Charcoal for BP

[utmustang05]

I was curious if anyone else is using quaking Aspen charcoal to make BP. I have tried weeping willow and some other soft woods but always seem to get better results with the quaking Aspen charcoal.

[MadMat]

In case you didn't know, it is black willow that is used for BP charcoal. There IS a difference. As far as your results go... Use what ever works for you! As for myself, I use either black willow or red cedar. Choosing these was a no-brainer since there are a lot of them growing around me. Here's a tip that I have discovered; when you're collecting your wood, don't pass up on any old semi-rotted branches. I have found wood that is at the stage where the bark is starting to fall off and the wood is beginning to soften from rot makes VERY fast BP! This improvement works for all species of wood. There is, however, a limit to how far rotted the wood can be before the quality of the BP made starts to drop off.

Edited March 6, 2023 by MadMat

[Richtee]

All I collect is “dead-fall” IF i’m not using the packing paper. That paper has always made the hottest BP for me.

[Arthur]

Black willow and red alder are high among the favourites for power powder for lift/burst etc. However pick something good from woods local to you. Red cedar pet bedding comes highly recommended if it's local an conveniently available.

 

Never ignore old demolition lumber for pine which makes a good effect charcoal for sparkly trails from stars.

 

If you are really short of known good woods then remember the baseball test. Mill a little powder and launch a baseball from a 3" mortar and check the flight time in seconds.

The test for good BP is to light some on a sheet of paper, Good powder leaves no residue and little if any scorching, poor powder burns the paper.

[cmjlab]

It seems like you may have your answer too. If you always get your best B.P. with quaking Aspen, then that's the way I'd go for B.P.

 

I've tried a bunch of woods as well, and had good luck with wild grape vine, and yellow poplar as well. I still go with the cedar chips because it's ALWAYS dry and really quick to make - with decent B.P. I've wondered myself if what I actually get is eastern red cedar in those bags of chips. I have family property in NY and brought back some eastern red cedar logs from one trip - that was the fastest B.P. I've ever made, but was faster than what I needed.

 

The point - use what works for you. Quaking Aspen is a soft wood, that grows quickly, should work great

[Richtee]

The only variable for the most part IS the charcoal. I find it interesting.

[utmustang05]

In case you didn't know, it is black willow that is used for BP charcoal. There IS a difference. As far as your results go... Use what ever works for you! As for myself, I use either black willow or red cedar. Choosing these was a no-brainer since there are a lot of them growing around me. Here's a tip that I have discovered; when you're collecting your wood, don't pass up on any old semi-rotted branches. I have found wood that is at the stage where the bark is starting to fall off and the wood is beginning to soften from rot makes VERY fast BP! This improvement works for all species of wood. There is, however, a limit to how far rotted the wood can be before the quality of the BP made starts to drop off.

I did not know that. That makes sense as I never did get good results with local willow which for the most part is willing willow around here. I collect the dead fall off wild Aspen that is plentiful in the mountains which are a short drive from where I live. I always thought of ceder as a hard wood. We have lots of ceder growing in our high altitude desert but I have no idea of it is red ceder.

[utmustang05]

Black willow and red alder are high among the favourites for power powder for lift/burst etc. However pick something good from woods local to you. Red cedar pet bedding comes highly recommended if it's local an conveniently available.

 

Never ignore old demolition lumber for pine which makes a good effect charcoal for sparkly trails from stars.

 

If you are really short of known good woods then remember the baseball test. Mill a little powder and launch a baseball from a 3" mortar and check the flight time in seconds.

The test for good BP is to light some on a sheet of paper, Good powder leaves no residue and little if any scorching, poor powder burns the paper.

I do do that. Some of the best fire dust stars I have made was from just such lumber.

[utmustang05]

It seems like you may have your answer too. If you always get your best B.P. with quaking Aspen, then that's the way I'd go for B.P.

 

I've tried a bunch of woods as well, and had good luck with wild grape vine, and yellow poplar as well. I still go with the cedar chips because it's ALWAYS dry and really quick to make - with decent B.P. I've wondered myself if what I actually get is eastern red cedar in those bags of chips. I have family property in NY and brought back some eastern red cedar logs from one trip - that was the fastest B.P. I've ever made, but was faster than what I needed.

