Phil Posted January 6, 2022 Posted January 6, 2022 I found this guy locally who sells cedar shavings by the bag for $15. This looks like it would be much easier to process this into charcoal given it's already in a fine state. This looks like it's a bit finer than the "pet bedding" state. Worth it or no?
Pyroboy Posted January 6, 2022 Posted January 6, 2022 Grinding charcoal shouldn´t really be a thing. Good charcoal is very brittle. To get to your question. I could imagine that with this fine stuff you will get an uneven charcoal, because the temperature within your material takes really long to reach the center. Plus it has very little spaces for all the evaporated stuff to get out of of your jar. But maybe I am wrong and it works just fine. As I read "cedar" is used for a variety of different woods. So its hard to tell if it is suitable for blackpowder or more for chrysanthemum like mixtures.
justvisiting Posted January 7, 2022 Posted January 7, 2022 Steve Laduke the rocket guru cooked shavings like that in a long, capped cast iron pipe in a campfire. He had a stirring rod going through the center of it that he could turn to help it cook evenly. I wouldn't do it that way myself, but it worked for him. When I cooked ERC shavings (Juniperus virginiana) in my retort, I made a cylindrical screen to go from top to bottom in the middle, and stacked the shavings around it. I did this because the middle would not cook properly otherwise, which would surely be the case with your finer shavings- as mentioned above by Pyroboy. Cedar pet bedding would be easier to work with than your fine shavings, and probably cheaper.
SeaMonkey Posted January 7, 2022 Posted January 7, 2022 (edited) Remember that the Charring of Wood is an Exothermic Reaction. As the process evolves it actually generates heat on its own. The shavings will be charred just fine given sufficient time at from 500 degrees F to 550 Degrees F. If you don't have a temperature controlled Kiln then as the smoke output of the Charred Wood decreases it is just about done. So long as the Char isn't overcooked at too high a temperature your Powder will be quick and powerful. Edited January 7, 2022 by SeaMonkey
spectra1 Posted January 8, 2022 Posted January 8, 2022 (edited) Or you could use a TLUD like a lot of guys myself included use to cook ERC pet bedding. It works great and i suspect would have no problem with those chips/saw dust. It would be worth a try as cost would very likely be the same if not cheaper then pet bedding. Either way for 15 dollars it would be a fun inexpensive experiment. Edited January 8, 2022 by spectra1
Richtee Posted January 8, 2022 Posted January 8, 2022 (edited) I would worry ... speculation- on the ash content. You always generate ash making charcoal. The huge surface area of shavings, etc would seem to generate more ash than solid hunks. No? I see ash on the sticks out of the retort. I have a stiff paintbrush I dust it off with before processing. Worth it? I dunno. But it don’t hurt. Edited January 8, 2022 by Richtee
Arthur Posted January 8, 2022 Posted January 8, 2022 A Brit friend used to make big retort charcoal by a loosely TLUD method. His plan was to admit that some fine ash would be present so he did a very gentle rumble and then sieved the charcoal/ash mix over a 600 mesh. The fine ash went through and the charcoal didn't.
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