Guest guest Posted June 1, 2005 Report Share Posted June 1, 2005 Awesome find of an article, thanks for posting that! I make my own activated charcoal, it's pretty easy. Basically it's wood burned without enough oxygen to make complete combustion. Cut up a bunch of willow limbs with pruning shears into small chunks and fill a clean paint can style can (doesn't matter the can type so long as it's metal, has a tight fitting lid, and isn't going to fill you with toxic chemicals, no galvanized) that has a hole punched in the lid with a nail. Build a fire or put the can on the grill. As it heats up, white smoke will start jetting out of the hole. Watch it to make sure the heat source flame doesn't get too close to the jet hole and ignite it. If it does ignite just pull the can aside for a few moments. You want that wood to heat up and become charcoal, not burn up and become ash. When the white smoke production serious declines, pull the can aside and stick a plug of wood in the hole and let it cool. This may take 15-60 minutes depending on the size of the can and how full of wood it is. When cool you have chunks of activated charcoal, pulverize them into powder and you have an extremely useful substance that ought to be in every med cabinent that doesn't cost anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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