256 replies to this topic

[s2525]

Cool im just looking into new Charcoal as willow is a pain for me to get.Christmas trees are pine?Anyone ever use them some nice sparks for a fountain?Could that be used for lift if granulated?

[paul]

Pine charcoal is very good charcoal to make high quality blackpowder. Maybe not as good as willow or what, but its very usable, cheap and the sieved stuff with the too coarse particles sieved out, is great for long lasting spark tails.

Used it alot, too.

[EnigmaticBiker]

Alder and Poplar are in fact HardWoods

For a list of hard / soft woods, point your browser at the following URL:

http://en.wikipedia....i/List_of_woods

Useful and interesting list.

Cork

Is this a novel charcoal for bp?

I don't have a ball mill currently, so I powder charcoal and KNO3 and boil together and allow to cool, before grinding wet, then dry for hours, and hours (4-5) .

Decided to make the final result better by trying a more porous charcoal.

I tried mixed cork from wine bottles and spacing strips used in flooring (Not varnished - Polyurethane produces cyanide and isocyanates on partial combustion); cooking it on a wood fire in a biscuit tin.

Enormously bulky material, ~1litre weighed about 15g!

It seemed to burn faster than willow (Rowney artists') and far better than activated (as expected).

I'm trying to find a table of wood ash content (by species) that covers this, not found it yet.

I'd be very interested to hear if anyone has tried this using more consistent, professional manufacture/testing.

Simon

[fishy1]

Useful and interesting list.

Cork

Is this a novel charcoal for bp?

I don't have a ball mill currently, so I powder charcoal and KNO3 and boil together and allow to cool, before grinding wet, then dry for hours, and hours (4-5) .

Decided to make the final result better by trying a more porous charcoal.

I tried mixed cork from wine bottles and spacing strips used in flooring (Not varnished - Polyurethane produces cyanide and isocyanates on partial combustion); cooking it on a wood fire in a biscuit tin.

Enormously bulky material, ~1litre weighed about 15g!

It seemed to burn faster than willow (Rowney artists') and far better than activated (as expected).

I'm trying to find a table of wood ash content (by species) that covers this, not found it yet.

I'd be very interested to hear if anyone has tried this using more consistent, professional manufacture/testing.

Simon

some charcoals are like that, especially very hot ones like balsa and straw.

[fishy1]

btw, i found out the name of the wood i use to make my best BP: californian redwood.

there's a forest of them about a mile from my house. most of them have trunks about 20-40 inches in diametre, but the wood is easy enough to split with an axe. it is almost as hot as balsa. i make sure it is bone dry and split as thin as my finger before cooking. i can easily crush it into powder in my hand.

[littlejohny]

Straw? Didn?t think that would work any good I'll have to try it, what type of "straw" should I look for

[fishy1]

Straw? Didn?t think that would work any good I'll have to try it, what type of "straw" should I look for

i believe rye straw is the best, at least it's what most formulas call for.

[pyromaniac303]

I recently made some balsa charcoal in an old watch tin on my camping stove. The tin which was approximately 10 x 10 x 5cm when finished after just over 30 mins contained around 3g, much lighter than expected. The balsa was taken from sheets 1/16" thick and broken into pieces all less than 3x3.

I used it to make some balsa H3 (chlorate BP: KClO3 - 77%, Charcoal - 23%) for salutes and managed to get an ear numbing bang from around 1/4g! The containment was just 4 or 5 layers of printer paper in a small triangle with a 1/8" visco fuse, taped to stop any excess H3 falling out around the fuse hole.

I have used willow and barbecue charcoal before but nothing compares to this balsa charcoal.

[minalth]

Is there any evidence that rye is better than other straw?

[adamw]

Be careful with straw charcoal, as litrature suggests that BP made with it will be more prone to accidental ignition by friction.

[fishy1]

I found a cork tree on holiday a few weeks back, brought back some, but I'm not charcoaling (a new verb, to charcoal) it.

Edited by fishy1, 13 June 2006 - 09:09 PM.

[paul]

I use straw charcoal all the time. Only the not fully carbonized type is said to be quite reactive IIRC.

I made two of these barrels [50l] of it and use it for black powder...



This is the final, fully carbonized straw charcoal (not rye straw anyway)

I used Triticale for my charcoal. Stuffed it lenghtwise bundled in there (very tight) and put this drum into an 240l barrel with brning wood in it. The gasses coming out the drum further heat up the fire, so I don?t have to add too much wood during the process.

Edited by paul, 19 June 2006 - 05:23 PM.

[Pretty green flames]

Paul, how does straw charcoal compare to other charcoals BPwise.

[paul]

It?s hard to tell. I mill it 1 hr together with the sulfur and then 3 hrs together with the KNO3 ...

I could do a few tests, compared to hardwood and poplar if you want. But to be precise, I think poplar is better. Just use straw charcoal because I had masses of straw to hand and it is easily pulverized.

[BPBR]

Is there any method of doing small amounts of charcoal in a common gas stove?