can be seen through an air entry in the base, it's time to block that air entry The air entry is plugged with mud Do this with the other air entries only when you see fire through them When the last air entry is plugged, plug the vent in the top When the mound is cool it's time to open it The charcoal inside The charcoal is cooked through Charcoal is stored in baskets for later use Charcoal burns without smoke and flames. It can reach temperatures 200 c higher than wood fires

Channel: Primitive Technology

Views: 21,796,811

Rating: 4.9408159 out of 5

Keywords: Making charcoal, Primitive technology, Mound method, pt

Id: GzLvqCTvOQY

Length: 5min 30sec (330 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 19 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/Katdude180]

Him making the charcoal and loading into those baskets makes me think that he has something bigger planned for the next episode. Great video as always.

[u/topdeck55]

This guy is a few months away from being visited by Missionaries.

[u/OMGitisCrabMan]

If anyone is curious to how this works it's a process called pyrolysis, i.e. decomposition of organic materials at high temperatures while limiting exposure to an oxidant halogens to limit combustion. I just happened to read about this on wikipedia yesterday. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrolysis EDIT: I'm going to assume wikipedia meant "any oxidant" rather than "any halogen".

[u/[deleted]]

I'm really glad he doesn't add any music or narrative to his videos. There's just something serene about hearing the sounds of nature around him while he works.

[u/NotExecutable]

Also make sure to read his blog here:

https://primitivetechnology.wordpress.com/

His posts there fill in the gaps the videos leave and are a pretty good read.

[u/Number8sliders]

Here is what it sounds like when charcoal is really pure. https://youtu.be/jiVmKC8xXJ8?t=5m9s

[u/ElectroKitten]

This guy will smelt at some point. I'm so hyped right now.

[u/[deleted]]

This guy is in my top 5 list of "People to Recruit in case of End of the World"

[u/WildTurkey81]

These videos help me understand why the ancients worshipped things like the Earth and Sun. Because it really was what they needed to survive and prosper and live more comfortably. Some mud and wood would be the difference between barely making it through a cold, rainy night, and having a roof over your head with a warm fire and cooked food. They must have been so thankful for those materials. We still rely on the same things today, it's just that we're so detached from the unthinkably complex processes of turning minerals into our clothing and food and even entertainment, that we just lost the appreciation for it. Which is natural, not something to really dig at ourselves about. Just puts it into perspective when you see a man use mud to make bowls.