We are now members of the newly formed Isle of Wight Coppice group, dedicated to  bringing derelict woodlands back to life on the Isle of Wight

Kiln all closed down! More charcoal in the making, hopefully a successful burn, we will see in a couple of days or so!!!!

Kiln all closed down and simmering nicely!

Kiln loaded and and now a light and smoking well! FLIR image shows kiln hotting up shame the thermal imaging camera on my phone only goes up to 150.3c, I think it’s a lot hotter than that! More charcoal in the making!!!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Since our last charcoal burn in December we have managed to bag up half of the kilns charcoal, 20 bags so far, weather hasn’t been good for packing charcoal and then there was Christmas…..

Also just completed our first charcoal burn in the big kiln,  the  burn lasted almost 24 hours!. I’ve got a feeling I may have over cooked it, I hope we don’t have to much ash!

Pictures  are of loading the kiln and lighting it. We did the burn on Friday 11th December, 2017.

Kiln full I think!

Kiln almost full

Needed a step ladder to fill and light this kiln

Smoking well!

Fire in the hole!!!!

Kiln well alight now, almost time to close it down and let simmer!

Kiln all closed down and simmering nicely more charcoal on its way! Just drying off some kindling!!

Getting really hot!

At the very beginning of January I got round to cleaning out the owl box, very much needed!

We’ve been lucky that we have had a succession of barn owls nesting in this box over the years. I did disturb two owls roosting when cleaning the box out, it was well over due! I am pleased to say that since cleaning the box out they are back roosting in their nice clean box. Hopefully again we shall have some more baby barn owls this year!

The box is situated in an old oak tree over looking an area which I have just coppiced. This area will be good hunting ground for them!

Loading the mini kiln. This time we are using hazel for this charcoal burn as a test of the small kiln and to see how hazel charcoal lights and burns in barbecues. We normally use oak and ash mixture as this is easy to light and burns long and hot.

Kiln full and ready to light, in the bucket are hot embers ready to pour down in the centre of the kiln to light the old charcoal at the base to get the kiln burning!

Smoking well I think it’s a light!

Yes, ‘Fire in the hole!’

Time to shut the kiln down and allow to cook evenly. Kiln is looking hot!

16/10/17

Whilst working in the woods today I saw this little chap. It appears he is one of this year’s babies. (Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me, so here’s a library picture I found!).

The new kiln site is in the process of being set up! We now have two kilns in operation, can’t wait to use them! Also we have the mini kiln, which is situated in-between the big kilns in the photo. We will be using this as part of a display and demonstrations as shows etc !