Sunflower stalks for charcoal?

[Guest]

 

 

If you need a decent source for hardened lead, Linotype is often a pretty good source. It's around double the antimony and tin of what's commonly used in hardened lead. Melting it 50/50 with soft lead gets you to a pretty good point. I've always gotten it from ebay. It looks like you can get it for about $2-3/lb at the moment. There may better sources out there.

The last time I needed an additive for lead, I bought a bunch of a product called super hard. 30/70 antimony, lead, purchased from an outfit called robometals.

I believe I cast my .50 cal milling balls @ 3 parts super hard to 5 parts lead or somewhere close to that, but don’t quote me or anything on this because I’ve slept since then.

I gave some consideration to smelting my junk zinc wheel weights for tumbling media, but it’s most likely too brittle.

[cmjlab]

I finally got around to turning my end of season sunflower stalls into charcoal and making a 500g batch.

 

I milled the charcoal for 30 min, then added the other ingredients (standard 75/15/10) and milled for 2 hours in a rebel ball mill and jar to mimic how the rest of my B.P. is made.

 

Result: Loosely burned pile of mill dust burns at a reasonable rate, and it would work for lift but probably not as burst without a lot of booster and spiking. Id equate it to commercial hardwood charcoal. I'll get a video posted here soon.

 

Next I will granulate it when I return from a work trip to see how much quicker it gets. I'll also mix a batch of H3 up to compare to normal willow and eastern red cedar charcoal.

[cmjlab]

https://youtube.com/shorts/y-u2Pt4df-0?si=8Od10MJB_9Q8HQHL

 

 

I realize it's not an empirical test, but it's a 12" paper trough with loose mill powder. Burns half as fast as my ERC or Willow.

Edited November 14, 2023 by cmjlab

[MicroGram]

Nice!

 

I've got a bunch of hemp stalks drying currently.

 

 

Edited November 14, 2023 by MicroGram

[cmjlab]

I would like to get some hemp stalls as well, but I'm amazed at how much it costs, considering that until recent efforts to bag it and label it "organic", "eco friendly", etc, it was relatively cheap.

[Arthur]

Try some different mill times, The precise process details for willow may need changing for other materials.

[Guest]

Well, I finally got this test together. I'm not sure if leaving the white styrofoam center in the stalks made any difference in the outcome or not, but I'd say it wasn't a bad turn out.

I'd say it was pretty close to the hemp.

 

Even though they're two different animals, I compared my meal coated rice hulls to 3 different H3 compositions; Chinaberry, sunflower, and hemp.

75% Potassium chlorate, 25% charcoal, milled separately, for appx 6hrs, give or take.

All are on rice hulls.

You be the judge.

Edited November 14, 2023 by Bbqjoe

[Guest]

Here's a test using the sunflower H3 combined with some irregular Mesquite TT, a few inserts and a bottom shot.

I probably should've left the TT out for the test.

2 inch shell.

[cmjlab]

Try some different mill times, The precise process details for willow may need changing for other materials.

Arthur that could be a valid point. I milled this batch as 3 component B.P. for the same time I mill my willow / ERC (2 hours). That results in pretty fast B.P. for me, burning an avg ~2.72 sec/inch in a spolette for ERC, and avg ~2.67 / ERC (Juniper family). I did not get a chance to make a spolette with the sunflower stalk B.P., but will this week, but I really wanted to try this charcoal in H3 to see if it performed similar to Hemp Charcoal and better than typical charcoals.

 

I've made even faster B.P. by increasing the milling time, but that was actually with yellow poplar (tulip tree) branches, peeled and retort cooked (not TLUD). That B.P. in a spolette burned an avg ~2.36 sec/inch, repeatedly with a pressed spolette.

 

There are lots of variables, and I try to keep spolette making process consistent by pressing in a sleeve using NEPT 5/16" tubes. But what it does show me that is all of those powders will function as lift & break without a lot of booster needed.

[Guest]

Arthur that could be a valid point. I milled this batch as 3 component B.P. for the same time I mill my willow / ERC (2 hours). That results in pretty fast B.P. for me, burning an avg ~2.72 sec/inch in a spolette for ERC, and avg ~2.67 / ERC (Juniper family). I did not get a chance to make a spolette with the sunflower stalk B.P., but will this week, but I really wanted to try this charcoal in H3 to see if it performed similar to Hemp Charcoal and better than typical charcoals.

 

I've made even faster B.P. by increasing the milling time, but that was actually with yellow poplar (tulip tree) branches, peeled and retort cooked (not TLUD). That B.P. in a spolette burned an avg ~2.36 sec/inch, repeatedly with a pressed spolette.

 

There are lots of variables, and I try to keep spolette making process consistent by pressing in a sleeve using NEPT 5/16" tubes. But what it does show me that is all of those powders will function as lift & break without a lot of booster needed.

I'm going to say, that so far, nothing has beaten the hemp.

