Bathing in heat, soot for a living
SETIU: Nordin Ismail has tried his hand at being a fisherman and a house builder but eventually returned to making wood charcoal briquettes.
He had been helping his late father, Ismail Said, make wood charcoal since his schooldays. It was little wonder that no other job felt quite as right with him.
“After assisting my father with the job full-time, I began to realise that the charcoal-making industry needed to be kept alive because it is not exactly the kind of job that everyone wants to do.
“In addition to that, the number of people in my village with the knowledge of charcoal-making has also dwindled,” he told Bernama when met at Kampung Gok, here.
Today, the 43-year-old is the only charcoal-maker left in the village. He said that during his father’s time, there were 30 “gok” (furnace to make charcoal) belonging to the charcoal-makers in the villagers. The village was thus named Kampung Gok. Today, the village is known as Kampung Kolam.
After working for his father for some time, he was given the trust to take over the business in 2002. Five years later, his father died.
Nordin and his elder brother took over the running of the business, which was started by his father along with some friends 40 years ago.
“There used to be so many gok in the village – almost every family had at least one or two. In fact, we even had people from other villages and states relocating to our village just so they could start their own charcoal-making business.
“In the beginning, the gok was built by the roadsides or next to their houses. However, as the industry grew, it started being built all over the village,” he said.
Today, wood charcoal are commercially produced in factories.
Nordin said that as time went by, interest in the industry began to wane among the villagers. The younger generation were not keen on earning a living by bathing in soot and sweat.
Eventually, the family businesses closed down.
“Today, I am the only one doing this full-time. Some of the villagers also make charcoal but only for their own use,” said Nordin, who owns five gok.
All five gok had been moved from their original site near his home to about 2km away from residential areas so that residents would not be affected by the smoke produced from the burning process.
“The burning process produces thick smoke so I need to heed the villagers’ complaints and move the gok to where it wouldn’t disturb them,” he said.
Each charcoal-making cycle lasts over two weeks so Nordin can produce charcoal only three to four times every two months.
It takes around 15 days to heat the wood into charcoal and two days to let it cool down. After 17 days, the resulting product would be packed for sale. Each packet of charcoal costs RM2.20.
Nordin’s customers are those from the village and surrounding areas as well as sundry shops and wholesalers, including those from Kelantan. It is extremely important to select the right kind of wood for making charcoal as an unsuitable type would emit sparks or become difficult to light up.
Local wood charcoalmakers often work with gelam (Melaleuca), bakau (mangrove) or cengal (Neobalanocarpus heimii) wood to get top quality charcoal.
“I don’t use rengas (Borneo rosewood) because its latex is poisonous while kapok wood is also unsuitable because it doesn’t light up easily.
“Although charcoal is not that expensive, we need to ensure its safety and quality because it is traditionally used for cooking,” said Nordin, adding that food cooked with charcoal would produce a unique aroma.