Black powder charcoal question

[Blackarrow911]

I make my own black powder, mainly out of willow, but it’s getting harder to acquire.   So I’ve read a whole lot about the wood for making charcoal.  And I have questions about wood I have yet to see tested or mentioned anywhere.   Has anyone tried…

tallow (Chinese tallow specifically)- fast growing, but have not seen anyone who has mentioned it.  It’s invasive here, so it everywhere   

 Bay- another fast growing swamp wood, might be too soft, but might be worth a try.

Crepe Myrtle- I assume this is too hard, and not so porous… has anyone tried? 

mimosa- smaller trees are too soft, but has anyone tried a mature tree?  
 

If I get no responses, I’m going to make some test runs, but want to see if I’m wasting my time first.   Thanks for all input.  

[Arthur]

The old favourites in England were Willow and Red Alder -these were used at Royal Gunpowder Mills. Some people have also used ordinary  builder's lumber. Research the Latin names of these plants and work out if they have a common name in your location

Char it well and mill it well. 

Given some LIVE willow sticks and a damp location you could simply plant some willow trees -they grow if you simply push a live branch in the ground.

Plant a hundred and harvest some every year. The wood needs to be felled in winter then logged into moderate pieces and dried for two years.

Balsa wood is well regarded for fast powder, but maybe expensive in model and hobby shops -it's used by builders of model aircraft. IIRC it comes from Brazil. It's incredibly soft and light.

Edited Saturday at 11:03 PM by Arthur
Added

[cmjlab]

2 hours ago, Blackarrow911 said:

I make my own black powder, mainly out of willow, but it’s getting harder to acquire.   So I’ve read a whole lot about the wood for making charcoal.  And I have questions about wood I have yet to see tested or mentioned anywhere.   Has anyone tried…

tallow (Chinese tallow specifically)- fast growing, but have not seen anyone who has mentioned it.  It’s invasive here, so it everywhere   

 Bay- another fast growing swamp wood, might be too soft, but might be worth a try.

Crepe Myrtle- I assume this is too hard, and not so porous… has anyone tried? 

mimosa- smaller trees are too soft, but has anyone tried a mature tree?  
 

If I get no responses, I’m going to make some test runs, but want to see if I’m wasting my time first.   Thanks for all input.  

If the tree is plentiful and accessible to you, and it tends to be a light wood which grows fast, I'd give it a try even if someone else has already tried, you might surprise yourself with the results.  If it works, then you have a free supply, if not - no harm no foul.

I have not tried most of your listed woods as charcoal, but I have tried Mimosa here in Northern VA.  I had decent results, that were comparable to black willow for me.  I tried it for the reasons you listed (soft / fast growing), but not for the reasons I listed (accessible) - so now I stick with Red Cedar pet bedding (though I have doubts that it is real Eastern Red Cedar).

Do you have Yellow Poplar / Tulip Poplar?  I have a lot of those around me, and had pretty good B.P. from that tree too.  I only ask since Mimosa grows in abundance here and so does Tulip Poplar. 

Lastly, if you haven't considered red cedar pet bedding cooked via TLUD you should! It's fast, easy, and the charcoal is easily crushable with little effort.  Some people say it's one of the best for B.P. they've made - I say it's the easiest and most convenient charcoal that makes very usable b.p. consistently, but maybe not the fastest.  I've tried fresh cut Eastern Red Cedar (Juniper) b.p., and that was the fastest I've made.

Good luck!

[Blackarrow911]

So my reasons for the charcoal is for gunpowder used in civil war re-enactments.  It doesn’t have to be fast, doesn’t really have to be pressure consistent… really just needs to make a boom with 60 grains with some smoke.  Shouldn't have sparks or un-burnt powder at the muzzle… 

I have some fresh felled cedar from an old dead tree I am going to try,  but I haven’t yet tried the cedar pet bedding you mentioned.  That might be my next trial.  
 

mimosa grows everywhere here (Florida) so I might I’ve that a try as well.   
 

UPDATE: I did make charcoal from some Chinese tallow today.  Its density when filtered through a 30 screen is equivalent to pine shavings from pet bedding.  About 1/3 to 1/2 times more than that of the willow… Will finish a 1/2 lb this weekend to Monday, but I don’t have the highest hopes.  

[cmjlab]

I apologize if you mentioned it before and I missed it - I don't have any experience using b.p. for muzzleloader propelllant (so take what I said with a grain of salt).

If I were looking to do muzzleloading with homemade b.p., I might actually prefer the TP route, or some other suggestions from that guy on YouTube (I think his channel was allthingsblackpowder, or something like that, but he tests different charcoals and has a muzzle velocity measuring setup).  I can find the channel if you need it, but I imagine you already know about it.

I'd certainly enjoy hearing about how you're testing goes, since I don't have much experience with what you're doing - and ot is pretty interesting to me.

Chuck