256 replies to this topic

[paul]

Wood turns into charcoal @ about 300?C or a bit above. Well over 400?C it starts really fast and the process is self-sustaining sometimes. So, the temp. you get by burning wood or stuff like that (briquettes and so on) is big enough!

You may just keep the temp. up ALL AROUND the container your wood is in. Otherwise it won?t cook evenly. (then you get perfect charcoal from the middle of the tin, but the wood near the tins outer walls hardly turned into charcoal)

Edited by paul, 27 June 2006 - 10:15 PM.

[Phoenix]

BPRB (and no doubt others who are reading), possibly the most important point to make here is that making your own charcoal is not difficult. I've often noticed people going to great lengths to buy charcoal, and I don't think it's the first time I've heard of people considering getting it shipped internationally. However, anyone with access to some outdoor space (doesn?t have to be your own space ? anywhere people are having barbeques (beach, park?) will be good. If anyone asks, you can either be making it to draw with, or smoking a trout) can make excellent charcoal with six items: wood, newspaper, lighter, two bricks and a biscuit tin. Altogether, this is unlikely to cost anything. Worst-case scenario, I?d say ?5. If this all sounds a bit ambitious, you probably ain?t cut out for pyro! It really isn't like trying to mine your own aluminium oxide and then make flash aluminium from it!

You make a fire with the paper and wood, and put the bricks on either side. You fill the biscuit tin with more wood, and put the lid on. You can make a vent hole in it if you want, but in my experience unless the lid fits really tightly this isn?t absolutely necessary and would add a seventh item (some kind of pointy thing) to the list. You use the lighter to light your fire, and then set the tin of wood atop the bricks. You spend the next hour or two watching the world go by, poking sticks onto your fire, maybe using a couple of them to lift the tin up and give it a shake from time to time. Once it?s stopped venting smoke and flames, you allow it to cool, covering any went holes with dirt. Done. As I said, it?s probably cost nothing, and been pretty much carbon neutral, which is good for greenies like me

[BPBR]

Thanks for everyone,I will do it in my barbeque so,I just have to find a good wood to burn Does anyone have tried eucalyptus to make charcoal?There are some barbecue charcoals here made from it.

[Skarphedin]

Thanks for everyone,I will do it in my barbeque so,I just have to find a good wood to burn Does anyone have tried eucalyptus to make charcoal?There are some barbecue charcoals here made from it.

Which wood depends on the application. For black powder you want fast burning charchoal. Try to find a light wood, trees that grow fast are often good. Species that grows close to water is also often good for bp. For charchoal stars, gerbs/fountains, wheel drivers, and rockets you want a charchoal that produces sparks, try a harder wood than for bp. Sap rich wood like pine is nice.

Personally I use mostly two sorts of wood: pine (Pinus sylvestris) for sparks and grey alder (Alnus incana) for black powder. Both works well for me.

[BPBR]

I've found some balsa for selling and got some,I will do the charcoal tomorrow and I will post here to tell the result,thanks people

[Arthur Brown]

Don't turn it all to fines! Several comps need C of carefully selected sizes, and mixes of sizes, eg airfloat and 30mesh. The charcoal from some woods breaks into particles better suited to some purposes than others. It really is a task to observe several devices with ONLY one variable really this is only possible where machine manufacture allows total repeatability in manufacture.

[fishy1]

The flames from an ordinary wood fire will cook charcoal. You do not need a cast iron furnace or anything like that!

I know that, I was just showing that charcoal burns more than hot enough (over 3 times) to make charcoal.

Edited by fishy1, 29 June 2006 - 09:35 PM.

[krackerjack9]

I guess I really made someone mad on my fist post so Im going to hope that this is the right place to ask this question, and yes im really new at this, after reading most of the post I have came to 2 reasons why people are making thier own charcoal well could be more than that the cost of buying the stuff is dirt cheap, but that could be the reason it is cheap and not worth using.
Or most here have access to these willow trees and it must the tree to make it from.
I have tried punching in Sage and Mesquite trees to see what would come up as far as those makeing good charcoal but no luck, so maybe I give it try, so the way you test this is buy grinding up the charcol from your source and see if you can light it and it produces the whooomph factor??

