I read the Wikipedia definition of what charcoal is, but I need layman terms. What is cooked out of the wood and what is left? Can all wood be “charcoaled” equally? Hardwood moreso than softwood? Is it practical, or even possible to home-cook charcoal?
And lastly, what is the advantage of going through the process of making charcoal over just burning wood?
While I do not know the process of converting wood into charcoal, I believe that charcoal produces a more intense heat than burning wood alone.
Isn’t charcoal something between wood and coal? :dubious: I’m sure someone will come along and expond . . . .
Others on this board are far more qualified than I on this issue, but charcoal is partially burned wood, where the burn is controlled with limited oxygen/air to vent off water and ceratain volatile compunds, resulting in almost pure carbon.
Charcoal is valued because it burns hotter and cleaner than wood.
When you make charcoal you basically get rid of all the stuff in the wood that does not burn. As a result you get more bounce per ounce with charcoal than with wood. Not all wood is equal. Some types (willow for example) are valued for some uses (making gunpowder in this case).
Making charcoal was a dangerous business the wood was piled onto piles called ricks. The ricks were (well, you guessed it) rickety. Earth was put on the ricks to restrict the flow of air. Then we lit the fire. As the rick contracted, holes in the earth cover would appear.
They sent people onto the rickety rick to put more earth on the pile. Then the pile would collapse and the worker would be lucky to get out with his life.
When you make charcoal, you are essentially cooking it at a very slow burn rate to drive off the lignin and other heavy organics that vaporize but don’t burn. Essentially, you’re cooking the smoke out of it. You’re left with a product that is mainly carbon, which burns hot and produces very little smoke. A regular fireplace also generates charcoal, but it consumes a huge amount of fuel to do so.
Thanks!
Random, Paul, and Brain did a good job of telling what charcoal is. The analogy to charcoal using coal as a base fuel is called “coke”, and the process is called “coking”, just FYI. Since it’s easier and cheaper to mine and process coal than wood, coal coke is much more often used as a source of carbon for large-scale industrial processes, such as steelmaking.
Or use google to find a link about making charcoal at home …
Pretty cool actually! 
A note on the briquetts you buy for you backyard barbeque:
They do contain charcoal, made from sawdust or other scrap wood. This is held togethor with a fairly high percentage of clay. Most of what is left as “ash” is actually this clay. If you use “real” charcoal, also known as chunk charcoal, it creates much less ash, as well as buring hotter as the fuel is more concentrated and doesn’t have the clay restricting airflow.
Further information can be had from reading about “pyrolysis”.
The modern charcoal briquette was developed by the collaboration of none other than Henry Ford and Thomas Edison!
Double Bonus factoid, ‘Kingsford’ charcoal was a wedding gift. Henry Ford gave the patent and a sweetheart deal to Mr. Kingsford when he married Ford’s daughter. The process used waste wood from Ford’s production of Model Ts.
Thomas Edison had only one testicle.
Ok…I made that one up…
Ladies and gentlemen…
The Yet-Unheard of… Triple Bonus Factoid!!!
The Schuylkill River in Philadelphia once was so contaminated with coal culm (dust) that dredging spoils collected from behind de-silting dams constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were sold to the Kingsford Charcoal Co., and used to manufacture charcoal briquettes.
**Burn on, Big River, burn on . . . **
– Randy Newman
Eeewww… That river is like, three miles from my house… 
You can trust Una. She used to be called Anthracite.
The question from me is - why does doctors always prescribe a form of charcoal to help with stomach upset, indigestion and diarrhoea? How does charcoal helps?
That would be activated charcoal which is run through a special process to give it a huge amount of surface area. When a liquid passes through it, several different types of impurites stick to it due to adsorbtion (not absorbtion). It’s also used in “brita” style water filters.