2025-05-01

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Primitive Technology

Charcoal retort experiment

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About This Video:

I tested a charcoal retort based on the Hookway retort method using only primitive materials. A normal retort is one in which the sealed chamber of wood is inside a furnace and the heat drives off the volatiles converting it to charcoal. The Hookway retort, invented by James Hookway (see original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBYaP5K0AkE ) has furnace, a metal pipe, inside the sealed chamber of wood, so the heat conducts out into the wood converting it to charcoal. In addition to this, escaping volatiles from the wood enter the pipe where they are burnt, adding further heat. After a while, no more wood is added to the furnace as it runs entirely of wood gas.

In my version I made a clay pipe and tested it. It did produce some charcoal but most of the wood remained unburnt. This was due to the poor heat conductivity of the clay pipe relative to the metal pipe of the original. The charcoal it did produce from wood touching the clay pipe directly, was of excellent quality. Another benefit of the design was it did not need sealing of the air entries like a typical charcoal mount. The retort did not become self sustaining on woodgas and needed to be fed with wood for the duration of the burn.

In future I'd try making charcoal in a large clay pot retort inside a furnace. I've done it in a previous video with a 25 cm diameter x 25 cm tall pot and it worked well producing shiny intact charcoal with the only unburnt wood at the bottom of the pot. For a new version I'd make the pot taller but not wider for greater yields. Or I'd simply make charcoal in a pit doused with water which gives poorer quality charcoal but with less time and effort. I've tested doused charcoal before in iron smelting and it seems to give the same yield of iron.

00:00-04:36 Regular charcoal mound

04:36-16:33 Hookway charcoal retort

16:33-19:14 Doused charcoal method

About Primitive Technology:

Primitive technology is a hobby where you build things in the wild completely from scratch using no modern tools or materials. These are the strict rules: If you want a fire, use a fire stick - An axe, pick up a stone and shape it - A hut, build one from trees, mud, rocks etc. The challenge is seeing how far you can go without utilizing modern technology. I do not live in the wild, but enjoy building shelter, tools, and more, only utilizing natural materials. To find specific videos, visit my playlist tab for building videos focused on pyrotechnology, shelter, weapons, food & agriculture, tools & machines, and weaving & fiber.

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