256 replies to this topic

[pyromaniac303]

Is there any method of doing small amounts of charcoal in a common gas stove?

You can make it on any reliable heat source, in a sealed container such as a biscuit tin, with small vent holes in the top to let out the waste gases. The only problem with using a normal gas stove is that it can only be made in small amounts, and it MUST be made outside. The smoke/gas produced from it are both flammable and smell awful, so make sure you are in the garden, with the windows closed and there is no clothes on the washing line!

I use a camping stove for small amounts but it gets expensive to keep buying gas cylinders, so it is best to make a wood fire and use that to make a large amount. I'm not allowed to make fires in the garden though so until I go camping next time I am stuck with buying expensive gas cylinders, or using ready made charcoal.

Is your stove inside or is it portable?

[BPBR]

You can make it on any reliable heat source, in a sealed container such as a biscuit tin, with small vent holes in the top to let out the waste gases. The only problem with using a normal gas stove is that it can only be made in small amounts, and it MUST be made outside. The smoke/gas produced from it are both flammable and smell awful, so make sure you are in the garden, with the windows closed and there is no clothes on the washing line!

I use a camping stove for small amounts but it gets expensive to keep buying gas cylinders, so it is best to make a wood fire and use that to make a large amount. I'm not allowed to make fires in the garden though so until I go camping next time I am stuck with buying expensive gas cylinders, or using ready made charcoal.

Is your stove inside or is it portable?

Inside,I don't care about the smoke as I may close the kitchen and let the windows and door opened to the gas escape,but I didn't know the gas escaping from the burning wood are flammable,would it be a really danger of ignition?And can it be made on a pressure cooker?In that way less gases would escape the burning wood and it's airtight

[paul]

I think you really don?t know how nasty these gases are. The smell sticks to everything. Clothes etc. Your kitchen will smell like s**t for years

[BPBR]

I think you really don?t know how nasty these gases are. The smell sticks to everything. Clothes etc. Your kitchen will smell like s**t for years

I did a small test yesterday(burning two wood Chopsticks),after 10 minutes there were some gases in the kitchen,the smell really sux,but the amount of gas in the kitchen was small because I used the pressure cooker and let the windows and door to outside opened,but I don't know if this will be true also if I do it for 4 hours and with more wood

Edited by BPBR, 25 June 2006 - 06:20 PM.

[Phoenix]

Bloody hell, good luck to you doing it indoors... You'll probably find that everything in the kitchen accumulates a thin, sticky layer of tar. Your call, I suppose - just try to hold your breath!

[adamw]

Please don't do it indoors! You may kill yourself from the fumes!

[mr_pyro]

MMMMM yes the gases are not healthy at all! I gather BPBR your not married? My other half would skin me alive even if i came near the kitchen with dirty shoes! when makeing the stuff, most objects in the surrounding area had a thin layer of just sticky stuff couldt tell what it was but i couldt dare do it indoors!

Edited by mr_pyro, 26 June 2006 - 06:55 PM.

[BPBR]

What about if I do it inside a pressure cooker and in the valvule that the gases scapes I put a of plumbing(made from rubber)and put it outside the windows ?

[ProfHawking]

that sounds like a hell of a lot of work. Why bother? havent you got a patio at least? If you are doing pyro in a block of flats or something i'd be a little worried!

[BPBR]

that sounds like a hell of a lot of work. Why bother? havent you got a patio at least? If you are doing pyro in a block of flats or something i'd be a little worried!

I have a place to use it,the problem is carry outside the house the stove(it's big)just to make the charcoal

[Stuart]

Simple soluction: get a barbaque going.

• Find an old biscuit tin, put one or two holes in the top and put your wood in it.
• Fire up the barbeque (over here we can buy cheap disposable barbeques if we don’t have a proper one, something like ?3 for 2), and put the biscuit tin on there for a few hours.
• Once no more smoke is coming out of the holes on top, take it off and put it on the ground, turn it upside down and cover it in solid or sand (helps stop the air going into the tin).
• Leave it for about 20 minutes, then uncover it, crack it open, and there you go, home made charcoal.

So there you have it, its done outside so the gases arent a problem. You do it in a buscuit tin, so your shiny pressure cooker doesnt end up filthy, and after its cooked, you can have a few burgers and sausages on the barbaque. Lovely.

Edited by Stuart, 27 June 2006 - 09:11 AM.

[BPBR]

Simple soluction: get a barbaque going.

• Find an old biscuit tin, put one or two holes in the top and put your wood in it.
• Fire up the barbeque (over here we can buy cheap disposable barbeques if we don?t have a proper one, something like ?3 for 2), and put the biscuit tin on there for a few hours.
• Once no more smoke is coming out of the holes on top, take it off and put it on the ground, turn it upside down and cover it in solid or sand (helps stop the air going into the tin).
• Leave it for about 20 minutes, then uncover it, crack it open, and there you go, home made charcoal.

So there you have it, its done outside so the gases arent a problem. You do it in a buscuit tin, so your shiny pressure cooker doesnt end up filthy, and after its cooked, you can have a few burgers and sausages on the barbaque. Lovely.

I have a proper barbeque here,but is the flame that common charcoal generates enough to make charcoal from wood?Isn't it to "weak"?

[Stuart]

I should be. I have used barbaque charcoal on a fire to make charcoal for black powder before.

[fishy1]

I have a proper barbeque here,but is the flame that common charcoal generates enough to make charcoal from wood?Isn't it to "weak"?

You can (And I have) melted iron with common charcoal. I think you need about 400-500C to make charcoal and that's really not hot by fire terms.

[adamw]

The flames from an ordinary wood fire will cook charcoal. You do not need a cast iron furnace or anything like that!