 

The point - use what works for you. Quaking Aspen is a soft wood, that grows quickly, should work great

I have often wondered if grape vine would be a good source. I have never seen it growing wild but the state has been demoing older houses along a street near by that they are going to widen and allot of these homes have grape Vines. There is one house that has quite allot of it and the main stalls or trunks are 6 to 7 inches in diameter. I'm sure this was all planned in purpose and I have no idea what kind of grapes they are but I thought I would give some a try.

[utmustang05]

I did some experiments using pyro grade sulfur and garden sulfur. I have used garden sulfur for many years mainly for rocket motors and muzzle loaders. The only thing I did different is with pyro grade sulfur I added dextrin for a binder. The garden grade has clay in it that makes a good binder. I made 4 batches two of each and could tell no difference in burn time or residue, the residue was almost bill with all batches. I have found in the past that milling the BP for extended times greatly reduced the residue. I use a 12 inch section of a angle iron held in a 4 X 4 with a V notch cut in it but I will have to try the paper test. Edited March 7, 2023 by utmustang05

[kingkama]

I have often wondered if grape vine would be a good source. I have never seen it growing wild but the state has been demoing older houses along a street near by that they are going to widen and allot of these homes have grape Vines. There is one house that has quite allot of it and the main stalls or trunks are 6 to 7 inches in diameter. I'm sure this was all planned in purpose and I have no idea what kind of grapes they are but I thought I would give some a try.

grape wine wood Is nice but due Is ashes content you would change the proportion of charcoal sulphur and nitrate, look for the french bp of the napoleonian army...i use and Is like the 75 ecc we use for Willow.

[MadMat]

I did some experiments using pyro grade sulfur and garden sulfur. I have used garden sulfur for many years mainly for rocket motors and muzzle loaders. The only thing I did different is with pyro grade sulfur I added dextrin for a binder. The garden grade has clay in it that makes a good binder. I made 4 batches two of each and could tell no difference in burn time or residue, the residue was almost bill with all batches. I have found in the past that milling the BP for extended times greatly reduced the residue. I use a 12 inch section of a angle iron held in a 4 X 4 with a V notch cut in it but I will have to try the paper test.

The main difference in the grades of sulfur out there is the acid content. Some garden grades of sulfur can be rather acidic. This can cause compatibility problems with certain other chemicals, namely chlorates.

[Arthur]

Grape vine and Balsa are regarded as super fast charcoals, perhaps too fast for some applications.

[passgas]

My BP is made for blank charges for a small cannon. I use the local wild growing willow, old cedar fencing and. Chinese tallow .I am happy with using any of the three.

The Chinese tallow is a trash tree and growing in the bottoms in back of the property. The willow is in the area even growing along the interstate. Just a little harder to get to. The cedar was from an old fence being torn down..

 

I am getting good results with the Chines tallow.

 

Now I noticed just experimenting around with milling a two part mixture separated where a non explosive mixture is being ball milled then hand shifted together does work .I just wanted to try it. But I did then decided to just run the mixture back in the ball mill and I got some very hot blank noticeable sounds and shock waves coming out the little cannon.

 

Total ball mill time was about the same , 2 hours . I am trying again this time using Chines Tallow to see if I can repeat what I did. Maybe the charcoal and sulfur blends better by itself before being added to the KNO3. My mixture Part A is 15 to 1 ratio of KNO3 to charcoal and part B is 50/50 charcoal and sulfur.

After I ball mill these two mixtures in separate batches I then ball mill 80% Part A with 20% part B giving you the 75/15/10 typical mixture.

 

It will be 3 weeks before I can test this again . It could be I got the mixtures wrong giving me a hotter powder. I will find out.

[Arthur]

Powder is always "for a purpose" The classic BP mix makes burst, lift, rocket fuel and fuse. Then it's modified for other uses. If your powder works for your purpose then t's OK, but may not suitable for other people and other purposes.

[Mumbles]

A little late to the party, but there are a huge number of tree and wood varieties that work just fine. Generally speaking, if it's relative clean, lighter-weight wood it will make fast BP. If it's denser and/or has a lot of sap or resins in it, it will be slower but better for longer hanging sparks. Anything homemade also tends to be better it seems, as the cook and temperatures are better controlled than what is done commercially.

 

I've even heard some people report that even harder or denser woods can be made to make good BP. It just required longer mill times. I'd take that as more of a suggestion than hard fact.