sulphurless bp

[kenT]

I have been unable to find sulphur in my area that is pure enough for bp. So i tried an experiment without it.

 

It was mixed with the standard ratios but the sulphur was replaced by xylitol.

It was wet milled for a couple of hrs and then dried for several days.

After it was dry i crushed it into fine powder and added about 10% atomized aluminum powder.

It was mixed thoroughly and tested.

 

It burned very nicely with a beautiful bright pink flame and a good dose of smoke.

 

Sorry no vids

 

The charcoal was just your basic royal oak brand.(ground in a meat grinder)

 

I will experiment further and post my results.

[tentacles]

Your local hardware stores don't carry garden sulfur? It's usually 8-10% clay but that doesn't affect the BP noticeably, especially when using slow charcoal to begin with.

[Miech]

You can purify that stuff by dumping it in a bowl with water. The clay will sink, while the sulfur wil float. I know of some people doing that and having the sulfur sink and the clay getting dissolved. In this case, just decant the water and repeat the process several times.

[psyco_1322]

Tentacles, I can't find local OTC sulfur either, sucks, although I wouldn't use it for much more than smoke bombs.

 

Anyways....kenT,

 

Royal Oak Charcoal SUCKS FOR BP ! ! ! and it also fails at producing charcoal tails. Any streamer stars will have a faint, barely visible, short lived charcoal tail. Any bp made from it for lift is not good for ball shells. It simple has no umph! Its good for making a slower lift for canister shells, as they usually fit rather snug in the gun. If it isn't used for these purposes, it should suite fine.

[Swede]

Is Royal Oak a pressed briquette form of charcoal? If so, I haven't heard of a single brand of briquette that is worth a crap for BP. Cowboy brand charcoal DOES work because it's real, unprocessed charcoal, and makes a useful, medium speed BP that can be used for just about anything.

[psyco_1322]

Nope, Royal Oak is just cooked chunks of Oak wood. I bought mine in a 10lb bag at walmart. It also takes about 4 times as long to airfloat as pine.

[Richtee]

Is Royal Oak a pressed briquette form of charcoal? If so, I haven't heard of a single brand of briquette that is worth a crap for BP. Cowboy brand charcoal DOES work because it's real, unprocessed charcoal, and makes a useful, medium speed BP that can be used for just about anything.

 

Actually Royal Oak DOES make a brick as well..but it's the lump <looks like charred wood> that you want to use.

[FrankRizzo]

Nope, Royal Oak is just cooked chunks of Oak wood. I bought mine in a 10lb bag at walmart. It also takes about 4 times as long to airfloat as pine.

 

 

That's unfortunate. Did you get the red bag or the green one? Made in the USA? I picked-up a few bags (US made) on seasonal clearance at my local hardware store a few months ago. It milled to airfloat quite readily, and worked well in the sugar/charcoal fireballs that Tentacles and I were messing with a while back.

[tentacles]

Yeah, Royal oak is a crapshoot - there are at least 4 different places the red bag stuff is made, and 2 of those places make about the worst charcoal that nakedwhiz has ever tested..

 

The brazilian and USA stuff are rated as average/above average, and the argentinian and paraguay were just about useless. Low burn times, and the brazilian stuff also left a lot of ash.

 

psyco: I think you must have gotten a bag of the brazilian stuff, those south american hardwoods are rock hard, even as charcoal. I noticed longer milling times with that SA stuff I've got. It's like milling stones.

[psyco_1322]

Ya, it was a red bag, they didn't have any green ones. I would think Oak is Oak, but I guess if it comes from different parts of the world than that explains it. I'll look on my bag and see if it says were it was made.

 

In my shit as ball mill, pine is airfloat in about 30 minutes-ish, that oak takes about 3-4 hours !!!

[tentacles]

Unfortunately, despite the name, royal oak isn't just oak... "Only 100% wood is used. Made from oak, hickory, maple and other hardwoods."

 

That "other hardwoods" means the stuff from south america is likely lumber scraps mixed with whatever they could get their hands on cheap.

[psyco_1322]

I found several pieces that still had bark on it. I also found pieces of bark that were not even cooked. There was also one piece that appeared to be a scrap of cutting, it had saw blade marks on it. Very dense and heavy, and hard as a rock. Could probably ram some rockets with it

[BPinthemorning]

The briquettes don't work because they are bound with clay to give them shape and to slow the burn rate. They intentionally slow the burn rate! Consequently, burn rate from briquette BP is horrible. Just wanted to explain why it sucks.

[Miech]

I use 'other hardwoods' from BBQ charcoal to get a tail on rockets. I just pass it through a meat grinder, usually wetted to keep the dust down and sieve it with a 40 mesh screen. Approximately 70% passes through the screen. The lighter wood works well in streamer effects, and for making slower meal for rockets and such.

[hondo]

you can make your own charcoal, go to a paint store or lowes, home depot get a metal paint can, they sell them empty

drill a 1/4 inch hole in the top( lid) and find a bolt that will fit, fill the paint can up with the wood of your choise, dried of course, I think spruce works well, maple, willow if you can get it now build a fire in a charcoal grill I have a chimminea and put the can inside of it when its good and hot, and put the paint can on the fire make sure the lid is on, watch the can and eventually smoke will start pouring out the hole, when the smoke stops take the can out of the fire stick the bolt in the hole and let it cool down for a couple of hours and open the can and you have your own charcoal, I run mine thru an old food processor or blender, then into the ball mill.

[Richtee]

you can make your own charcoal

Try a batch of wadded up newspaper or better.. the thin packing paper. Some hot stuff :{)

Edited January 29, 2009 by Richtee