33 replies to this topic

[seymour]

I'm afraid I do not have any references to back this up, but I am very confident that this is what you want for fast, reliable, traditional black powder. It is pretty much what the Swiss do for the very good shooting powdeer they make.

- Young willow shoots up to 1.5" in diameter. I would guess that is three years of growth. The bark should still be green, not grey,

-The great bulk of the bark stripped and discarded.

-White willow (Salix alba) is one species known for being very good. However I suspect that the type of growth is more uimportant than the species in most cases.

You want the branches that grow from pollarded or coppiced trees, not ones that have grown freely, as the cutting back forces the tree to put energy in to producing new (soft and light) biomass, instead of reinforcing and expanding pre-existing branches.

Edited by seymour, 09 February 2010 - 04:51 PM.

[Well Combusted]

pardon me from chipping in (charcoal - wood - chips.......................little jokule there) Charcoal is usually made in a Clamp, ive had a couple of goes.

The charcoal is ready when a change in the colour of the smoke is detected. As the fire drives out the water the smoke is grey/white. When the charcoal is ready the smoke changes to a blue haze. At this point all holes are blocked up and the clamp is starved of air, and left to go out and cool down

[Arthur Brown]

Yes originally charcoal was made in a pile covered with turfs, which had to be replaced as they burned through, and the airflow controlled to give minimum combustion with best charcoaling.

However it's impossible to remove all the hard grains of cooked earth so the charcoal will always contain sharp particle which will sensitise any powder made from it.

Modern charcoal seems to be made in metal pans up to 3m across and the smoke just pollutes the atmosphere. The better way seems to be to put dry wood into a can on a fire with the fumes directed into the fire so that the volatiles are actually burned rather than left in the air.

[martyn]

I've just spent the weekend making charcoal on a small scale. I use a 12" metal le cruset type casserole pan (which gets wrecked) to cook the wood, and heat it in a kettle bar b q.
The pot seems to hold about a kilo or two of wood, which obviously varies with the density and moisture content, and yields about 200g of charcoal.
Each charge takes about an hour and a bit, and I have two on the go so that as one is cooling, another is cooking. I use scrap wood from a neighbours extension to fuel the bbq.
I have a 4mm hole drilled in the lid of the pot and I seal the rim with mud and G clamp it on, firstly it smokes from the hole, and this early smoke does not burn, then the gases presumably change and the vent burns with a 10" jet of roaring flame, as Arthur said, it would be better if this were redirected somehow to heat the pot further. It is probably not worth doing to save money, but it is interesting to do and if you want a specific type of charcoal it is not too much hassle to recharge and change the pots if you are at home and pottering about in the garden anyway. I ended up with about 2 Kg of charcoal. I used willow (30 - 40 mm diameter, debarked), Ella's bed (Ikea ? pine), and an unknow exotic hardwood. The willow made the fastest BP, closely followed by Ella's bed, with the exotic wood trailing way behind, but I hope to test it for 'sparkyness' later.
I find it enjoyable and 2 Kg lasts me ages anyway. Next time I will combine it with casting some new lead balls to utilise the roaring jet of exhaust gas.
Martyn

[Well Combusted]

Yes originally charcoal was made in a pile covered with turfs, which had to be replaced as they burned through, and the airflow controlled to give minimum combustion with best charcoaling.

However it's impossible to remove all the hard grains of cooked earth so the charcoal will always contain sharp particle which will sensitise any powder made from it.

Modern charcoal seems to be made in metal pans up to 3m across and the smoke just pollutes the atmosphere. The better way seems to be to put dry wood into a can on a fire with the fumes directed into the fire so that the volatiles are actually burned rather than left in the air.

The way ive been shown is:

1) interlaced logs make a pile with a hole down the middle, vertical stack logs round outside, leave vent holes at bottom
2) cover with damp hay
3) pile soil over
4) drop burning embers down hole
5) fill hole with logs dropped in vertically
6)??????
7) Profit!

Interesting also is the use of the word 'clamp'. I have an allotment as well, being and old fart, and the best way to store potatoes is exactly the same way, an earth covered pile interlaced with hay, and also called a clamp.

