I made my own charcoal in class a few years ago and I still have it. The carbon created on the charcoal looks like a sapphire prism. It is gorgeous and the charcoal made from scratch is better quality then bought in the store. Also you don't have to debark the wood if you don't want to.

LOL thanks for this. My daughter came home from college for a break all excited that they were going to make charcoal and needed sticks but the professor said they needed to not snap. Being a bit of an outdoorsman I know how to make charcoal and you use dry wood which in my book snaps but she said we needed green wood. Well after an attempt at home the willow charcoal from green debarked sticks was too hard on the outside. Now I have some more pieces air drying for her to take back with her and she even has her very own paint can char tin ready to use.

I have a cherry tree. I have an apple tree. I have a biscuit tin. My husband has an alottment. Going to do this :-D

Dear Larry You have inspired me to make my own, and I am on to batch number two. (We have a willow tree in our yard.) I work with Autism Spectrum students and introduced the final product to one of them two days ago. The fact that it is home made captured his and everyones interest and created a nice buzz: something different, something interesting, even for the full time staff there. I could see people getting lost in the feel of the charcoal on the paper, great to watch. Stefan , Melbourne Australia

thanks, it is a lot of fun to make and we usually make enough charcoal for an entire year!

Thanks for posting this Larry. I've employed this technique for my art since 2002 with good results, but the foil technique you use is brilliant. I'll be sure to try it on my next burn session. Excellent educational video man!

hi.. your work is good.. now i can make my own charcoal... thankyou for your video

I love watching vids posted when i was a baby/i was not yet born... I- I just like too-

nice video, very instructional, i like it

Brilliant

Definitely a big fan of charcoal. Although mine never gets as thoroughly burnt. But I like having Sumi ink as a background, and charcoal for the mid tones.

Great video. I have a willow tree, open fireplace and I love charcoal drawing. Student drawings are wonderful. Do you notice if people respond differently to the art making experience when they know they use charcoal they've made themselves?

so cool! thanks for sharing.

This is badass

thank u so much

the instability of the video is making me nauseous lol... but I love that you taught them this.

This is awesome; thank you! What happens if you don't remove the bark? Have you tried?

Wow!

Great video!! And can you crush the charcoal up and make ink out of it?

List the variants possible. Hibachi, outside, mahogany,birch, hickory, brusquette.,etc, etc

If you cover the wood with foil how does the aur escape?

You could use dowels but they are expensive. I wouldn't use oak dowels, try to use a soft wood which will make better soft charcoal

Would a peach tree work? Using a food can like beans or something?

I'm a tad bit confused, after putting the sticks in tin foil, how do i put them in the fire? should i wait for the fire to die out and the embers to still be there or??

in how many hours for the aluminum foil charcoal ?

great

This is cool, but I am curious whether there is any way to control how soft the final product is? Also, how soft did these charcoal pieces come out? They sound scratchy/squeeky against the paper, which makes me think they are pretty hard. What if I wanted to make some 8b charcoal sticks at home? Is that practical?

So.... Can I use just a small tin can if i'm not making a ton of charcoal or should I use aluminum foil instead?

what kind of paper you draw on with charcol please

Foil is enough for about 5 sticks a tin is enough for about 10 to 15

The canister that was opened, on the last few frames of this video, looked almost empty. I planted some grapevines, so I can do this next year with the prunings., or maybe, in two years.

How is Nitram better or different ?

Hello, can you please explain what exacly i have to do with aluminium foil? 4-5 piece of aluminium for 5-6 sticks, but i don't put them in FIRE?

Marianne, I wouldn't use a stove because of the smoke

what kind of wood i have to use..i ilive in indonesia..

Full instructional video here from green wood, alder, willow and we used beech. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/aLt0eLx7sN-3dIk.html

can I use wood from apple tree?

Would bamboo be good

I have never tried it, so I don't know

could i use dowell rods?

No bamboo is good you must use soft wood

Could I do this on stove too?

yup needs to be finely ground and add Gum Arabic as a binder

We are on a subdivision , we cant do that -,-'

No top comments? HI MOM! :D