Also on ball mill I did get one of those 3lb chicago ones and it seem like it works fine, but then again most here are using something different, so what is it that I need to due to it to get a thumbs up??
$$$ is not much of a object I do like to get what is best for the job but I can build my own stuff ,if there is a post on this its not coming up in this websites search well maybe it is but it seems no matter what you search for it just brings up all the same subject and dosnt really narrow it down.

And brass for grinding media seems like 2 camps on it not sure which one I want to side with.

[pyromaniac303]

the cost of buying the stuff is dirt cheap, but that could be the reason it is cheap and not worth using.
Or most here have access to these willow trees and it must the tree to make it from.

There are several reasons why people here make charcoal, it really depends on the type of BP you are after. If it is just for rockets or to use in fountains as a filler to add effects to then you can use most types of charcoal as it does not need to be that powerful. As a general rule you should look at the density of the wood, and if the wood weighs a lot for a small volume it will find more uses in fountains and rockets, if it doesn't weigh a lot then it can be used for making much more powerful BP.

As an example, think of the difference in weight between pine and balsa, if you made 2 lots of BP, one with each, and made an equal sized trail of them then the lighter balsa charcoal one would have burnt to the end before the pine one was even half way.

Also when making your own charcoal you can vary the amount of volatiles still left in the wood. By only just turning it to charcoal you can make slightly more sensitive BP because a lot of the flammable oils and things are still left in the wood. If you 'cook' it for a bit longer then you will end up with slower BP. Making your own charcoal gives a lot greater control over the burn rate, as you know exactly whats happened to the wood.

I do not know a lot about mesquite and sage trees, but cut off a reasonable sized piece, and compare the weight of it with a similar sized piece of willow, or other light wood. If it feels really heavy in comparison then you know it will make slow burning BP.

For rockets I just use general hardwood charcoal, then something more powerful for the break on the header such as balsa or willow BP.

Here is a list of the sorts you can use

Dense (slow burn rate)
Pine
Spruce
Oak

Light (fast burn rate)
Willow
Alder
Balsa
Hemp
Rye (this is said to be much more sensitive)

Try not to get confused between hardwoods and softwoods etc. and density, because balsa is classified as a hardwood yet it is the lightest wood that I know of!

Hope this helps.

[Pretty green flames]

I'd just like to mention that certain species of spruce and pine can make BP of excelent quality.
Norwegian spruce (the species that is most common throughout europe) makes excelent BP that will rival the best commercial BP. White pine is also said to give good BP but i can confirm that norwegian spruce is my prefered charcoal along with black alder.

On another note i'd like to ask if anyone has had any experience with Larch tree (Larix decidua) either as a BP component or spark producing agent.

[krackerjack9]

ok now thats some infor I can use on the trees, the Sage here is short bushy type of tree not alot of leave or stems but grows very fast and just about impossible to kill, so its everywhere, and extreemly hard when dry, not so when its alive it will bend and darn near tye it in a knot with the branches.

I mainly looking to have lift powder for some 3in mortars
All my stars seem to work pretty well

on my ball mill what other mods do I need to do to it or am I better off at getting another type?? There is a heavy duty one on Ebay that always comes up says it can handle up to 35lbs so the motor and frame look pretty decent its the container I dont think is all that good, some have posted on using scheduel 80 PVC pipe and making a container out if it and those would be a snap to make or should I pass on that.

[adamw]

Milling jars made from PVC pipe are easy to make (cut a length down and use two of the same diameter end caps) and work well, but don't use them for compositions, metal powders or really fine fuels (static spark risk). For milling down charcoal, KNO3 etc etc they are perfect.

[Freese]

Where I live, there just aren't many trees, but there is Russian Olive (now on the bad plant list, the government used to pay people to plant it, go figure.) It grows along streams (riparian) like willow. Any idea how fast a BP one can produce using Russian Olive for charcoal?

[Coil]

Can I use birch charcoal for making fast BP?

[EnigmaticBiker]

Can I use birch charcoal for making fast BP?

Not sure, faster than what?
It would probably be faster than oak, not as fast as willow or hemp.

What do you normally use?