Willow Alternatives [Beware 56K]

[Mumbles]

It probably wont do much of anything. BP is wet all the time for granulation and pressing, and that obviously doesn't hurt it. Just be sure it's dry before trying to mill it or accurately weigh it.

[hst45]

Ok. Well I have another question. Can you over cook charcoal?

I would argue that with proper air control, no, you can't over cook it, put in practicality, yes you can.

 

The point in charcoal making is to drive off all the water, oils and alcohols and leave only the carbon and trace elements (ash) remaining. Therortically, if there is no way for any air to reach your carbon-rich, volitles-depleated charcoal then no ozidation of the carbon will take place so you could leave it in this enviornment indeffinatly. However in practice it's impossible for the home charcoal maker to acheive this, so we're better off finding a practical happy medium of timing the burn to acheive the optimum product. Trial and error, yet again, will yield the "best' product. I cook my charcoal in a metal retort, with the holes faced down into the coals, so there is less likelyhood of air currents entering the can, and I let it run until no flames exit the can, and then I add 10 minutes, more of less. I then take the retort out of the fire and place it holds-down in a sand box to cool overnight. At this stage quenching would probably be fine, too.

 

Edit: I don't mean to say that the goal is to acheive 100% carbon and no volitiles. Actually some percent of volitiles is desireable. This is why activated charcoal doesn't work well in BP. So the long answer is don't overcook it.

[Mumbles]

It is my opinion that to over cook charcoal to a point of noticeable decreased functionality, one really has to make a concious effort. We're talking stoking the fire after, or very soon before the holes stop giving gases. I've accidentally lefy my retort in the bonfire over night, where the embers were still burning in the morning. Despite a little ash, the product worked just as well as any of the other stuff I've made.

[Bonny]

I've "overcooked" charcoal on several occasions,when I was first starting out I cooked (burned) it in an open container and simply blew the ashes off with compressed air after it cooled. I've also rinsed the ashes off with water. In any case the charcoal has performed as well as any I've made "properly"after the ashes were removed.

[frogy]

I didn't really notice any different at all in my charcoal that I cooked open and retort style...

 

 

I make a 300 gram batch of white pine charcoal (300 gram of product, not wood)... About 150 grams of it was open cooked because my aluminum foil lid blew off, and the other 150 grams was cooked in a tin can... I made (2) 200 gram batches of 3 hour meal and they burned identically with one using open burned charcoal and the other retort style...

[mormanman]

Ok. You guys remember me asking about pecan bp right. Well it was extremely fast. It was much much faster than anything else. I'll get a video today.

 

Edit:

Heres the video

 

View My Video

 

And youtube.

[psyco_1322]

Fast compared to what? Balsa?

[frogy]

My white pine lift is about that fast...

 

I granulated it with just water and it's like 20 mesh... So it's very fine and it breaks apart... Not good for lift, but it burns as fast as that...

[mormanman]

Oh I meant the fastest I've made. My newspaper.

[Mumbles]

That looks like an aweful lot of BP to be testing with. Just be careful, and use a real fuse next time. Yes, it does look pretty fast. It's hard to compare with mine, as I use much less, and it's much finer.

[psyco_1322]

What part of the pecan tree did you use? I have some in my back yard, if its faster than newspaper I might give it a try.

[Mumbles]

Generally branches are used, reguardless of the tree type. They grow back, and are less dense wood than the trunk.

[mormanman]

That looks like an aweful lot of BP to be testing with. Just be careful, and use a real fuse next time. Yes, it does look pretty fast. It's hard to compare with mine, as I use much less, and it's much finer.

 

Its half an oz of the bp, no dextrin. May be rest of you guys figured that out that no dextrin makes faster bp but it does, not by much but there is no measuring of ratios for meal powder and dextrin.

 

What part of the pecan tree did you use? I have some in my back yard, if its faster than newspaper I might give it a try.

 

Yeah. The branches. I found, de-barked, and cut the wood in a park where I found.

[hst45]

Have you guys had any consistancy problems with newsprint? For me, some is great and some sucks. I like newsprint because it saves a step. I roll sections of the paper into tight rolls and pack them tightly into my retort and cook them, and keep these little charcoal sticks in a plastic bag. When I want to make a batch of BP I weigh out the appropriate amount of these charcoal logs and toss them in the ball milll with the KNO3 and S, so I don't have to mill the charcoal seperately. Generally the resultant product is good but occasionally the powder is rather weak. Because..........? (Your thoughts go here....)