And being as I don't know every form of sh*t from every drop of shinola, and I also don't know carp from botany, I have to say that I'm actually using MJ, cause my neighbor grows it, and it's legal here to do so, and it's got to be close enough.

And I will go so far as to say I think I tried it once, but it made me want to rape, kill, rob liquor stores, drop out of school, play jazz, listen to Pink Floyd, and blow shit up.

But what do I know?

 

I think it's cool you gave it a try.

 

Before I milled the SF and milled the chlorate, I made some pulverone with the sunflower, and compared it to my cottonwood pulverone. They both burned at pretty much the same rate and brightness, but the sunflower burned hotter, igniting the paper souffle cup much faster than my pulverone.

Edited November 15, 2023 by Bbqjoe

[Arthur]

There are historical records of charred straw and grasses making powder BUT it was so sensitive that it was a problem to handle it -probably not a something to try.

[SharkWhisperer]

Nice investigations Bbqjoe. Hemp seems fastest but sunflower looks serviceable, for sure!

[cmjlab]

I don't know shit about botany either, but hemp and cannabis / MJ are the same plant, just a different sex, right? Id assume they have them same consistency... But you know what they say about ASSumptions...

 

Id agree too, Sunflower stalks make serviceable b.p. but from your video, hemp still looks faster which can be useful for a bunch of things.

[Guest]

This was a test.

 

 

Edited November 17, 2023 by Bbqjoe

[Guest]

Let's try this again....

2 inch shell, (6) 7.3 inserts, SFH3 burst.

I believe it went splendid!

 

…and seriously, is there anything better than echo?

 

Edited November 17, 2023 by Bbqjoe

[Richtee]

 

 

…and seriously, is there anything better than echo?

 

 

There is, but you’d have to be nekkid and have a partner.

[Guest]

There is, but you’d have to be nekkid and have a partner.

I am, and I do, but this isn’t the right forum for what’s going on in the background darkness of my videos!

Edited November 20, 2023 by Bbqjoe

[Guest]

 

 

Straw was once tried as a black powder ingredient, but it's use was discontinued because it was too sensitive and may go off in bulk in transit.

This is not the first time you’ve stated this.

I keep searching on the net and I can’t find one entry anywhere that says anything about this.

Have you got some documentation you can post?

[cmjlab]

I think it was referred to as brown powder or something similar, or maybe brown powder was cocoa charcoal. I believe it was not used because it was more explosive for some reason (maybe it wasn't cooked all the way, leaving volatiles in the product, and was too much power to be used as an artillery propellant). I know I've read about straw charcoal somewhere, I'll see if I can dig it up - it may have been in some old military book about B.P. evolution/history Edited November 20, 2023 by cmjlab

[cmjlab]

One example:

 

"... wood, but later other soft woods were also used. In England, dogwood was extensively used, especially for small grain powders, and for larger grain powders, alder and willow wood were used, with straw charcoal being used for brown powders used in heavy ordnance;..."

 

http://firearmshistory.blogspot.com/2016/06/historical-manufacture-of-charcoal.html

[Arthur]

 

This is not the first time you’ve stated this.

I keep searching on the net and I can’t find one entry anywhere that says anything about this.

Have you got some documentation you can post?

 

COPAE (Davis) p42 line 8

[Guest]

 

COPAE (Davis) p42 line 8

 

I believe you’re referring to a book by John a Conkling which I don’t own or haven’t read.

The Internet archive second edition doesn’t match up but I trust that your citation is correct anyways.

Unfortunately, I just don’t have the time or patience to try and digest that much knowledge, 50 years ago I might have.

But just for the hell of it, I might make a small batch of straw just to see.

 

On the same note, I do have access to shit tons of tumbleweeds.

Edited November 21, 2023 by Bbqjoe

[Guest]

 

 

One example:

"... wood, but later other soft woods were also used. In England, dogwood was extensively used, especially for small grain powders, and for larger grain powders, alder and willow wood were used, with straw charcoal being used for brown powders used in heavy ordnance;..."

http://firearmshistory.blogspot.com/2016/06/historical-manufacture-of-charcoal.html

Thank you. Great read!

[Arthur]

COPAE - Chemistry of Powder and Explosives by Tenney L Davis. Written at the start of the US's involvement in the Second World War as a primer for all the chemists who would need to work in explosives production without prior training in the subject. Still available as a printed book ISBN 10: 6201284524ISBN 13: 9786201284524

Likely also available as a pirate PDF online.

[Richtee]

COPAE - Chemistry of Powder and Explosives by Tenney L Davis. Written at the start of the US's involvement in the Second World War as a primer for all the chemists who would need to work in explosives production without prior training in the subject. Still available as a printed book ISBN 10: 6201284524ISBN 13: 9786201284524

Likely also available as a pirate PDF online.

Hey Joe, I have this PDF if yer innerested.