Lavoy wrote: ↑Tue Oct 03, 2017 8:06 am
Okay, probably a dumb question, but no logging of any sort where I grew up because there are no trees. What is the benefit of making charcoal as opposed to just burning the wood itself? Less waste or ash?
Lavoy
This is not a dumb question at all, in fact it is a very important, million dollar question: is all the work worth it? To me, the real question is,can I figure out a way to do this mechanically with my bulldozer and log loader and take out the hard work? If I can, I can take useless wood (hemlock pulp) and convert it into something I can sell.
My Great-Grandfather used to have a Potash Factory during great Potash Fever Days, and I even looked into that. Hey my fields always need fertilizer, but I realized just (1) 15 acre field with a recommendation of 80/60/210 212 on the NPK would need 160 cords of wood, burnt to ash and then spread. That is a lot of wood for something that would last just a few years. It would be less expensive to buy fertilizer then log that much wood!
But if I could convert softwood to charcoal I could sell it to the organic farmers as biochar, or use it in my own wood stove. I have hundreds of acres of woods, but actually prefer to burn anthracite coal, I am just so frugal that I hate buying it. Anthracite coal has 15,000 btu's per pound, but charcoal has 13,000 btu's, so its pretty comparable. And right now hardwood is selling at the paper mills, so it is silly to burn hardwood for heat, when I can sell that for good money and instead burn softwood that has no market at all. But in life a person does not get something for nothing, I have to convert it, and doing that might be a challenge.
I have no intention of traveling to my grave in a well manicured body; instead I am going to slide into heaven with a big power turn, totally wore out with busted knuckles, jump off my dozer loudly yelling, Woo Hoo, another Shepard has just arrived!