Our Misson here at Biocharproject.org is about teaching people how to create, understand and use Bio Char to enhance the land they are custodians of right now and into the future. Lowest cost , Easiest to understand, Friendliest to use. Enjoy Tutorial.
One day biochar will be part of your everyday life and you will wonder how you lived without it.
Dolph Cooke
Founder
Goals
1. Have 100 people or more using my biochar “Beginers model” by the end of 2010. Needs revision or resetting based on emmissions.
2. Have 20 people or more using my Biochar “Beginers model mkII” by the end of 2010. Needs revision or resetting based on emmissions.
3. Have made and used at least one “Adam retort ” Masonary biochar unit. Goal Completed
4. Have made and used at least one mobile ” Adam Retort ” biochar unit.
5. Explained how biochar works and how to make your own unit to at least 1000 people. Goal Completed
Goals in “Italics” mean they have not been reached as yet.
If you can help me reach these goals please look at the Contribution page.
Tutorials
Begginer char mk1 with a load of char in it
Beginner Char Mk I
Begginer Char MK1 on the roast
Beginner Char Mk II
The Wombat
Adam Retort and Mobile Adam Retort
A Mobile adam retort by New England biochar
I love your site and approach to biochar – great that there are people like you out there spreading the word.
I’m interested to know if you have had any joy making biochar directly in the air. I’ve experimented both with burns contained in drums and then with collecting the embers from and open fire (I quench my biochar in water). The open fire pit approach lets me make much more, much faster than barrel methods but I haven’t been able to get any kind of yield calculation (adding water messes everything up!)
I was thinking comparing your drum method with my open air approach, but using equal amounts of fuel in each – you could then quench both with water and compare yields by volume, or by weight after drying them again.
Your Idea of using exact same quantities is spot on I think it will tell you a lot. I have not had experience with open air char. I love fires and hate putting them out Hahahah Im a pyro what can I say. I hope everyone can learn some form of biochar weather from the internet or from me. It really is a marvelous thing to do and what it can do still amazes me its like when I first learnt about all the things vinegar can do. Hope you enjoyed my movies I try and make them fun but I have to remember young pyros might be watching and I don’t want to set a bad example. BFA is my new project biochar for all. Thanks for your positive response and feel free to email me if you would like to exchange ideas. Charmaster Dolph
Great site with great info! I just heard about biochar this evening and I am very interested in making it. I have a 4.5 acre field that seems to be all clay and I would like to incorporate biochar and other organic materials into the clay in order to build up the soil. I have access to tons (literally) of northern white cedar scraps and shavings. Can I use this for making biochar? I have never considered using the cedar for anything in the past because of how long in takes to decompose, but if I can use it, it would make me very happy.
Hello Gus,
Yes you can make awesome inroads to soil health with you biocharing the cedar. Anything that was once living can be biochared.
a few rules are. 1. pack the retort or drum or pit whatever your using so air can circulate around it. So if you were going to biochar sawdust you would need to put wood off cuts in to mix so it would not take as long to char properly. look at my videos I have experimented in many ways and made them easy to make yourself for free. Biochar projects fun for the whole family.
Thanks for taking the time to comment I wish you excellence in your new career (Charmaster)
Dolph Cooke
sir,
good day sir, Im from philippines , now iam making charcoal out of coco shell and husk, using drum method out of several times using my drum its running out, so when I saw your retort kiln i said thats the answer to my question, Im requesting if you can help me sending the design(drawing and measurement and component of kiln) of your retort kiln.
Im hoping you can help, thank you very much
Yours trly
Michael Ramirez
Hello Michael,
As I like to say to everyone working with biochar Excellent work mate. However a lot of people ask me for the plans but I never hear back from then once they know that Chris adam wants money for the plans. So if you are really serious about biochar please send me your details with a good story about your project and a few good photos and I will feature you on the biochar project website. From there many people will see what you are doing and how you are trying to use biochar. This is where the magic starts someone might even sponsor your project and get you your very own set of plans from Chris so you can keep doing biochar in a more sustainable way. So lets see some details Michael and let the magic happen. Send to dolph@biocharproject.org
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