flying fish Posted August 19, 2009 Posted August 19, 2009 Poison ivy fumes/smoke can be deadly...I don't think it's worth the risk to be honest.
Twotails Posted August 19, 2009 Posted August 19, 2009 Well, they can be deadly if your allergic to them, but with the proper safty gear your all set. when makeing the Ivy charcoals i was in a full suit, and fume mask, Today after a seconed grinding, the charcoal preforms much better, very fast ( almost too fast for my likeing) I think im gonna try some other native trees to see how there preform.
flying fish Posted August 19, 2009 Posted August 19, 2009 I only mentioned it because a friend of my dad's nearly suffocated when his airway was restricted by breathing in the fumes from burning poison ivy. You seem to know what you are doing...but be careful. What type of fume mask are you using...charcoal filtered?
Twotails Posted August 19, 2009 Posted August 19, 2009 http://www.bestsafetyapparel.com/mesge40bbgas.html One similer to the above, bought from a local chemist who orderd the wrong one. I just had to buy te PVC hood and filters ( i got a full suit for next to nothing! i think i payed -100 for the whole outfit)
TheSidewinder Posted August 19, 2009 Posted August 19, 2009 Twotails, don't *EVER* burn Poison Ivy. *YOU* may have safety gear on, but the Urushiol oil suspended in the smoke can travel a long distance and someone WITHOUT safety gear may inhale it. The oil can remain active for years. Inhaling the Urushiol oil can cause a fatal anaphylactic (allergy) reaction in rare cases. Look here, and read it carefully, especially the section about effects on the body: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_ivy
SunDevil Posted August 19, 2009 Posted August 19, 2009 Willow alternatives. Try paulownia (Royal Empress tree, Paulownia tomentosa) wood. I started using paulownia in my black powder more than ten years ago when I ran out of willow wood. Paulownia trees grow very fast, are cold hardy to USDA climate zone 5, and are easy to propagate from branches and shoots. A branch rooted in the spring can be a tree eight feet tall by late fall. A tree that is eight years old can yield a cubic meter of wood. The mature trees yield thousands of viable seeds every year, which take approximately three weeks to germinate but once they do, they grow into trees very fast. Best of all, they are entirely nontoxic, the leaves are actually used as food wrappers in China. I would like to say hello to all of the APC Forum members, as I am new to the group. It is a great honor to post here.
Bananaphone69 Posted August 20, 2009 Posted August 20, 2009 Look back in the posts dude... We all know what paulownia is. But your right its good stuff. But it barely beats red alder which you can get with almost no work for very low costs.
flying fish Posted August 20, 2009 Posted August 20, 2009 I'd imagine there'd be some satisfaction in growing your own charcoal wood. Plus if you plant your own, you aren't depending on a commercial source OR specialty source of wood, giving you a greater sustainability of a consistantly good charcoal supply. That being said...the word on the street (or earlier in this thread) is that both Paulownia and red alder are "super charcoals". And red alder wood is harvested somewhat commercially for smoking fish... better yet, large quantities of lumpwood alder charcoal are available from an internet-order source that we've come to know (custom charcoal)...I've got 20 lbs of lump wood red alder charcoal on order from him...god know when he will send it out...hopefully soon.
Twotails Posted August 20, 2009 Posted August 20, 2009 i though of that, thats why i have a hood sucking the smoke in from above the charcoal pit i use, the smoke is then put threw a few filters, and whats left over for gasses is passed threw water, then i dump the filters and water in a hole and bury it. as i've said, i dont take safty lightly (im useing my old fume hood to collect the smoke powerd by a shop fan)
Bonny Posted August 20, 2009 Posted August 20, 2009 i though of that, thats why i have a hood sucking the smoke in from above the charcoal pit i use, the smoke is then put threw a few filters, and whats left over for gasses is passed threw water, then i dump the filters and water in a hole and bury it. as i've said, i dont take safty lightly (im useing my old fume hood to collect the smoke powerd by a shop fan) Seems like quit a hassle...why not just avoid poison ivy? In any case, when cooking charcoal, you can pipe the vent gasses back into the fire, no smoke and more fuel for the fire.
flying fish Posted August 21, 2009 Posted August 21, 2009 David from Customcharcoal got back to me today. He recommended willow rather than Alder, due to the fact that his alder is not so crispy in the middle due to the fact that it flavors better this way. So in other words, I'd have to crisp it up a bit more! What do you guys think, is the willow a better idea, given the extra work required for the alder?
Bonny Posted August 21, 2009 Posted August 21, 2009 David from Customcharcoal got back to me today. He recommended willow rather than Alder, due to the fact that his alder is not so crispy in the middle due to the fact that it flavors better this way. So in other words, I'd have to crisp it up a bit more! What do you guys think, is the willow a better idea, given the extra work required for the alder? I had some Alder from Tentacles that I think was from Custom Charcoal. It seemed a bit undercooked, but I ground it up and milled it no problem.I'm not sure if it was indeed better than my homemade willow as I just masterbatched the lift together, but it worked well. An option rather than trying to continue cooking is to break it up a bit and then put it into the ball mill. The very undercooked stuff will stay solid and can be discarded.Otherwise, the willow will be fine I'm sure...so whatever is cheaper would be personal choice.
scarbelly Posted August 22, 2009 Posted August 22, 2009 According to everyone in the supplier review, the alder is quite good. Plus the willow is more than double the price per pound.
