How do you powder your home made charcoal?

[MWJ]

I use an empty feed bag and put all of the lump C. I just made and cooled off into the bag and crush it up with a plastic 1 lb mallet on my concrete shop floor, then screen it. There has to be a better way! So, how do you powder your HM charcoal?

 

Mike

Edited September 12, 2014 by MWJ

[dagabu]

Garbage disposal (use to) hand crank meat grinder (new) due to no need for power.

[Jakenbake]

Mine goes in an empty 5 gallon bucket and I crush it with whatever's handy. Here lately it's been the handle end of a hammer. Your technic sounds better as long as no holes are made in the bag.

[BurritoBandito]

I do it pretty much the same as , except I have a designated 2x4.

[Bobosan]

Soft Paulownia charcoal goes right into the ball mill and comes out air float in less than a hour. The lump Willow I have purchased is very hard and requires busting in a bucket using the head of a 5 lb sledge. Then it goes into the mill for final airfloat. TLUD pine and cedar shavings don't really need premilling but I premill all charcoal intended for BP use.

 

 

 

 

 

[Blackthumb]

Hand grain grinder...works well...

[Seymour]

Ball mill, with a bit of crushing using the 4X2 method first, if required.

[Milyan720]

I don't make large quantities so i just put it in a Baggie and try crush them with a mallet, then I place them in a coffee grinder

Balsa charcoal takes up lots of volume for little wieght

[xTHUNDERx]

I use an electric meat grinder, does the job well and isn't too messy.

[mikeee]

WasteKing Garbage Disposal is the preferred machine to grind large quantities of coal.

[MWJ]

Awesome response and a lot of good ideas. Looks like I might be getting a Wasteking disposal some time.

 

Thanks,

Mike

[dagabu]

Wasteking has an all stainless grinder, it is completely sealed, no way for a spark to wander in there and it is made for continuous duty. Look at specs of others disposals, duty cycle can be as low as 1:10!

[MWJ]

Wasteking has an all stainless grinder, it is completely sealed, no way for a spark to wander in there and it is made for continuous duty. Look at specs of others disposals, duty cycle can be as low as 1:10!

Thanks Dag. Is that the one you use? What mesh size does it come out as?

[dagabu]

I don't have the breakdown in front of me but as I recall (which is not saying much) it was around 10-% +20, 50% -20 and the rest airfloat (passing 80 mesh). The +20 goes back in with more charcoal and the -20 to 80 I put through if I need more airfloat or save for sparks.

[Arthur]

My experience is that if the charcoal is hard to break up the BP it makes risks being very slow, my faster BP has always come from soft light fluffy charcoal, best if it powders by hand easily.

[Bobosan]

My experience is that if the charcoal is hard to break up the BP it makes risks being very slow, my faster BP has always come from soft light fluffy charcoal, best if it powders by hand easily.

 

+1

[MWJ]

It does break up by hand but it's faster with a hammer. After I made some BP with it I post it here. Thanks everyone.

Edited September 14, 2014 by MWJ

[pyrokid]

The black willow I have from Phil at ihaveadotcom can be very stubborn. However, it makes great lift powder.

 

Then again every charcoal I've ever made has made good lift powder.

[braddsn]

I put my cooked chunks in a 5 gallon bucket, and crush them with a sledge hammer. Then I transfer to a coffee grinder and mill it to dust. Seems to work pretty good. Messy though.

[rogeryermaw]

heck ya it's messy. that's why i'm looking into those huge bales of softwood pet bedding. not to expensive, ideal for the job and when it's done, it's fine enough to just throw in the mill as is. i'm weighing the benefit of this vs the drums of machine shavings blackthumb is considering selling.

[spitfire]

I just throw the lumps in a cheap ice crushing machine, let it run for a minute... and off to the ball mill with that! Clean, fast, easy.

[MWJ]

I just throw the lumps in a cheap ice crushing machine, let it run for a minute... and off to the ball mill with that! Clean, fast, easy.

What brand and model is it? I looked up some and are around $60 - $70.00 and I think a garbage disp. is about the same price. Do you have any pics?

[PortuguesePyro]

Hi,

 

Ballmill seems the best way to powder charcoal and other stuff like aluminium.

 

but a coffee grinder is a good alternative to ballmill.

 

Thank you.

[rogeryermaw]

coffee grinders work just "ok" for me. it's within acceptable limits but does leave some chunks that need to be screened. if one chooses to use that method, i highly recommend using a cloth or paper towel to completely cover the lid and close off the cracks. charcoal dust gets everywhere.