That worked well.
Can you briefly describe your method ?
Oil drum with holes in bottom, stood on low bricks for airflow, fire in bottom, add seasoned small diameter hardwoods until full, allow to burn until level starts dropping, add some more small diameter stuff and wait a while until the white smoke goes dark, this indicates the charcoal itself is starting to burn and you need to stop the process.
Carefully remove the air bricks and seal any gaps where flames or smoke are coming out with sand or soil, carefully slide lid on top and clamp shut, weight on top can help the seal and stop smoke/flames coming out of the top.
Wait a few hours to cool and see how you've done !
If lots of only partially burnt wood then you needed to let it burn longer, add these to the next batch. If a big pile of ash then you left it too long !
That's about it really, instead of holes in the bottom and raising on bricks you can just put holes around the side near the base and just block these with sand/soil when shutting down. I used hazel with a diameter of half inch up to inch and a half but mainly around one inch, and that took just under an hour to cook. If less well seasoned, or larger diameter it could take substantially longer.
There are other variations on the oil drum approach that I haven't tried yet but this one seems to work just fine so far with two successful burns and a nice stack of charcoal filled sacks
Goes without saying, your personal safety, and that of the area you are burning in, are paramount. I used welding gauntlets and long sticks for handling bricks and lid etc, and soaked the ground under and around, before, during and after the burn, with large amounts of water and a fire beater thing on hand if needed. Also had the precise location, in the middle of a woodland, on my phone in case of any emergency assistance required from fire brigade or ambulance service ! With a bit of common sense though it all seemed safe and controlled but worth not being complacent !