Miech Posted August 23, 2009 Posted August 23, 2009 I bet you guys are going to be jealous if I say it's difficult to find another kind of tree than willow where I live . I decided to use spruce for anything from now on. It's cheaply available by bulk (in Holland at least) and gives great charcoal for both propellants and streamers. Compared to willow and alder it gives equal performance for less money.
flying fish Posted August 23, 2009 Posted August 23, 2009 I found a small willow in the area behind my house. I don't think I'm going to touch it yet though...it is fairly small. There are some larger willows down the road, but they are on someone else's private property...don't want to get caught in someone's tree with a saw . I found a bunch of cottonwoods...but they are of course the eastern kind with the deltoid leaves. This is not the same kind of cottonwood as the ones used in Creagon's test. I think I will try it anyway though...
scarbelly Posted August 23, 2009 Posted August 23, 2009 Hey flying fish, did david say how soon he'd be able to make and ship the charcoal?
andyboy Posted August 23, 2009 Posted August 23, 2009 I found a small willow in the area behind my house. I don't think I'm going to touch it yet though...it is fairly small. Has it started to branch out yet? If it has you should cut some of the branches at a 45 degree angle and stick them in the ground and water them. They will root rather fast and in a year you will have a few trees of your own.
flying fish Posted August 24, 2009 Posted August 24, 2009 Scarbelly: He didn't say when he would ship - but the fact that he emailed me gave me some (possibly misplaced) hope that it would be very soon. Andyboy: I think the main trunk splits into a few branches..or maybe only two, I can't remember. Of course, I'm not sure WHERE to plant them...The willow I found is behind my parents' house - I could certainly plant some there. But my parents are prolly going to move from that house once all us kids are gradumatated from college and have our own houses. Few years or so, maybe ~5. Would the trees grow fast enough to get useable wood in that time?
scarbelly Posted August 24, 2009 Posted August 24, 2009 Alright, yeah that makes sense. It at least means he's able to respond to emails. How did he know your purposes were pyrotechnic? and also, in the title of this thread, what does "[beware 56K]" mean?
flying fish Posted August 24, 2009 Posted August 24, 2009 I think I told him I was using for pyro - I thought that he might be interested in knowing that Alder was also good BP charcoal (if he didn't already), considering that the only charcoal he markets as "pyrotechnic" charcoal is the Willow. "56 K beware" is a warning for slow modems (dial-up connections) which can have trouble opening large pictures in a reasonable amount of time. The first page contained many pictures of trees and tree leaves. Not sure if anyone on here still uses dial up, but it's fun to include the classic labels. When it was still a split-mix between dial-up and faster connection, you had to include that label or people would get mad at you for crashing their browser.
scarbelly Posted August 24, 2009 Posted August 24, 2009 Oh alright. I see. Yeah I think he markets that way because he can sell the Willow for a lot more.oh haha. Makes sense. Thank you.
flying fish Posted August 24, 2009 Posted August 24, 2009 That very well could be the case... He does cook the Willow C differently as well, toasts it real well so that there aren't any uncooked centers left. I actually decided to go with the willow...It's not any more $$ for the lot (a dollar less, actually), the lot is just 8 lbs rather than 20. I figured it would be easier to work with, and perhaps more consistent (either that, or I just like getting ripped off). And as I was telling someone earlier...I better of developed my own charcoal cooking technique well before I run out of this stuff. 8 lbs of Charcoal makes 53 lbs of blackpowder, which at my rate of consumption should last several years at least. I can't wait to try some of the woods back behind my parents' place...Cottonwood, White pine, willow if I can find a bigger one...and there's probably more super-hot future-charcoals back there if looked some more. I didn't realize how many pyrotechnically useable vegetation existed in michigan until I started becoming aware of what trees were lurking out there...and comparing them against Creagan's data and other accounts that I've read on the net.
scarbelly Posted August 24, 2009 Posted August 24, 2009 Yeah well for me in CA, the price + shipping adds up to like 10 bucks less or so? and I figured a 20lb lot would last me the rest of my life so I'm set I should definitely look around to see whats here.... just for future reference.
flying fish Posted August 24, 2009 Posted August 24, 2009 Yeah, absolute cost is often the deciding factor for me, rather than relative cost when buying gross excesses of something . In your case the Alder is the most economic option for both relative and absolute!
50AE Posted August 24, 2009 Posted August 24, 2009 I managed to get some plum from my bro's yard yesterday and now I'm cooking it. I'll tell you how the results are as soon as I make BP with it.
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