[Sca-cooks] Charcoal

[Stefan li Rous]

Margherita the Weaver asked:
> stefan at texas.net writes:
> > But it might be interested to try making charcoal with pine and such
> > using medieval techniques, just to do it.
>
> Wouldn't there be a problem with turpentine?  It seems to me that the one
> description I read for making turpentine was very similar to making charcoal.

Maybe. And the problem with this would be what?

Pine woods can be sappy and leave an awlfully difficult stain on pots
which is hard to remove, but I was thinking of dried, scrap lumber
which shouldn't have much sap. Even Mesquite trees or Cedar, local to here,
might work for such an experiment. The resulting charcoal, like the
softer coals, wouldn't be as useful as charcoal from harder woods.

Even if turpentine was produced, I suspect it would just seep into
the soil or burn off.

I do remember when making charcoal from sawdust in a can on the stove,
that you should light the vapors coming out of the hole in the can. They
burn quite well.

--
THLord  Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas         stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****