Black Gold!

The 2nd burn completed, the kilns were opened on Friday and inside.... black gold! Bags and bags of it.

Everyone seemed to have a good time. Treats this time were provided by Chris. His fresh pineapple chunks went down well. Paul (the Russian-German) chopped wood tirelessly but for the second time the axe he used couldn't match his incredible strength. Paul 2, axe handles nil.

After emptying the charcoal into bags we could have been mistaken for a group of miners fresh from the pits. Either that or we could have been a hippy commune in the woods as the men from the golf club commented. They kindly used their pick-up to take our black gold down the hill to our minibus so we'll let them off.

We restacked the kilns ready for another burn this Sunday and it looks like the production line has begun. I made some artists' charcoal makers fashioned from beer cans slotted inside cat food tins (patent pending) stuffed full of bark-stripped twigs. This experiment was placed amongst the wood in the kilns and I'm excited to see if it will work when they are next emptied.