Charcoal-making

Another ancient craft practised by children during Forest School sessions has been charcoal-burning. To do this a miniature charcoal oven is made out of a tin which used to contain mints. A tiny hole was made in the lid, and Beech Class chose small twigs to pack into the tin. We used willow, hazel, ash and birch twigs to see which would be the best ones.
We lit a fire – using all the safety procedures described elsewhere in these blogs – and once there was a good blaze, the closed tin of twigs was placed in the heart of the fire. Very soon, smoke started to appear out of the tiny hole in the tin lid. This shows that the wood is started to char. Once the smoke has stopped, and a flame appears at the hole, it is time to remove the tin. The flame shows that oils in the wood are starting to burn, and if left too long, it will burn completely. Removing the tin from the fire is done by a grown-up, with special heat-proof gauntlets, and the tin is placed safely away from any children until it has completely cooled down.
Children in Beech Class and Chestnut Class used our home-made charcoal to decorate their flags, and to make artwork around the Garden.
We found that the willow made the best charcoal for drawing. The hazel and ash was a bit more brittle, and broke easily, although they both made good drawing charcoal. It doesn’t matter if we break or drop the pieces. With such a plentiful supply of willow in the Wildlife Garden, we have plenty of stock to make lots more charcoal in the future!