EcoQue Grills

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

And, since you can never have too much information:

In 1920s, when Henry Ford learned of a process for turning wood scraps from the production of Model T's into charcoal briquets. He built a charcoal plant, and the rest is history.
The Kingsford Company was formed when E.G. Kingsford, a relative of Ford's, brokered the site selection for Ford's new charcoal manufacturing plant. The company, originally called Ford Charcoal, was renamed Kingsford® Charcoal in his honor.

Henry was brilliant, he had the engines shipped in special boxes custom made so that they could be town apart and then used as the floor in his car without having to cut the boards. He had other parts shipped in oversized wooden boxes and used them as scrap for heating his factories. He then gave the charcoal waste to his brother to be sold again, as Glenn mentions. Talk about green recycling……….

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Henry was brilliant... He then gave the charcoal waste to his brother to be sold again, as Glenn mentions. Talk about green recycling……….

I don't question the ingenuity of Henry Ford, but the waste from completely burning wood is not charcoal - it's ash (mineral content, not carbon). If you want to make charcoal, you can't get it by just burning wood in a normal fire - you need to starve it of oxygen so the carbon doesn't burn.

Making waste wood into charcoal is probably a good idea if there is no better use for it (maybe Ford had more wood from crates than he needed to burn as fuel), but the process uses up much of the energy value of the wood, leaving only a portion available to be obtained by burning the resulting charcoal.

Getting suppliers to provide "free" wood for burning by oversizing crates may be good business (or just extortion), but it's not environmentally sound.

[daveandsandyclink]

Gee...if making or burning a little charcoal is bad for the environment, you must really be upset with your own government. I am speaking of the Canadian tar sands project in your own province of Alberta.

[ADKzookeeper]

The EcoQue manufacturer says in their spec sheet:
Quote:
No briquettes handy? Use any biomass fuel: sticks, twigs,
wood chunks, lump charcoal, alcohol or other wood
products.
Just to point the conversation in a different direction.
I wonder how many good folk have used moose or caribou dung?

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by daveandsandyclink

Gee...if making or burning a little charcoal is bad for the environment, you must really be upset with your own government. I am speaking of the Canadian tar sands project in your own province of Alberta.

Sorry, didn't intend to trigger anyone's political rant, or offend anyone who considers Henry Ford their idol... just correcting the accidental misinformation of a previous post. I agree that at the scale of current use in North America, charcoal is likely environmentally irrelevant. I'm not going to get into politics in this forum myself (i.e. not taking that bait!)

If it makes anyone feel better, I actually drive a Ford daily, although it's not from Henry's era.

[gbaglo]

No need to get so heated over charcoal.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

No need to get so heated over charcoal.

But hey, I just got accustomed to spring-like temperatures, and it's back down to -17°C here... we could use some heat!

[PGDriver]

We had better stop this thread direction before someone plays the Robertson vs Phillips screw card...

[J Mac]

Originally Posted by PGDriver

We had better stop this thread direction before someone plays the Robertson vs Phillips screw card...

I agree. It's tiresome and excessive.

[PGDriver]

Originally Posted by J Mac

I agree. It's tiresome and excessive.

I also agree, now back to the original thread topic if we can recall what it was.