Pirotecnia Posted March 1, 2012 Posted March 1, 2012 (edited) Some pictures about the Charcoal i made today for Black Powder! Hope you enjoy! Edited March 1, 2012 by Pirotecnia
dan999ification Posted March 1, 2012 Posted March 1, 2012 lots of ash, did you skin the wood first? dan.
NightHawkInLight Posted March 1, 2012 Posted March 1, 2012 There are too many holes in your can. It's letting in air and allowing some of the charcoal to burn, hence the ash. The one in the center would do fine all on its own without the hundred others.
Pirotecnia Posted March 1, 2012 Author Posted March 1, 2012 lots of ash, did you skin the wood first? dan. No, i cook the wood with its skin.
dan999ification Posted March 1, 2012 Posted March 1, 2012 you really need to skin it to get the best bp charcoal, te bark can shrink and become tough i think it slows the burn down , nice light porous wood is what you want, that and the ash i would save it for stars or prime.not to say you cant make bp with it but charcoal with a higher than normal ash content is known to make poorer bp than chrcoal with no ash. dan.
Pirotecnia Posted March 1, 2012 Author Posted March 1, 2012 you really need to skin it to get the best bp charcoal, te bark can shrink and become tough i think it slows the burn down , nice light porous wood is what you want, that and the ash i would save it for stars or prime.not to say you cant make bp with it but charcoal with a higher than normal ash content is known to make poorer bp than chrcoal with no ash. dan. Thanks Dan
DanielC Posted March 2, 2012 Posted March 2, 2012 you really need to skin it to get the best bp charcoal, te bark can shrink and become tough i think it slows the burn down , nice light porous wood is what you want, that and the ash i would save it for stars or prime.not to say you cant make bp with it but charcoal with a higher than normal ash content is known to make poorer bp than chrcoal with no ash. dan. It slows it down a lot. My first willow coal I left the bark/skin on and it didn't cook all the way on the outside almost like it was insulating it or something. It still ground up fine though. I made a batch of powder from it and it was slower than my western red cedar coal.
FrankRizzo Posted March 3, 2012 Posted March 3, 2012 The bark also contains minerals/grit, which don't burn, and can be a safety issue while ball milling.
MikeB Posted March 3, 2012 Posted March 3, 2012 The bark also contains minerals/grit, which don't burn, and can be a safety issue while ball milling. I will second this last comment. The bark does nothing to improve the charcoal and in fact contaminates it. Use a hatchet or draw knife to remove it.
warthog Posted March 3, 2012 Posted March 3, 2012 There are too many holes in your can. It's letting in air and allowing some of the charcoal to burn, hence the ash. The one in the center would do fine all on its own without the hundred others. I'd have to agre with this one too. Skin off the bark for sure but you are going to have more ash than usual since you have so many holes in the top. Air (which has O2) gets in to the heated wood and this makes ash. I would guess that even after you remove the bark you will still find yourself with ashy charcoal all the time.
Arthur Posted March 3, 2012 Posted March 3, 2012 If you have high ash charcoal run it through a mill til it's mostly 20 - 40 mesh and junk everything that passes 100mesh -the ash is finer and mills easier so if you bin the fines it's mostly ash that's is going. Obviously if you mill it too much a lot of charcoal will go too! The original method in the UK was to take debarked, new growth willow the size of a man's finger to a man's wrist. The bigger stuff needs splitting to finger size. I have a supply of split log willow charcoal in the UK and it's not as fast as small stick willow charcoal.
marks265 Posted March 4, 2012 Posted March 4, 2012 I'd just wipe off the ashes and use it. I also look for willow branches that are dead and laying on the ground because it debarks itself after time. If it has bark on it I don't touch it unless it comes off easily. The bark will do more harm than trace amounts of ash after wiping the ash away. I do agree that less holes in the top is key but you also want to make it air tight after removing it from the fire. I turn my drum upside down is loose dirt or sand to keep the air out while cooling. Other than the bark thing and too many holes you did real good because you still have usable charcoal. Mark
mikeee Posted March 4, 2012 Posted March 4, 2012 Has anyone tried using cork to make charcoal for black powder use. Soft woods are the best choise for making charcoal for black powder.Can't get much softer that cork?
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