256 replies to this topic

[StarScream]

WooHoo... made my first batch of willow charcoal in my homemade cooker today and it turned out perfect!

I built essentially the same charcoal cooker Dan Williams mentions on his site, only mine is a bit smaller. Pretty much idiot-proof even for an idiot like yours truly.

One word of caution... if you live in the big city suburbs as I do, you may want to find a better place to cook your charcoal than the backyard. I knew this thing would generate a lot of smoke, but HOLY CRAP... it was WAY more than I was expecting. I was actually pretty worried about the amount of smoke. A fellow from down the street came over to make sure everything was alright, and a lot of other neighbours took notice as well. Whoops!

I've read that lighting the gas/smoke column rising from the retort vent hole cuts down on smoke a lot. Has anybody tried this?

[burningbush]

WooHoo... made my first batch of willow charcoal in my homemade cooker today and it turned out perfect! 

I built essentially the same charcoal cooker Dan Williams mentions on his site, only mine is a bit smaller. Pretty much idiot-proof even for an idiot like yours truly.

One word of caution... if you live in the big city suburbs as I do, you may want to find a better place to cook your charcoal than the backyard. I knew this thing would generate a lot of smoke, but HOLY CRAP... it was WAY more than I was expecting. I was actually pretty worried about the amount of smoke. A fellow from down the street came over to make sure everything was alright, and a lot of other neighbours took notice as well. Whoops! 

I've read that lighting the gas/smoke column rising from the retort vent hole cuts down on smoke a lot. Has anybody tried this?

Yes heat does eat smoke! A nother idea I had was to use a ozonator in the flu system of cooker,I made a bunch of different kinds of charcoal in a modified cookie tin cooker ,and also filled the neighborhood w/ blue smoke! I did it at night so it wasnt as obveious , but man it was alot of smoke, my fireman neighbor came over to make sure it wasnt our garage! but he lights off fireworks all the time so when he found out what I was up to, he got all excited and told me to come get him when I set off my first shells,so in my case the smoke helped me bond w/ my neighbor,Be warned you might not get the same effect unless your smoking the same kind of wood! j/k!!

anyways ozone eats smoke like crazy! Ozonators are expensive though
I have plans to build 1 if you want ,but you need a neon light ballast. Used I found them for like 30.00 u.s ebay etc.

Or try directing your vent into flame area!

Peace
Pc.

[burningbush]

Anyone know exactly how good Elm tree wood is in general for pyrotechnics?
Could someone give me sort of a generic chart of best to worst as far as black powder making goes?

I have a chart that shows wood ash content per species,
however as someone else mentioned above, low ash content wood is the key!
elm is not a low ash wood! Try poplar or aspen they are both close to wilow performace if processed well.

[StarScream]

anyways ozone eats smoke like crazy!  Ozonators are expensive though
I have plans to build 1 if you want ,but you need a neon light ballast. Used I found them for like 30.00 u.s ebay etc.

Or try directing your vent into flame area!

I think I'll try lighting it next time or putting the vent hole on the bottom of the retort instead of the top. Maybe I'll do my charcoal late at night as well... I'm a total night-owl anyway!

[StarScream]

I have a chart that shows wood ash content per species,
however as someone else mentioned above, low ash content wood is the key!
elm is not a low ash wood! Try  poplar or aspen they are both close to wilow performace if processed well.

That's great news! There is definitely no shortage of poplar in my area. There are more poplars around here than anything else. We actually cut down three of them when we moved into our house many years ago, because their roots can really get out of control.

If only I was into Pyro back then!

[alany]

Bubble the gas through water, that will condense out most of the volatiles and reduce the smoke. Just be sure to remove the tube from the retort to the water scrubber before you let it cool down, or else it will suck back the water (A rather violent and self-supporting process, the water spraying back into the retort cools it further sucking in even more water. And it soaks the charcoal!). The volume of water should be sufficient to not heat to boiling from the current of gasses too or else it will just pass the volatiles straight through.

An alternative might be to make a condenser and actually collect the volatiles, most will the tar-like, but you can probably get a reasonable quantity of methanol and turpentine out of most timbers. You can always direct the gas flow out the bottom and into the fire in an attempt to burn most of it off too.

Thought about ash content; my limited research on charcoal ash suggests it is rather soluable, mostly carbonates. Has anyone ever tried washing the minerals out of charcoal and noticed an improvement in its performance? I have two moderate quantities of poor charcoal, both because of excessive ash content

My attempts to seed charcoal with salicylates or benzoates have worked about as well as adding them directly to the composition. Not completely useless, but I am unsure how much it might sensitise the composition so I am cautious about ball milling it.

