The decision as to the method of charcoal production was the subject of much research. Traditionally charcoal in the UK was made in earth covered mounds (clamps) which had a low conversion rate of approximately 2 ! and was very labour intensive. " lar#e proportion of the wood in the clamp was burnt to fuel the process. The predominant method used in the UK now is the rin# $iln% usin# the same basic method as the clamp% which has a conversion rate in the re#ion of & ! but has a number of drawbac$s includin# that it produces a 'dirty( charcoal contaminated with ash and earth from the #round below the $iln and it also produces hi#h levels of emissions. The contamination is very undesirable for many charcoal niche mar$ets . )etorts% which have been used since the *+ th century% produce charcoal in a fundamentally different process to the $iln or mound method they use an external heat source to brin# the wood up to carbonisation temperature at which point the #ases (syn#as) #enerated by carbonisation can then be burnt to fuel the process. ,n effect the wood is 'coo$ed( in an oven. This #ives very #ood conversion rates ( in excess of -2!) and much #reater control over the process allowin# very hi#h .uality charcoal to be produced. "lso the burnin# of the syn#as reduces air pollution to approx & ! of that produced by rin# $ilns. /e aim to tar#et niche mar$ets as they #ive hi#her returns for a much lower volume of production than barbe.ue charcoal so producin# the hi#hest .uality is paramount therefore we selected the retort as our production method. 0mall scale retorts are prohibitively expensive costin# in excess of 1*2 for the smallest units. This simply wouldn3t have been a reasonable choice for us so after a period of research we built a small retort usin# a 'batch continuous( process. This uses metal drums containin# the wood to be carbonised placed inside an 'oven( which uses waste softwood unsuitable for other uses as fuel to brin# the char#e up to carbonisation temperature whereupon the syn#as #enerated by the char#e is burnt to maintain the carbonisation. 4y usin# multiple metal drums and sta##erin# their insertion into the retort the process is lar#ely self maintainin# as lon# as the drums are removed and replaced at the correct intervals. 5nce the drums are removed they are sealed so that the charcoal can cool down with less ris$ of spontaneous combustion. The retort is ban$ed with earth to act as both insulation and a residual heat store. /e are also able to dry small batches of wood to produce $indlin# and the excess heat could be used for other purposes includin# dryin# lo#s and sawn timber.