Dennis Asp

^^^^ Interesting that people seem to prefer pine here. Not that I am complaining, I live in Finland and that's by far the most common tree... Regarding the bolded part. I think if you are getting good quality charcoal from this, the reason might be it gets to cook longer at lower heat. Maybe charcoal is like barbecue, low and slow does it.

You wrote in your thread you had changed your method? But I did not see what that entailed? And did you add a retort function to it? I understood yours wasn't a retort and in that it looks like it would be functionally very similar to a iwasaki, so I wonder what the process is that reduces the smoke from it... A retort as I understand it is when the kiln is sealed and uses the woodgas for fuel to run the reaction. Since you didn't do that that's also where the black gunk you mentioned comes from, it condenses back into the barrel I believe. A retort is from what I can s

Hi everyone, I'vebeen researching making my own charcoal, I have begun smithing but I use coke. I do tend to produce wood offcuts that I usually burn in the house. But making charcoal seems like a more useful approach. I like the idea of the iwasaki style mill, unfortunately it seems to smoke a lot when it's working as it should and I have neighbors. So it seems I am going to have to go with a retort style even if they seem to be more difficult for quality charcoal production. If I have understood the challenges right it's how to keep the retort from overheating and overcooking.