My biochar production tally thread.

They may be a bit more than 10 even, but even though I never close the top there is settling after handling and a b8t of space for me to use as handles, plus I like the nice round number of 10 for easy calculations.
If I've made a bit more than I claim l, all the better lol

I als9 never grind mine like most people do, I leave it in chunks, it can be ground through natural action from myself, weather and animals

7485

After a long dry spell, we were finally able to burn again.  Still having problems with my pump.  I replaced the impeller and volute, and put together a shorter intake hose with a better strainer.  Think it might be leaking air from the shaft seal.  I’m probably going to replace that next. Dug 90 gallons out today to replenish my composting supply.  The tally for entrails packed in charcoal so far this fall is 6 lambs, 2 deer, and 2 pigs.  Still have 2 pigs to go, and hoping for another deer.  

12-12-23

7820

Got another pile burned and both piles spread.  Added the entrails of another pig and deer to the compost.  Got a bunch of material ready, so our turnaround for the next pile should be pretty quick (2 weeks?) as long as we get some rain, usually not a problem this time of year.  

12-18-23

8350

Was able to get a fairly quick turn around on the pile build and some favorable burning weather.  Found a new pump on a big auction website for not much more than a pump rebuild kit.  The new pump worked well after discovering a leak in my suction hose that was probably some of the issue with the old one.  Oh, well.  Now we have redundancy.

1-7-24

Latest batch I did a small quick batch( consist8ng mostly of tumbleweeds and very small wood stock) in about an hour, yielded about 60 gal
Used about 40 gal in the dog run to fill in holes

Claimed tally: 260gal
Possible lifetime amount: 1560gal

8440

Did a massive burn with help from another permie.  Extra large pile of white pine kindling, and a lot of large bamboo piled on once it was burning.  Spread a bit, but still a bunch to go!

1-28-24

8620 and more to go…

8885

Biggest single burn ever!  535 gallons!

Counted up my white pines.  172 remaining of the original 500 or so (on 1.5 acres!).  Of the 300+ that have been used for firewood, brushpiles, and biochar, 95% have died from natural causes.  I am just now thinning out the stunted live ones for biochar. I’ll probably end up with 150 or so when I get done thinning.  I’m sure they will continue to succumb to wind, insects, and perhaps disease. So,  there is no end to the biochar project in sight, just in case you were worried;)

Pine thinning is going well, a dozen or so down and split for further processing into kindling. We’ve been using a rope puller for “precision” felling with minimal damage to the remaining trees.  I use an extension ladder to place the rope high on the trees for better leverage.  Below is a video (not mine) on how they work. And, a few pics of the growing feedstock piles…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLo7vl7zlUs

9540

Another single pile record, 655 gallons!  Probably half and half bamboo and pine kindling.  

3/23/24

Gray Henon wrote:We’ve been using a rope puller for “precision” felling with minimal damage to the remaining trees.  I use an extension ladder to place the rope high on the trees for better leverage.  Below is a video (not mine) on how they work.

Good video. This feller knows his stuff and he explains it well.

I'd never come across a rope ratchet like that, only heavy duty ones for steel cable. Interesting.

EDIT: Gray, maybe you would consider starting a fresh thread with that video and your experience using a rope puller to fell trees. It's good information but it's sort of buried deep in this biochar thread.

Finally dug out the cone pit from a burn a couple mo ths back, 80 gal bagged and ready for use on the farm

So 340gal tallied total

9690

Got a burn done this morning.  150 gallons spread this evening, probably 200+ to go.

4/9/24

Wait for it….


10,115!

Just something special about adding an extra digit!  The next one is going to be a while, lol…

That's getting close to 40 cubic metres. Hats off, man.

10,325

Got some good burn weather just as we finished building 2 large piles.  Did a little spreading this morning, but still lots to go.  Wouldn’t be surprised is there is 700-800+ gallons between the two piles.

5/5/24

10,415

Fighting the weather to get it spread…stand by…

10,505

Still more to go in the small pile, haven’t even started on the big pile…

10,820

505 total from the smaller pile and into the big pile now…

11,170

Our first 1000+ gallon burn!

The ever improving silvopasture…only 142 pines left!

11,410

Got a couple smaller piles burned and one spread, one to go…

5/19/24

11,660

Got the second pile spread.  One more burn should finish up the 50 pines we took down this winter.

12,020

Finally got some rain and was able to burn.  Now fighting the heat to get it spread.  Probably still 500 or so gallons to go if I had to guess.


7/10/24

12,460

One pile done, and 300 out of the second.  Still more to go…

12,640

20 gallons shy of 1,000 gallons on this burn!

Wow!!! Your production becomes increasingly more impressive!

100 gal pulled out of the pit today, so 440?

12,810

Was planning on taking the fall off for hunting, festivities, and holidays, but hurricane Helene had other plans.  We lost around 30 of the larger white pines and a few yellow pines.  Immediate business was getting them off of the fences. After that, we started opening travel lanes.  

We had our family reunion a couple weeks after the storm, and I “Huck Finned” attendees into a small burn of mostly yellow pine that yielded 60 gallons.  Further burning was stalled by 4+ weeks of no rain after the storm.  Finally got enough rain last week to burn again.  We burned two large piles of white pine branches and one pile that was around half, by volume, white pine branches and half yellow poplar that we split over the summer.  The pile with the split wood produced much more than the other two.  So far we have spread the reunion pile and one of the white pine piles.  Still have two to go.

A few pics

12,960

Got a little more spread.  Still a bit to go.

13,120

Been distracted a bit by hunting/butchering season but things should pick up soon;)

Your production numbers continue to impress! Good use of storm damaged trees to build long lasting soils!

Got a burn done recently, getting low on brush for stock so I may have to go about collecting here sooner or later

About 140 gallons this burn

So that puts me at 580 gallons

13,420

Finally got a burn done after the end of a long dry spell.  While I was waiting for rain, we just kept accumulating brush near the burn pile.  Probably had over half an acre covered.  The burn took three people 5 hours of continuously feeding the fire just about as fast as we could work.  Got 300 gallons spread tonight and plenty to go.  I am always hesitant to project totals, but hoping we come close to our previous record of around 1000 gallons.


4/3/25

That's an impressive burn!

13,720

Still more to go…

14,135

All spread!  Just over 1,000 gallons!

Gray, that's damned impressive. Nicely done!

I have started spreading middling-quality char (too much ash etc.) on all the areas where people are extremely likely grow food on my property -- long in the future, when I have moved on to new homesteads.

The char will remain in the soil. My name won't be on it. I won't get my picture in the paper, nor a Christmas card. But I like to think I'm striking a blow that will matter.

14,285

Burned two piles this morning.  Both were split wood from Helene felled trees.  One white pine and the other tulip poplar.  While felled last fall, they were not cut/split until just recently and the wood was still very green.  Also had 4-5 inches of rain yesterday which absolutely saturated the piles.  The burns were slow and didn’t produce the best yields as the coals burned away drying out the piles.  I’ve pushed it before, but this was just too wet.  Only 150 gallons from the white pine pile.  The poplar pile looks better, hoping to spread it and get a total tomorrow.