Charcoal

Charcoal literally means 'charred coal'.

Charcoal is a byproduct of making wood gas and can be made by anyone.

The basic process for making charcoal is to place hardwood chunks into a container with a few vent holes to allow the flammable gasses to vent while keeping air out. Then simply heat the container to drive off the volatile gases. When it stops gassing out you are left with chunk charcoal which will burn hotter and longer than briquettes.

The absolute simplest way to do this is with a paint can and lid this is technically known as a retort. punch 10 or 15 small holes around the inside bottom rim of the can, place your hardwood chunks into the can and put on the lid. Next either place the can on or over a wood fire or other heat source. As it heats the wood will give of a flammable gas so do it outdoors where some fire shooting out of the holes in the can will not cause problems. Once the wood starts gassing out the gas coming from the can bottom should ignite and from then on it is a more or less self sustaining process as that gas will drive the rest of the process. When the wood stops outgassing the process is complete and you should remove the can from the heat source and allow it to cool before removing your charcoal.

While I have used this process to make charcoal for melting aluminum I have not used it for cooking fuel or the BBQ. From the reading I have done on the internet it supposedly makes a fine charcoal for cooking.

You can also make charcoal for filtering purposes in this way. So called activated charcoal is processed by steaming it to create the pores that give activated charcoal it's capacity to purify things that pass through it.