Quote:
Originally Posted by HydroExplorer
I'm planning to build a rocket stove to make my own charcoal. Rocket stoves are purpose-built to burn wood gasses, so it should be relatively easy to modify the design to add a retort and just burn off the excess wood gasses from the wood you're turning into charcoal. .
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I made up a similar unit, but found the amount of biochar produced was very low for a garden of my size.
The answer, a barrel in a barrel. I took a 55 gallon punched holes around the bottom, placed another with similar holes inside. Filled both barrels with wood offcuts , replaced the inner lid, and lit the outer barrel from the top.
The heat from the outer burned off the gasses from the inner, eventually those caught fire. I allowed the fires to die down and found the inner barrel full of perfect charcoal. The amount of loss is only about 10%, which is far better than a straight fire.
I have used about 15 inner barrels on the garden and it does work, less drought effects and the produce grows much better.