Time to make charcoal

[ddufore]

Charcoal cooker on the left and raw material on the right. Started a fire with some scrap wood and added a few pieces of hardwood. Filled the drum and added some compressed air to get the fire going good. Shut off compressed air and and allowed combustion air to enter via 2" pipe. Put lid on and propped it up with a piece of wood about 1/2" thick. This allowed the smoke to vent while keeping most of the heat in. First smoke to come out was heavy thick white smoke which was mostly water vapor. Took about 4 hrs for the smoke to change from thick white to thin blue. This is where the VOC's(Volatile organic compounds) are released. When the smoke is done the charcoal is done. Sealed the top and closed air inlet. Opened the next morning. Sorry, pics are in reverse order.