Available Charcoal In South Florida

[matlock123]

Hello. I live in South Florida so that affects the variety of wood I have available to make charcoal with.

 

I will start by saying I just made my first batch of blackpowder ever. It was lackluster. It burns slowly leaves behind quite a lot of white reside which is a separate issue (possibly).

Pines are common here and so are palms, but I have heard palm trees make terrible charcoal. So that leaves pine, which I hear is quite good....

 

My problem is that there are many species of pine and I am not 100% what species we have here. I would guess it is red pine though. Does anyone know if the species of pine matters or is pine in general pretty good for charcoal?

 

Also if anyone is familiar with the trees common to Florida I am open to suggestions for other possibilities.

 

Greatest Thanks for any help I may receive!

 

[matlock123]

Upon more research the local pines may also be "Pinus elliottii, commonly known as the slash pine"

[pyrokid]

I don't have very much knowledge of trees in south Florida.

 

However, I have had success using pine dimensional lumber from the hardware store. They have a bin of heavily discounted warped stuff, and I make great black powder from it. Fortunately, experimentation in this field is cheap.

 

It's likely that the type of lumber available does vary from region to region, so you might have a different experience than me.

[FlaMtnBkr]

If you aren't sure about trees get some lumber cut offs and pick the lightest colored 2x4s you see. If you don't mind looking around there are some good trees around.

 

What I would really suggest is joining FPAG and going to 4F at the beginning of November in Okeechobee which is right at the very north end of the lake. Send me a message if you want to join but it's definitely worth it if you're down there.

[Livingston]

Mat Lock Big ups to a brotha of the south Florida. I'm here to Broward County in the House. Look man I HAD the same problem. Go to walmart buy sum Easterrn Red Cedar bedding. You know the stuff they use for Hamster cages. I've also heard of Western Red Cedar which Hone Depot sells. The ERC bedding has solved my Problems!!

[Jakenbake]

Wtf did you just say?

 

You have hamster cages in your house?

Edited October 20, 2014 by Jakenbake

[swervedriver]

I've wanted to try those melaleuca tress down here for a while, you know, the peeling paper bark trees. I've tried palm fronds, they don't work well, maybe for sparks. 2x4s from the hardware store work ok, but not great for lift. Better than bagged hardwood charcoal though. I finally just ordered some alder charcoal via mail a few years back, and there is a big difference in lift powder quality compared to all other locals woods I've tried. Good luck, if you find a tree down here that works for lift, please share.

 

edit, just wanted to say I really do like the bright sparks made from whitewood 2x4s in some charcoal comps like c6 and c8.

Edited October 25, 2014 by swervedriver

[FlaMtnBkr]

Have you tried black willow? It should be near just about any body of water or even constantly damp ground such as drainage ditches. It's been a few years since scooting around the everglades in an airboat, but I imagine it would be along all the roads where land meets marsh.

 

Not the hottest in the world but plenty hot and available almost everywhere.

[MWJ]

A lot of 2x4's are Fir, not Pine

[Arthur]

Sometimes it's better to have a distant supplier of the right things, rather than make do with local produce. Conventionally green barked willow is fast and Alder is too, both make great powder. Pawlonia makes excellent charcoal for BP it's native in some parts of the USA. Buy the charcoal off someone who is local to a growing site.

 

With BP the 15% charcoal makes more differences than variation in either the sulphur or the nitrate, See the Wichita Buggy Whip site for lots of info specific to USA native woods http://www.wichitabuggywhip.com/ http://www.wichitabuggywhip.com/fireworks/charcoal_tests.html

[Arthur]

As a simple guide, If you mill the charcoal and it sits as a low density powder, it makes better (faster) BP than denser charcoal

 

100g charcoal fills 100ml or fills 250ml, try every wood you can and select the ones that give you most Volume of powder for the weight contained.

 

Added; my experience is that wet wood (as felled live) makes 5 - 10% charcoal by weight (and uses fuel to dry it in retort). Dry timber (logs stored under a shelter for a year (or kiln dried timber for a week or so)) will make about 25% charcoal by weight.

Edited November 3, 2014 by Arthur

[wopyro]

I'm in Florida. Several types of pine. Best to say they fall in two catagories Long leaf and Short leaf. Both are yellow pine. Good for sparks with long duation. Long leaf being the better of the two because of the sap(rosin). Long leaf is where lighter wood comes from. White pine is good for a powerful powder. White pine being sold for 2x4 studs at the local building supplies as well as 1 by being sold as trim boards. You can get plenty by robbing the construction dumpsters of a local bluilding project. digg?

[Arthur]

In pyro my experience is that the charcoal is responsible for the effects in lots of mixes and stars so getting the right charcoal is more important than getting local charcoal

[FlaMtnBkr]

My fastest charcoal by a large margin is a local unidentified species that makes crazy hot BP. One day I will try taking some to the local university and see if they can identify it.

 

I also need to make a new BP tester since I lost the last one, even painted neon orange. I have some balsa and eastern red cedar I want to compare. Seat of the pants feel in rockets, burst, etc is that my local wood is the hottest.

 

That said, there are only a few things where super hot BP is needed. Willow and quite a few other are plenty powerful for just about everything. Though it is fun trying to make the hottest BP you can and does work great in nozzle-less rockets.

[Jakenbake]

Ever since I became familiar with the look of Black willow leaves I can spot them from a mile away Can you take a pic of that trees leaves or bark for us Fla?