153 replies to this topic

[XtRaVa]

I'm currently making black powder, but it is quite difficult to get a good substance without a ball mill, for it to fizz I have to hold a lighter to it for a lot longer than I should need to. I have KNO3 from gardenchemicals.co.uk as well as sulphur powder, I'm just wondering if I can make the powder more potent by means of the charcoal I am using. Me and my friend went to a local woods, and scrapped charcoal from burnt wood, and then grinded it to a powder. This is obviously better than any clay ridden charcoal bought from a garden centre etc, but I'm just wondering if its still not good enough, and where I can get some good charcoal from a UK site. Also any suggestions on making black powder would be appreciated, whenever I make it, it also only turns out to be dark grey, not black, and I'm using 75% KNO3, 15% sulphur, and 10% charcoal. Does this simply mean it's not being mixed well enough, and should I think about making my own ball mill? Thanks to any answers.

[Pyromaster2003]

it all depends on the charcoal your using.you say 'charcoal from the woods', do you know what type of tree it is?it needs to be willow for the best charcoal and not simply burnt but burnt in an environment with lack of oxygen. thats why people put the willow charcoal into a paint tin and then drill a hole of 2 in the lid then throw on a fire for a few hours. if you dont have a ball mill you will need to either make one or use the CIA method which is basically to disolve the right amount of KNO3 in boiling water then add the charcoal and sulphur and mix it all up and wait for a while to let the KNO3 particles soak into the pours of the charcoal. then add ethanol and mix it in and then get rid of as much water/ethanol mix as possible by pouring the black slush into an old fine mesh t-shirt and squeezing all the water/ethanol out. spread this onto a sheet in a thin layer in the sun. when dry, cruble and powder. oh and you have the composition of black powder wrong, its not 75 KNO3, 15 S and 10 C its 75 KNO3, 15 C and 10 S.

[XtRaVa]

Ah, no wonder why it doesnt quite go black =] thanks. Also, I found that when I used bbq lighter fluid when mixing, after it had dried in the sun for a few hours, it was easier to burn and make fizzle. Thanks for the info

[leniol]

Why not buy lumpwood charcoal (rather than briquets) from somewhere? It's readily available, isn't contaminated with clay & makes passable BP. If you can't get a ball mill, try the CIA method (detailed elsewhere). One more thing, you'd be better off using methalated spirits (ie. alcohol) & water rather than BBQ fluid as it's oil based & won't eveaporate as readily.

[XtRaVa]

I take it lumpwood charcoal can be bought from garden centres? Thanks for the info.

[Stuart]

Does the cherry tree wood make good charcoal? A friends had one in his garden up-rooteed.


Stuart

[pyro4life]

Lumpwood charcoal sort of does but you really need something specific. A general rule when looking for charcoal wood someone told me was to look for trees that grown near water, like on river banks etc. If you want some scary BP that doesn't even really need milling use balsa wood charcoal. Bit expensive for the balsa though...

[Stuart]

I will try it anyway, theres so much there

Thanks


Stuart

[Stuart]

Ok, I am sure I read it somewhere but I just want to check, is Ash a good wood for making charcoal?

Stuart

[The_Djinn]

It is best to use what are termed as soft woods for making charcoal. Woods such as Ash and Cherry fall into the hard wood category, try get Willow or as many will tell you Balsa which works out quite expensive. Generally, aim for any of the soft woods.

[willd]

willow is a hard wood its used for cricket bats
soft woods are things like pine hich i know dont make good charcoal

[PanMaster]

don't forget the most common soft woods, ash is good by the way, such as plum, rotten wood, elder
always avoid hardwoods, especially hard to burn woods like pine

[bernie]

I'm not a charcoal expert like a lot of you guys but pine does seem to have some merit. "Rotten" wood is a little vague. Soft woods 'tend' to have a faster burn rate. That's good for a lot of things. Don't be so quick to discount the others until you've had a go of it. Maple(Goex) has very distinct qualities. Location and availibility has a lot to do with it. Experiment and see what you come up with.

Cricket bats are made of willow? Over here in the states we use hickory for our bats. It makes good mallets as well.

Edited by bernie, 07 December 2003 - 03:16 AM.

[Pazza]

willow is a hard wood its used for cricket bats

Willow is a softwood.
Just because a wood is 'hard' does not mean that it is a hardwood.
In fact, balsa, which is one of the softest woods in the world is actually classified as a hardwood.
Softwoods and hardwoods are generally classified by the type of leaves that they have - softwoods have leaves which small and slender, hardwoods have the leaves which are rounder and fuller. Of course there are some exceptions to this.

[BigG]

This discussion happened at least twice in the past. Will you please search first?

All woods have purpose. Beginners should not limit themselves to a type of wood in particular. Please search.