Where can i get the proper charcoal for BP

[Mumbles]

This should help.

 

http://bit.ly/1EnPWXh

[Sparx88]

HA HA! thats funny right there.

[insutama]

Lol

[FlaMtnBkr]

Pine is good but you want white colored and not yellow. At least for good BP. The yellow makes charcoal that is good for long lasting sparks. Also try to find the lighter weight, less dense pieces of wood. If you have ever picked thru a pile out lumber trying to find straight pieces you know there can be a pretty significant difference in weight between boards of the same size.

 

But a bag of ERC pet bedding isn't very expensive, makes great hot BP, and is easy to process. A bag will also make more charcoal than you will use in quite a long time if just starting out.

[gregh]

This should help.

 

http://bit.ly/1EnPWXh

 

That made my day Mum! Thanks.

[dagabu]

There isn't a lot that I haven't seen on the web but that was really quite cleaver! Thanks Mum.

[patsroom]

Great Post Mum. I loved it just one problem I followed the third link down and I ended up at this place-

Best Black powder charcoal ?- APC forum, it was like leading the horse back to the same trough just on a different side of it. ....................Pat

Edited January 27, 2015 by patsroom

[wildcherryxoxo]

thats the point

[MrB]

Does that page sense your language, or did mum send everyone to a Swedish page? I'm hoping it's the later, just for kicks, but i guess it's the first.

B!

[BurritoBandito]

MrB., I think google filters your searches based on your location.

[MrB]

Yeah, Google just might do that sort of thing for ya. But actually it's the "let me google that for ya" page thats in Swedish, and the Google results are in English.

Oh well. Either way.

B!

[Bobosan]

Miracles of modern science, B!

[stix]

Awsome thanks guys hey stix how long do u cook wood in can on camp stove for ?

 

Approx. 80-90mins, plus cool down time.

 

My retort is a small 1/2 litre cast iron pot, so it's relatively quick to cook but only produces around 25grams of charcoal - which hardly seems worth it, but like yourself, I had the other two ingredients and didn't have an easily accessible supply, and didn't want to buy those expensive artists willow charcoal drawing sticks.

 

To me It's all about learning the method and making my own, than the yield. I actually enjoy making it and have become quite addicted . It's certainly worth learning.

 

I use paulownia, and as Sparx88 pointed out it's very easy to crush with your fingers - you actually don't need a sledge hammer .

 

Here's my method - obviously suited to my equipment and retort, but you may learn something from it.

I call it the "Double Cooked Inversion Method" .

 

Paulownia Charcoal prep (same as balsa).

 

Fill the retort with vertical sticks of paulownia (approx. 60x10x10mm).

 

Heat on the gas burner (medium heat) for approx. 80mins. Total.

 

After about 10mins smoke should come out of the breather hole - continuing until approx. the 40-45min mark.

 

2nd Cook:

 

Let cool for about 15mins then open the lid and re-distribute (invert) the peices. Put the lid back on and re-cook until all remaining volatiles are cooked off (approx. another 15mins). This makes more consistent charcoal.

 

Leave on heat for about 5mins after no evidence of further smoke.

 

Turn off heat and seal until cool (30-45mins).

 

TEST: A physical 'snap' and draw on paper test - it should be "brittle" to snap, but soft enough to draw with.

 

RESULTS (Black Powder): Paulownia burns very fast. I can't really tell the difference from Balsa.

 

It's pretty easy to do, I've never cooked a bad batch yet.

 

Cheers.

[braddsn]

I agree with everyone else, cooking your own charcoal is the way to go. In the meantime, if you need a quick fix and can't cook any, you can order airfloat charcoal from a few places.. i.e. pyrochemsource.com or skylighter.com. Most of the time, (as is with pyrochemsource and skylighter), you will be getting a hardwood mix type charcoal.. which is not as fast as charcoal made from cedar, willow, paulownia, balsa, etc. BUT.... it will work in a fix. But I will have to say, if one is wanting to truly be a "pyro", cooking your own charcoal is a must!! Easy, cheap and fun! And as I found out myself (the hard way), when a formula calls for "airfloat" charcoal, ALL of it must be airfloat. I cook my own charcoal and grind it in a blender. Most of it was airfloat.. but 10% of it or so was tiny chunks.. like grains of sand. This caused orange fallout (sparks) to fly everywhere when my shells broke. Because that charcoal was being used in both my prime, and my star composition. Those little chunks burn bright orange, and it really makes a shell break look like crap! So now, grind it with a blender, then ball mill it. Problem solved. Good luck man!

