Allot 57 hours of time for the gathering, processing, and burning of the charcoal, and let it sit overnight to make sure it has been properly starved of oxygen and cooled enough to handle, classify, and store.
Wrist size is the absolute maximum size you can run in the drum, and you have to follow the directions exactly to the letter for that to carburize correctly. 2” (50mm) is the most common size I like to throw in mine for good results in both burning and classifying later.
You can burn all hard wood, all soft wood, or hard and softwoods at the same time, although you will have slightly more loss from the softwood in a mixed batch.
It does not have to be sticks! You can use pallet wood or scrap lumber, so long as it’s dimensions do not exceed 2.5” (65mm) in thickness. If you choose to burn pallet wood, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES cut up or burn pallets that are red or blue, these are treated with chemicals that will result in nothing but a bad day for you. ONLY USE PALLETS MARKED “HT” or “heat treated”