MadModder
The Breakroom => The Water Cooler => Topic started by: Kjelle on July 14, 2012, 04:44:24 PM
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Hi all.
We went for a trip to an old mine/outdoor museum today, and there they make charcoal the old-fashioned way. I hope someone is curious enough to look through this, as it's the way we here in Sweden made coal for iron-making from the middle ages onwards. We don't have coal as on the British Isles....
And as
:worthless:
my lovely wife took some pictures...
(http://i646.photobucket.com/albums/uu186/KjelleB/Coal%20Stack/Re-sized/IMG_7744640x427.jpg)
It's not the biggest I've seen (mostly in pictures), but it will yield about 30 cubic metres of charcoal from 70 cubic metres of wood.
(http://i646.photobucket.com/albums/uu186/KjelleB/Coal%20Stack/Re-sized/IMG_7748640x427.jpg)
They held quite a long introduction/lecture before lighting it up.
(http://i646.photobucket.com/albums/uu186/KjelleB/Coal%20Stack/Re-sized/IMG_7756640x427.jpg)
(http://i646.photobucket.com/albums/uu186/KjelleB/Coal%20Stack/Re-sized/IMG_7757640x427.jpg)
(http://i646.photobucket.com/albums/uu186/KjelleB/Coal%20Stack/Re-sized/IMG_7758640x425.jpg)
And then, when the fire got going, more wood was tipped down
(http://i646.photobucket.com/albums/uu186/KjelleB/Coal%20Stack/Re-sized/IMG_7760640x425.jpg)
About 2 hours later, they open it up to stoke the fire, and covered the area with smoke
(http://i646.photobucket.com/albums/uu186/KjelleB/Coal%20Stack/Re-sized/IMG_7781640x425.jpg)
(http://i646.photobucket.com/albums/uu186/KjelleB/Coal%20Stack/Re-sized/IMG_7782640x425.jpg)
(http://i646.photobucket.com/albums/uu186/KjelleB/Coal%20Stack/Re-sized/IMG_7810640x425.jpg)
(http://i646.photobucket.com/albums/uu186/KjelleB/Coal%20Stack/Re-sized/IMG_7786640x425.jpg)
(http://i646.photobucket.com/albums/uu186/KjelleB/Coal%20Stack/Re-sized/IMG_7810640x425.jpg)
After this, they put in a smokestack, and monitor it, closing and opening air inlets to keep it from burning (but keeping it hot enought to burn off all non-combustibles)
This will be tended to round the clock for 5-7 days, then they will close it airtight and in approx 2 weeks they will be able to start raking it apart and see the results. It will be packed in sacks and sold, to help finace the mine-museum...
If you come to Stockholm in the summer, this is about an hour 30 minutes drive from the city center
Here's a link to their home page (only in Swedish, use Google translate to get an idea of what they offer);
http://www.skottvangsgrufva.se/
Kjelle (still smelling of the smoke)
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Kjelle
Beautiful pictures. Be sure to thank your lovely wife. That is something I had never seen before. Thank you for posting them and the description of what is happening.
(http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh490/DSquire/Main-2/Emoticons/ThankYou.gif)
Cheers :beer:
Don
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Cheers Kjelle
Thats a very large clamp :bugeye: :clap: :clap: :clap: , was it an Iron ore mine ?
Rob
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Cheers Kjelle
Thats a very large clamp :bugeye: :clap: :clap: :clap: , was it an Iron ore mine ?
Rob
Hi Rob!
Yes it was... Probably delivered to Åkers Styckebruk, for making artillery pieces (stycke means piece, as in a gun). There is 2 pieces in the grounds, and I think they are from Åkers...
Kjelle
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Thank you Kjelle, it looks very interesting and it is nice to see people raising funds for a museum by keeping old traditions alive.
Jim