Found this on the web

[Gene Chapman]

http://64.176.180.203/charcoalretort.htm

[MaxTheKnife]

Thanks Gene. That's about the best one I've seen so far. I've been planning to make a retort system and now I'm really in the mood for it. I've been in the woods alot lately cutting a 40' wide strip for a road and electric access on my land. Lots of good hardwod scraps for charcoal. Mostly hickory. But a good deal of post oak, blackjack and red oak too. Even some persimmon. If I could just figure out a way to get charcoal from the huge piles of tops and small branches I'd have charcoal for years. A controled burn with some way to put out the fire before it's all burned up should do the trick. Any ideas?

[Fox Creek]

Isnt heart wood Persimmon much like Ebony? Might be some sticks there to put up to cure.

[MaxTheKnife]

Yeah Rich, the heart wood is very dense and beautiful. They use it for making driving wood heads for golf clubs. I've just never found a market for it. And I cut it so seldom that I've never tried any for knife handles. I'll save some of the bigger stuff and put it in the shop to dry for a few years and see what happens.

[Phillip Jones]

It is in the ebony family and can be stained black to look just like it.

[Sweany]

Max, you got a bucket loader? Start the brush on fire, when it gets to coals cover it with dirt.

Got a fire truck?

[MaxTheKnife]

Yeah, I thought about the fire truck too Mike. That would work great and be lots of fun too! I'll think of something. The dirt trick might be the way to go. I'll have a bucket loader ready to go soon.

[Sweany]

Friend of mine up in KS built his own fire truck cause his insurance co. was giving him a hard time, about his shop in a rural location.

They didn't have any reason after that

[mstu]

Max, a retort is good but is more work to make. I've had good results just filling a barrel with wood (corncob size or smaller pieces), clamping the lid on, punching a small slit in the lid (if no hole), propping it up on a couple of cement blocks, and burning the rest of the brush pile on top and around it. It takes about 3 hours of brush burning around it to make charcoal, maybe a bit longer if the pieces inside are green. I burn mostly privet around the barrel, which is lousy as firewood but works. Watch for when the smoke coming out either stops or is no longer white. I use mostly branches that fall from my pecan trees or workshop scrap wood (of course no particle board, plywood, or treated lumber). I also built a box with a 1/4 inch hardware cloth bottom, which I use to separate charcoal from dirt and sand when collecting it from fires. If you burn a big pile of brush right before the rain starts, you can collect quite a bit of relatively clean charcoal the next day. I use these smaller pieces to fill in the gaps when I add larger pieces from the barrel to the forge.