does size really matter

[garyrapp55]

When cutting willow for charcoal, does the size of the limb matter?

Does the bark have to be stripped?

I followed this pattern on my first batch and had good luck. Now that batch is running low and I'd like to minimize the labor without sacrificing quality.

Gary

[Mumbles]

The bark should probably be stripped. This is where most of the dirt, sand, and other crap resides. As far as thickness, it really only affects the cooking time.

[Algenco]

consistent size is important, when mixing large and small piece the small stuff will be "overcooked"

 

To help prevent that I place thicker pieces around the outer edge, smaller diameter pieces in the center

 

peel the bark

[garyrapp55]

That's what I thought, thanx guys.

Gary

[dan999ification]

if you use wet/green/live wood strip the bark properly or wait for colouration [brownish red stain] and strip again, my first batch had hardened the charcoal. difficult to describe but it was shrunk and hard. i find smaller dia 1" and under to make the best charcoal for lift, you dont have many knots or rings which leave you with harder coal and its easier to process.

 

dan.

[garyrapp55]

Should I let the wood dry for a month or two before cooking? I made a burn last night that took so long, I had to stop it and go to bed. I had to be at work at 6am. I'm thinking this wood should season a little first.

Gary

 

 

[Bonny]

Should I let the wood dry for a month or two before cooking? I made a burn last night that took so long, I had to stop it and go to bed. I had to be at work at 6am. I'm thinking this wood should season a little first.

Gary

 

I remeber reading a long time ago that the wood should be dried for (awhile) before cooking to charcoal. When I do my willow, I strip the bark and let the lengths (3-5' pcs) sit around for a few weeks before cutting/splitting and cooking. For my pine (which I use for everything except lift) I just use SPF (spruce/pine/fir) lumber...2x4's etc.

[Seymour]

It's highly unlikely that drying the wood will allow anything to take place that will make any realistic difference to the end product.

 

However, since you no longer need to boil the wood dry in the charcoal tin before it starts pyrolysis, your cooking time will be greatly shortened.

 

As for the size of the branches, I have no doubt that it does make a difference. The Swiss shooting powder is from carefully selected branches of a uniform size.

 

However the improvement it likely to be one of consistency. Certainly straight grained wood from the trunk of Willow or Paulownia makes very excellent BP, as do the thinner branches.

 

One day I plan on doing some tests to see how big the difference is, but really, it'll be negligible.

[Arthur]

I have willow charcoal from big log willow and it's not as fast as the willow charcoal I once had that was from finger diameter sticks of willow.

 

You can charcoal wet wood but it costs a lot of fuel to drive off the moisture that would dry naturally. So leave it to dry debarked for a few months in a roofed shed then cook it. That steam smells bad too!

[ulajo]

I have found in the past a tutorial about making your own charcoal from willow and it was sugesting that you need to strip the bark and to cook the wood in water to disolve and remove the minerals in the wood before converting it to charcoal.

I tried this once and really it produced more fluffy, easy grindable charcoal. I didn't notice any difference in the BP performance.

What do you think about that? Will it make better charcoal or doesn't matter?

[garyrapp55]

Ulajo, cooking it in water first seems like a cost factor not worth it to me, I use a propane fueled stove.

 

I will follow the advice of others and just sit on the wood for a month or so then cook it. It shouldn't take long to dry, its over 100 degrees here everyday in Texas.

 

Thanx for the input guys.

Gary