Box Elder charcoal

[MadMat]

I was wondering if anyone has tried box elder wood for charcoal. I know it's a soft, kind of spongy wood and think it might work good. Anyone?

[OldMarine]

All I could find rates it with maple which is mediocre at best.

[MadMat]

Well, that saves me the trouble of cooking up a batch!

[Blackthumb]

Cook up a batch of wine corks....natural ones...let me know the difference....worth it!!

[Mumbles]

I have no idea what wine corks have to do with box elder trees or maple. Maple is not bad actually, certain varieties at least. Bigleaf maple tested among the best in Danny Creagan's test. Maple is also allegedly what Goex uses

 

http://wichitabuggywhip.com/fireworks/charcoal_tests.html

[FlaMtnBkr]

I think many here would end up with cirrhosis trying to make enough BP to meet their needs.

 

I bet cow pies would make a serviceable BP. Just saying.

 

Actually, there are tons of things that can make good BP if you are willing to test a few things which are local and readily available. For most things pyro, the absolute hottest BP just isn't needed and a good middle of the road BP is plenty adequate for the majority of uses. But I admit, it can be fun to see just how fast and hot you can make it. And the real hot stuff does work well in nozzle-less and end burner rockets.

[MadMat]

Well, I have plenty of willow and cedar trees around here, willow being my wood of choice for my charcoal. I was just curious about the box elder, since we just cut down a few box elder trees an I have a pile of wood that will probably be burned, for cooking good charcoal

[Nitrotitanite]

I postpone this post to share my experience. Even if at first I was skeptical about the final result.

 

 

Today I tried to make a batch of coal from elder wood, to my surprise it turned out to be much more powerful than the charcoal I buy in pyro stores from the cost of 23.00 per kg plus shipping.

Even if I don't have the ball mill to grind the chem is very easy with a simple blender.

Soon I will try to granulate to lift 2'm shell. Anyway already by eye it seems to be faster than with screw coal.

[pyrojig]

I find that I am pleasantly surprised in producing my own charcoal. Most all my charcoal is above average compared to hobby materials. It's very easy to do , and rewarding. It's nice to see others learning to be more independent in the hobby, producing their own materials

[Nitrotitanite]

You are perfectly right, you have many advantages, savings, satisfaction and in some cases, like our sharcoal, a higher quality.