[insutama]

I ended up buying 5 pounds of airfloat pine charcoal from a member here to get me started i think i will experiment with different types of wood later on but for now this is alot simpler

[dagabu]

Making a simple 75:15:10 BP, you will end up with 33 pounds of BP with 5 pounds of airfloat charcoal, that's a lot of beginner rockets!

[insutama]

lol ya i got lots thats why im hoping pine charcoal will be fast enought to make rockets plus a report that amount of charcoal will probally last me the rest of my life LOL

Edited January 28, 2015 by insutama

[pyrojig]

When you get into consistent manufacture of bp, rocket fuels , and Charcoal stars ....... 5# really goes fast. It is best to make your own. I love the pine charcoal for stars and very decent bp. It makes pretty hot rocket fuel as well. I think we went through 10# in one event , but that was constructing 12" shells and lots of rockets , and 35# of bp.

 

Cooking your own charcoals is very rewarding and can be done on a bbq. with a simple metal (coffee can or/paint can )and a metal lid with a couple 1/4" holes in it. ( if you want a test batch .) spruce/pine is a very common thing to find in a any hardware ,mill,or construction sites etc.

Some find it a messy adventure , and dont like the trouble. The savings and experience for them is not worth the time

I like being " self sufficient in those regards, as well as allowing me to really explore . I can cater to my needs this way.

[insutama]

So i take it pine charcoal made bp if made with a ball mill has a chance of been as fast as Goex FFFF ?

[patsroom]

Have you any FFFF Goex black powder? If not then you will have no way to compare the two. And another thing how do you plan to compare? Pyro Baseball, burn rate test or some other way so that you can see if there is a difference? Don't be so concern to comparing to Goex FFFF until you can make good black powder. In another words don't put the horse before the cart. ..............Pat

[insutama]

I have a can of FFFF Goex so i was just gonna do a burn test and see if they burned up around the same speed or if one is slower. Your right though ill just have to wait and see how it turns out im still waiting on my ball mill to arrive anyway so its gonna be awhile thats why im trying to soak in as much information as i can before my mill gets here

[FlaMtnBkr]

Searching and reading is soaking in information. Asking every question that you can think of and reading the answers is being 'spoon fed'. Not trying to be a jerk but asking everything instead of spending 30 seconds to make a search first is just being lazy. I can tell you are already starting to annoy a few people.

 

Read through the forum. Search for the subject you are curious about. Every question you have asked has been asked dozens of times before. The answers then are just as valid as they are now. I've even gone back to the beginning of the pyrotechnics forum here and read every thread to present that I found interesting. I read for about a year before I attempted making any pyro (about 15 years ago). There is a ton of good information around and if you read, read, read, you won't need to ask questions and will be much safer when you do start.

 

And when you can't find an answer, that is when you ask a question. You have asked the same question at least 3 times (pine make hot BP/ hot as GOEX) and have been answered at least twice before asking the last time.

 

I know when you get introduced to all this it can be very exciting and newbies have lots of questions. Really not trying to be a jerk but offer some suggestions. If you like to read and search for things you're interested in, check out rec.pyrotechnics. It is basically dead now but just about any question you can think of has been answered there and it is a treasure chest of information. I have read countless hours there as well. It was similar to here but much more active in it's day.

 

Hope you don't mind a little constructive criticism!

 

Hey Mumbles, ever thought about requiring new members click on, say, 200 threads in the hopes they are reading before they can post? That would probably be cruel and unusual punishment for a lot of people. But I bet we would have a lot less newbies asking about flash.

[insutama]

fair enough ill try and watch that sorry this is all new to me and im having a hell of a time learning all about it and trust me i am doing hundreds of google searches but there is always a million ancwer to my questions so i just wanted people opinions on things sorry if im annoying people just excited in my new hobby trying to learn a million things at once before my mill comes so i can have all the info and safty together and know what im doing come time. and dont worry no offence taken thank again for all your ancwers and advice i really do appreciate it

[FlaMtnBkr]

Hey If you are searching for it and can't find it after really looking then asking isn't a problem. Better to ask.

 

But the more You can read, the more You will learn and pick up on the lingo and it will make understanding all this much easier for you. Plus you will start to pick up on more advanced things and that will make that easier for you when the time comes. We all started where you are now and many of us learned the basics by reading and then by doing but reading will always make things easier. It is always easier to read what does and doesn't work than finding out yourself. And the way things are done are usually because it's how things work best. Just about everything had been tried at some point and current methods are the ones that work the best (and usually been around the longest). Every once in a while someone stumbles on something new or better but it doesn't happen often.

[Bobosan]

insutama, use the search feature here on APC forum and bypass google altogether.