Second day of the course and Martin fired up the carefully stacked kiln. We retreat behind flimsy tape!
After a while the burn got going thanks to a pair of paraffin soaked trousers and dry kindling in the middle of the heap.
The smoke continued poring out and we ducked under to inspect the charcoal from the metal drums.
After a while the kiln was capped with fierce flames roaring and the chimneys put in place. Sand was poured round the lip and the chimney openings. The fire could be seen burning through the openings.
The chimneys were then moved on round every 2 hours for about 10 hours until hopefully all the wood logs had become charcoal.
Meanwhile the smoke continues to fill the woodland canopy. Strangely beautiful -I think
While we waited Martin took a walk round the top woods and Lucy took some folk onto our plot. A lengthy barbecue to follow using yesterdays charcoal. Always amazed by the ease of starting the barbecue- just a bit of crumpled news paper. Within 15 minutes the charcoal was white and very hot- perfect!
After about 8 hours Martin and I capped off the burn, removed the chimneys and made sure that no more air was being drawn into the kiln. Time for that shower and a cold beer- Good day with great people. Thanks to everyone especially Martin for putting on such a good show and to Paul (Zero Carbon ) for his support