Quarry Wood – Products for Sale

Charcoal and Other Wood Products from Quarry Wood

Quarry Wood was conceived as a productive woodland for the benefit of the local community and as a recreational amenity.

Oak, ash and hazel are all planted in groups, other species are planted individually or in smaller groups. There are six areas planted with coupes or groups of hazel, intended to be coppiced and harvested annually. These coupes have matured and are producing significant quantities of hazel. Hazel can be used for traditional hurdles, rods for beans in the vegetable garden, firewood, and brash for pea sticks. These products have not yet been effectively marketed, relying instead on verbal demand and cutting to order. In addition, other species of timber become available due to managed thinning or damage.

Sadly, about 5 years ago it was noticed that our groups of ash started showing signs of dieback (Hymenoscyphus Fraxineus), a fungal disease, which interrupts the transport of moisture and nutrients essential to the survival of the tree. This disease manifests itself in the crown of the tree to begin with. If you look around the wood, you will notice trees that have succumbed to the disease. See photo. The disease renders the tree brittle and liable to branch drop or toppling. As a consequence for safety reasons, ash trees close to paths have been felled. Those trees that are not a safety risk are left as standing deadwood or safely grounded dead wood, to support flora and fauna that rely on this form of habitat.

It is estimated that the UK will lose 80% of its ash trees, which will have a devastating effect on our landscape.  The only good news is that some trees are showing some genetic resistance to the disease. Look around the wood and you will notice some that have a much larger, greener canopy than others. The more mature the tree, the better able it is to withstand the impact of the disease. Our ash regrettably is particularly vulnerable being young and planted in groups close to each other.

Ash, once seasoned, makes excellent firewood and charcoal. Unfortunately, our ash is not of sufficient size to be milled into planks for furniture, although it could be used for turning on a lathe. If you are a woodturner or woodworker and would like to see if we have any suitable wood for your projects, please get in touch via the website.

Charcoal Production

In 2021, with increasing amounts of timber to process, it was decided to try making charcoal. Traditional methods of producing charcoal have been around for tens of thousands of years and charcoal has many uses, including smelting metal ores, cooking, purification and artwork. Today, we mainly think of charcoal as a fuel for barbecues. The traditional charcoal process is simple and involves the heating of wood in an oxygen-deficient atmosphere. This is done by burying wood in the ground or in a container with a lid called a ring kiln. The disadvantages of this method are that it is very time-consuming and produces large quantities of greenhouse gases. The main gas produced is methane, said to be 84 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2.

Imported charcoal sold in many supermarkets is treated with a fire retardant to make it safe for shipping vast distances, once at the destination an accelerant is added to make it usable as a barbecue fuel. All these chemicals create vast quantities of noxious smoke when lit and taint the food, as well as annoying the neighbours! Worse still, imported charcoal may be produced from forests that are not sustainably managed!

Quarry Wood charcoal is produced in an Exeter retort, an enclosed metal cylinder within a cylinder. Fuel in the form of unwanted pallet wood is burnt in the outer container, which heats the inner chamber containing the wood to be converted to charcoal. This inner chamber is sealed to exclude oxygen except for a small chimney where exhaust gases are allowed to escape when heating up to 500 degrees centigrade. The difference between traditional methods and the Exeter retort is that the gases are ignited so that the methane produced is converted to heat, water, and carbon dioxide. The charcoal produced is at least 95% pure carbon, whereas other methods do not achieve the same level of purity adding more smoke and fumes when used. This process results in 75% less greenhouse gas emissions.

Link to video explaining the working and benefits of using the Exeter retort.

The benefits of using our locally produced charcoal are:

• Easy to light with a few twists of paper; no need to use fossil fuel fire lighters.
• Clean burning with little or no smoke once lit.
• Produced from sustainably managed woodland.
• As a mixture of hazel and ash, it will provide good heat for long periods.
• Most importantly, the sale of charcoal supports the volunteers’ management of Quarry Wood. Funds improve the woodland as an amenity, help improve biodiversity, and enhance the woodland for future generations to enjoy.