 

mormanman, thanks for the info on pecan as a charcoal source. Every bit of this type of research adds to the datebase.

[Mumbles]

You're not using those plastic inserts are you? I would imagine those would be shitty. I really can't think of any reason for any inconsitency. You'd be able to see ash fairly obviously. Perhaps you should start grinding it all together to improve consistency.

[hst45]

No, I just use the regular sections, not the color advertisement crap. For my regular charcoal I use poplar, and I do make a few batchs of charcoal, ball mill each, and blend the whole mess together for consistancy. I tried the newsprint for the ease of not having to mill it seperatly, so I've never blended it together. It was in one batch last winter that I used for BP rocket meal that I noticed that the resultant meal was a good bit less energetic than the previous batch of newsprint, so I've gone back to hardwood charcoal for rockets. Go figure.

[Mumbles]

newsprint charcoal is always very soft and easy to break in my experience. Just pushing it through a window screen should do it to get it all mixed together.

 

I personally don't premill my charcoal. I just get it to the point it will pass a 16 mesh screen or so and in it goes. For bursts and stuff, I use the hardwood charcoal(KP and the like). I get it to pass 60 mesh, and in that goes.

[mormanman]

Have you guys had any consistancy problems with newsprint? For me, some is great and some sucks. I like newsprint because it saves a step. I roll sections of the paper into tight rolls and pack them tightly into my retort and cook them, and keep these little charcoal sticks in a plastic bag. When I want to make a batch of BP I weigh out the appropriate amount of these charcoal logs and toss them in the ball milll with the KNO3 and S, so I don't have to mill the charcoal seperately. Generally the resultant product is good but occasionally the powder is rather weak. Because..........? (Your thoughts go here....)

 

mormanman, thanks for the info on pecan as a charcoal source. Every bit of this type of research adds to the datebase.

Your welcome. Glad to help.

[psyco_1322]

Newspaper for me always burns fast but has no power as you said. Needs to be corned. Im gonna try that pecan, I need a faster powder.

[mormanman]

With newspaper it takes a lot to like like 3 stars no shell or nothing and I only goes like 15 ft. I'm hoping that I can try to make some dragons breath with my pecan. Anyone willing to help me out on bp fire balls, please help.

[FrankRizzo]

Newsprint contains a few percent clay binder which adds inert material to your charcoal. If you use the normal 75:15:10 ratios, you are over-oxidized which will reduce gas volume (less CO2). Try adding an extra 5% newsprint charcoal (71:19:10).

[Mumbles]

If people can get away with using the 90% sulfur with good results, I don't know how much 2-3% clay will affect the charcoal. Even the best charcoals will have ash contents around 6%. 10% clay in sulfur equates to 1% clay in the BP. Even 5% clay binder, which is on the high side, is only .75%. Then again, maybe it's related to the fact that charcoal, IMO, is by far the most important ingredient. The carbonates may also make up for the lost gas by producing CO2 anyway.

[frogy]

I was always told the other 10% was Calcium Carbonate...

The sulfur I use came from a 50 lb. agro supplier bag

I says:

89.9%..................Sulfur

10.1%...............Calcium Carbonate

 

at hardware stores I've saw

90%..................Sulfur

10%..................Chalk

[Bonny]

The sulfur I use from the garden centre is "allegedly" pure. It may be flowers of sulfur though, it doesn't have anything on label. I used to buy sulfur chips at a hydroponics store, but they had to be milled. The dusting sulfur from hardware stores I think is 92%. In any case, all three poduced very good BP.

[frogy]

I have multiple types of sulfur...

 

I bought 1 lb. of dusting sulfur from Lowes a few months ago and it's 90% sulfur, haven't used any of it yet...

 

and I borrowed about 5 lbs. from an open bag of Agricultural sulfur at my work (which was allowed)... sulfur pellets or something... They're shaped like domed saucers... not a hemisphere, but a dome... I break up in large resealable freezer bags and then mill them, just trying to mill before breaking up does nothing but scrape their surface...