Charcoal

This page was last verified for Vintage Story version 1.20.7.

Charcoal is a player-created fuel resource.

Charcoal
Stackable	64
Fuel
Temperature	1300°C
Duration	40 s
Items

Creation

Charcoal is created in charcoal pits , which are chambers or sealed spaces where enclosed stacks of firewood are burned.

Required materials

Construction of a charcoal pit requires: firewood (cut using an axe ) or aged firewood , dry grass (harvested with a knife ), and solid blocks to create an airtight shell.

Building a Basic Charcoal Pit

1. Place firewood in stacks in a square. Ensure each stack contains the maximum 32 pieces of firewood. (Players may choose to dig a pit, as shown in the graphic below, or place the stacks above ground.)
2. Create an airtight shell by enclosing the stacks in dirt blocks or any non-combustible block, but leave one block on top of the pit open.
3. Build a firepit directly on top of the accessible stack of firewood. The block info overlay, if you have it enabled, should show that the firepit is actually called a 'charcoal pit' now.
4. Ignite the firepit with a firestarter or a torch .
5. Quickly seal the pit by placing one block on top of the firepit, completing the airtight shell. (Players have 30 seconds to seal the shell or the process will not work.)
6. After 30 seconds, smoke particles will begin drifting through the covering material, indicating that the charcoal making process is taking place.
7. When the pile stops smoking (which occurs after 18 game hours), the process is complete.
8. Remove the shell and collect the charcoal using bare hands or a shovel .

• 

  Pit dug

• 

  Pit filled with firewood

• 

  Airtight shell made of dirt

• 

  Firepit ignited

• 

  Pile smoking

Dimensions and Considerations

• Attention: if the charcoal pile is not sealed within 30 seconds of ignition, or if there are empty spaces or partial firewood stacks inside the shell, no charcoal will be produced. Instead, you may hear distinct burning sounds coming from the pit. Quickly open the shell and extinguish the flames with buckets of water before the firewood burns to ash!
• Charcoal pits can have more than one layer, and the firepit does not need to be on the top layer. It just needs to be on top of a firewood pile anywhere inside the shell.
• The firepit used to ignite the charcoal pit does not require any additional fuel apart from the 4 pieces of firewood automatically input on creation.
• The yield for each stack of 32 firewood is between 4 and 7 charcoal; the average yield of each stack is 5.5 charcoal.

• The maximum size of any charcoal pit is an 11x11x11 cube, and the largest volume of firewood that can be processed in one pit is 11³−1 (1,330) blocks, with an average yield of 7,315 charcoal. If the charcoal pit is too big, but sealed properly, it will function as normal but leave any firewood outside of the 11x11x11 cube untouched. Prior to 1.20.0, the maximum size of charcoal pits was 13x13x13 due to a bug. (10,272 firewood or 2,196 stacks, 17,568 logs, yield of ~12,500 charcoal)
• Charcoal pit logic was reworked in 1.20.0, where instead of checking a range of 6 blocks from the firepit, it instead uses logic similar to rooms . All this means is you can put the firepit anywhere inside the pit. Prior to 1.20.0 when dealing with the largest of charcoal pits, you'd need to place the firepit directly in the center in order to have coverage of the entire pit, which may require two players to ignite. One to light the firepit, and one to break a block to drop firewood on top of the firepit, then covering it. The 30 in-game minutes you have are not enough to light the pit, climb out, drop firewood in, and then cover it, as a solo player.
• The pit can be constructed with a kiln door or iron trapdoor for easy access, but opening either trapdoor or kiln door mid-process will reset the timer, forcing you to wait the full 18 hours again after closing the door. Currently, the firewood inside the pit will not ignite if the door or trapdoor is opened, but only due to a bug which will be fixed in a future update.

Usage

Fuel

Charcoal is the first type of fuel capable of generating temperatures high enough (1300°C) to smelt metal ores such as copper (1084°C). Charcoal can be used as fuel for the firepit in casting , in the bloomery , in the cementation furnace when making steel , and in the forge when smithing .

In the bloomery, charcoal can be used to smelt items at a higher temperature. For example, quartz has a required temperature of 1350°C, yet charcoal can still be used as the fuel to smelt it.

Pigment

Charcoal can be used as a carbon black pigment when labeling chests and signs.

Cave art

Charcoal can be used to draw cave art on full stone or wooden blocks.

Drawing cave art is done by having charcoal in hand, holding 'Ctrl', and pressing the right mouse button.

The cave art to be drawn can be chosen by having charcoal in hand, looking at a cave art viable block, and pressing 'F'.

Cave art can be removed by using a watering can.

Storage

Charcoal stacks to 64, may be carried in player inventory, or stored in containers .