"For thousands of years man has used charcoal for refining metals and cooking.The largest users of charcoal in Pennsylvania were the early blast furnaces that smelted pig iron from the abundant ore deposits scattered around the State. The charcoal was typically made in the forest using about twenty cords of wood for each “burn”. Men were employed year round cutting, stacking and “coaling” this resource into charcoal. Times changed, other fuels such as coal and electricity were discovered to be cheaper or better and charcoal fell out of usage.
It was Henry Ford who brought charcoal back to life as a form of fuel for barbeque grills. His sawmill in Kingsford Michigan provided wooden parts for the early Ford cars. To make use of the waste wood generated by the sawmill, a chemical plant was constructed and in operation by 1924. The chemical plant reclaimed, from every ton of scrap wood, a variety of saleable byproducts. The 610 pounds of charcoal reclaimed per ton was manufactured into briquettes and sold as Ford Charcoal. The charcoal briquettes are made from compressed charcoal dust held together with a binder of sodium nitrate, lime and clay. Mr. Ford supplied a small portable grill with some of the cars he made along with a bag of charcoal. The adventure of driving a car in to the country and having a picnic took hold and created a demand for charcoal briquettes. The charcoal grille gained popularity but the fuel has changed to natural gas or propane. There are some folks out there that may have a desire to cook over a charcoal grille using real charcoal. There may even be some of you who want to make their own fuel for forging steel or melting metal. This article is for you."
http://biochar.bioenergylists.org/files/how_to_make_charcoal.pdf
It was Henry Ford who brought charcoal back to life as a form of fuel for barbeque grills. His sawmill in Kingsford Michigan provided wooden parts for the early Ford cars. To make use of the waste wood generated by the sawmill, a chemical plant was constructed and in operation by 1924. The chemical plant reclaimed, from every ton of scrap wood, a variety of saleable byproducts. The 610 pounds of charcoal reclaimed per ton was manufactured into briquettes and sold as Ford Charcoal. The charcoal briquettes are made from compressed charcoal dust held together with a binder of sodium nitrate, lime and clay. Mr. Ford supplied a small portable grill with some of the cars he made along with a bag of charcoal. The adventure of driving a car in to the country and having a picnic took hold and created a demand for charcoal briquettes. The charcoal grille gained popularity but the fuel has changed to natural gas or propane. There are some folks out there that may have a desire to cook over a charcoal grille using real charcoal. There may even be some of you who want to make their own fuel for forging steel or melting metal. This article is for you."
http://biochar.bioenergylists.org/files/how_to_make_charcoal.pdf