[burningbush]

Thought about ash content; my limited research on charcoal ash suggests it is rather soluable, mostly carbonates. Has anyone ever tried washing the minerals out of charcoal and noticed an improvement in its performance? I have two moderate quantities of poor charcoal, both because of excessive ash content

Excellent question,Here;s the deal as far as I can figure out" the terpentines/oils in wood are really part of the ash content or byproduct you end up w/ as charcoal
If you could wash out the one's you didnt want before you made the charcoal and keep the desireable one's ? Wow!! Thats something to ponder on or figure out how to do.
My guess would be it could be done, But here's my question how or what can be added to wood to add better terpentines/oils before making charcoal, or add to slow crappy stuff to improve burn? carbon is carbon but carcoal is ash/terpinetine residues w/carbon ,
I'll bet if you washed it w/ petro it would burn better! when wet anyways! lol
We should further this experiment and get stuart or other chem savvy members to add on what might be done.

[burningbush]

That's great news! There is definitely no shortage of poplar in my area. There are more poplars around here than anything else. We actually cut down three of them when we moved into our house many years ago, because their roots can really get out of control.

If only I was into Pyro back then! 

Table 1, LOW temperature ash content of different wood species
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wood species Ash, dry basis (%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aspen 0.43
Yellow poplar 0.45
White oak 0.87
maple 0.92
pine white/yellow 0.99+ - 2.34+
redwood 0.91


Most all low ash tree's grow fast ,I have willow's on property in Colorado and they grows 3-5' per year,thats a little faster than poplar,
willow is a proven low ash tree/bush for quality charcoal
I used hemp stalk for a batch of bp and holy Jesus!! LOOK OUT!!
hemp will out grow any tree so it didnt suprise me to get these results
Infact I wouldnt be surprised to find out the cellular levels are what makes a difference too! You always here people saying my bp is better than your's or his.
I know milling makes a difference,and how hard and close the round cellular straws that make up the wood/now charcoal are, effect how long it takes to mill,then how much open surface is exposed to soak kno3 etc.
So maby we need to get out the microscope and figure out if the charcoal structure is the same on willow/hemp compared to oak/ hardwood "what most sell" after 4 days of milling. Think of it as grain size too ,larger grains burn longer or take fire slower then small grains .After milling your really left w/grain size or micron.

Pc.


[COLOR=orange][COLOR=blue]

[adamw]

RE: Lighting the vent gasses from the cooker - I've read that when making charcoal industrially, the vent gasses are piped back to feed the fire its' self.

You can set fire to it but it needs a constant source of flame in my experience since it seems to go out once the inital flame (ie what you lit the vent gasses with) is removed.

[Patrick]

I think it depends on how hot your cooker is. When I have flames coming out of my vent holes my cooker is normally red hot on the bottom from the heat of my fire.

[StarScream]

Bubble the gas through water, that will condense out most of the volatiles and reduce the smoke.  Just be sure to remove the tube from the retort to the water scrubber before you let it cool down, or else it will suck back the water (A rather violent and self-supporting process, the water spraying back into the retort cools it further sucking in even more water.  And it soaks the charcoal!).  The volume of water should be sufficient to not heat to boiling from the current of gasses too or else it will just pass the volatiles straight through.

I like this idea Alan. Do you have a design that you've tried and works? I'm picturing some type of waterbong looking setup.

[al69]

Right i've got 2 questions for you guys.

1. How do you strip the bark off sticks, do you need to soak it in water or something, or do you just peel the bark off with a knife?

2. what would happen if i where to cook them with the bark still on?. Will the bp turn out crap?, also i have heard that the charcoal made with the bark on turns out very hard, is this true?.

Thanks and MERRY CHRISTMAS

[broadsword]

1. How do you strip the bark off sticks, do you need to soak it in water or something, or do you just peel the bark off with a knife?

Stripping off the bark should be easy enough when the wood is still 'green' and should be easier when dry. But for ease i use a knife when stripping off bark for wood for the fire (Haven't got round to making charcoal yet!).

2. what would happen if i where to cook them with the bark still on?. Will the bp turn out crap?, also i have heard that the charcoal made with the bark on turns out very hard, is this true?.

Cant help there! Sorry

Edited by broadsword, 24 December 2004 - 12:04 PM.

[Dj Killerboss]

[QUOTE]
2. what would happen if i where to cook them with the bark still on?. Will the bp turn out crap?, also i have heard that the charcoal made with the bark on turns out very hard, is this true?.

When you cook it with the bark it is not good for your bp. The bp will burn not so good.
Yes the charcoal gets very hard.

Edited by Dj Killerboss, 24 December 2004 - 02:06 PM.