Sparx88 Posted March 26, 2014 Posted March 26, 2014 Just wanted to ask if anyone has tried using non-standard woods like Alder, Cherry, Apple, Kieffer pear tree, orange tree, briar thorn bush, magnolia, mimosa hostilis, poplar, or birch etc? How wacky quacky has it been? I have all of these on my property except the alder and wanted to know if any of these have been tried.
TYRONEEZEKIEL Posted March 26, 2014 Posted March 26, 2014 Wow. I'd love to buy a lb of each of those charcoal from you of you are willing to cook em. It would be fun to see what they do.
Mumbles Posted March 26, 2014 Posted March 26, 2014 There is a book by Ian von Malitz that discusses several of those varieties. I believe Alder and poplar are known to be pretty hot. Birch, apple, and some of the others are probably fairly good too.
nater Posted March 26, 2014 Posted March 26, 2014 I use Alder and I would hardly consider it "exotic", a number of people use it. It does make hot powder, along the lines of Black Willow. I have Apple wood available after one of my Dad's Apple trees was struck by lightning and died. I have considered making some charcoal out of it, but it is so good to smoke meats with that I haven't used any of it for pyro.
pyrojig Posted March 26, 2014 Posted March 26, 2014 Pyrotechnica #17 has a nice article on the charcoals and their performance for bp and use in spark formation. Most all the fruit woods and the alder and woods of that sort are very good canidates for bp. It is really a matter of what is commonly available to you as a builder ( if your cooking your own) Pine seems to give the 2 for 1 deal, and in my books is a winner for availability .
bob Posted March 26, 2014 Posted March 26, 2014 I used to use Alder for my bp and I can assure you that it is fast, however I now use Poplar as I found it to be a little bit faster (particularly White Poplar) then Alder, and Poplar is easier for me to get in bulk. bob
Maserface Posted March 26, 2014 Posted March 26, 2014 every pyro should skim these at some point, http://www.wichitabuggywhip.com/fireworks/charcoal_tests.html http://www.skylighter.com/fireworks/how-to-make/high-powered-black-powder.asp It is really a matter of what is commonly available to you as a builder ( if your cooking your own) Couldnt agree with this more
MWJ Posted March 26, 2014 Posted March 26, 2014 I also have some Alder and poplar around me. I can just see it now when I'm on a forest fire, I'll be the firefighter with a fire pack full of different charcoals instead of water and a fire shelter. 1
Sparx88 Posted March 26, 2014 Author Posted March 26, 2014 Maserface, thats great info ty. MWJ, thats hilarious.
MWJ Posted March 26, 2014 Posted March 26, 2014 Is that test indicating that we should use Coated rice hulls for lift? every pyro should skim these at some point, http://www.wichitabuggywhip.com/fireworks/charcoal_tests.html http://www.skylighter.com/fireworks/how-to-make/high-powered-black-powder.asp Couldnt agree with this more
Mumbles Posted March 26, 2014 Posted March 26, 2014 I always forget about Pyrotechnica 17. It has an article by Rodger O'Neill, and is unfortunately one of the few I don't own. The results of the article are discussed somewhat in Ian's book. For the most part the results between the two sources, plus Danny's website, largely agree. Some fruit trees, plum specifically, are supposed to be very hot. Others are probably in the somewhat better than goex regime.
boule Posted March 26, 2014 Posted March 26, 2014 (edited) Just wanted to ask if anyone has tried using non-standard woods like Alder, .... OK, first - whether a charcoal is non-standard or not is completely dependent on the local conditions. Many European manufactures use alder charocoal for their commercial powders for example Pouderie Aubonne (Swiss) states they are using Buckthorn Alder, Wano in Germany is using "alder" without specifying which for their hunting black powder and the frogs (SNPE) use something else than willow as well.Generally speaking, most betulaceae family trees will produce a usable charcoal.As far as poplar goes, just fired two bottle rockets with that charcoal yesterday. Seems to work fine. Edited March 26, 2014 by boule
BurritoBandito Posted March 27, 2014 Posted March 27, 2014 @Sparx88: You could always just send me your mimosa hostillis root bark... I'll find a use for it .
hindsight Posted March 27, 2014 Posted March 27, 2014 BurritoBandito-- So you are an ethnobotanist, too! Or a practising ayahuascan shaman, perhaps? --hindsight
somecommiebastard Posted March 27, 2014 Posted March 27, 2014 Heh, I never knew that apple was considered an ok charcoal for BP and luckily enough there's a guy near my house who sells boxes of charcoal for hookah pipes and one of the woods he carries is apple and cherry.
Mumbles Posted March 27, 2014 Posted March 27, 2014 Pays to read some books I suppose. It should be noted that apple is quite variable, and is entirely dependent upon the specific variety used. Hope you have access to some of the good ones.
BurritoBandito Posted March 28, 2014 Posted March 28, 2014 @Hindsight: I'd say my avatar pretty much sums it up.
Sparx88 Posted March 29, 2014 Author Posted March 29, 2014 BB I was wondering what you wanted with that, and after looking up uses for that tree or it's root bark..I laughed. no sir no root tea for me. I got some white poplar cut and drying should have that batch done in a week or so.
Nessalco Posted March 29, 2014 Posted March 29, 2014 I've made charcoal from aspen and sumac. The aspen seemed about equivalent to willow, and the sumac was quite a bit hotter (baseball tests) Kevin O
Nessalco Posted March 29, 2014 Posted March 29, 2014 FWIW, these days I'm using mostly eastern red cedar, and southern yellow pine for spark effects KO
sora Posted March 29, 2014 Posted March 29, 2014 In India particularly in Eastern India we prefer wood from this treehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jujube Apart from that the following tree woods can be used too:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moringa_oleiferahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calotropis_giganteahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_oil_plant
Sparx88 Posted March 29, 2014 Author Posted March 29, 2014 Sora, that drumstick sour soup looks good, mmm now I'm hungry. Very nice of you too share that with us, I found those to be very interesting.
hindsight Posted March 30, 2014 Posted March 30, 2014 At the risk of stating the obvious, two of the plants mentioned in this thread bear a bit of caution. Species identification of sumac is important, since "poison sumac" can cause a severe contact allergic skin reaction and, if burned for charcoal, the inhaled smoke can result in lung injury. Castor beans are toxic if ingested, containing Ricin. Since Ricin is one of the most lethal biochemicals known, the mere mention of it attracts the attention of national security agents. 1
Bobosan Posted March 30, 2014 Posted March 30, 2014 ..... the mere mention of it attracts the attention of national security agents. The black helicopters will be there any minute now.
FlaMtnBkr Posted March 30, 2014 Posted March 30, 2014 (edited) I like ricin my chili. Wonder if I will see any helicopters? Edited March 30, 2014 by FlaMtnBkr
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