If it not worth knowing, its not worth knowing well.

Edited by Well Combusted, 18 March 2010 - 10:21 AM.

[pyrotechnist]

Yes originally charcoal was made in a pile covered with turfs, which had to be replaced as they burned through, and the airflow controlled to give minimum combustion with best charcoaling.

However it's impossible to remove all the hard grains of cooked earth so the charcoal will always contain sharp particle which will sensitise any powder made from it.

Modern charcoal seems to be made in metal pans up to 3m across and the smoke just pollutes the atmosphere. The better way seems to be to put dry wood into a can on a fire with the fumes directed into the fire so that the volatiles are actually burned rather than left in the air.

The smoke from such a device will not make any difference to the atmosphere nor pollute it. Volcanoes create tons more poisonous gas and volatiles and yet make no difference to our atmosphere in the long hall. I burn the smoke personally but dont really care how much smoke I send into the sky as I know it will just break apart or get wrapped in moisture. The moral of the story is why are people so fussed about fireworks causing pollution and the manufacturing thereof? Fireworks cause little to hardly any sort of pollution and never believe any governmental body that may say so as they are in it for the money.

Edited by pyrotechnist, 18 March 2010 - 03:01 PM.

[Well Combusted]

Volcanoes create tons more poisonous gas and volatiles and yet make no difference to our atmosphere in the long hall.

Umm not wanting to rain on your parade, it was the CO2 from volcanic eruptions at the end of the Pre-Cambrian that broke the stranglehold of Snowball Earth and allowed darwinian evolution to proceed beyond the amoeba stage. There was also the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, which was a massive warming of the planet in 20k years, probably caused by volcanic activity degassing 15Gt CO2 into the atmosphere and causing the global temperature to rise for 20 million years.

Also, what about the Eruptions of Pinatuba (1993) , Tambora (1815) , Krakatoa (1883, Katmai (1921) and the Laki Fissure systems? (1783) All of them destroyed the summers for years afterwards and affected the climate.

The Laki eruptions produced about 14 cubic kilometers of basalt (thin, black, fluid lava) during more than eight months of activity. More importantly in terms of global climate, however, the Laki event also produced an ash cloud that may have reached up into the stratosphere. This cloud caused a dense haze across Europe that dimmed the sun, perhaps as far west as Siberia. In addition to ash, the eruptive cloud consisted primarily of vast quantities of sulphur dioxide (SO₂), hydrogen chloride (HCl), and hydrogen fluoride gases (HF).

The gases combined with water in the atmosphere to produce acid rain, destroying crops and killing livestock. The effects, of course, were most severe in Iceland; ultimately, more than 75 percent of Icelands livestock and 25 percent of its human population died from famine or the toxic impact of the Laki eruption clouds. Consequences were also felt far beyond Iceland. Temperature data from the U.S. indicate that record lows occurred during the winter of 1783-1784. In fact, the temperature decreased about one degree Celsius in the Northern Hemisphere overall. That may not sound like much, but it had enormous effects in terms of food supplies and the survival of people across the Northern Hemisphere. For comparison, the global temperature of the most recent Ice Age was only about five degrees C below the current average.

Sorry to disagree, but the climate of the planet is ultimately driven by only volcanoes and ocean currents, and all the rest just follows.

Edited by Well Combusted, 18 March 2010 - 06:25 PM.

[Arthur Brown]

Considering only the local atmosphere! If you cook wet wood and let the steam and organics pervade your house and your neighbours house then you WILL upset the neighbours and have local heating of tempers and cooling of neighbourly relationships. Upset neighbours id BAD news in this hobby group!

If you drill the retort vent in the bottom of the can then the vapours go into the hot zone of the fire and are burned to less smelly things.

[pyrotechnist]

That is true about volcanoes but I do not take any of the stuff we are being told today that is happening that we are causing and in fact many scientists have said it is un-true and only a stage our climate goes through every so often. I see global warming as a new means of taxation and levying of money. People now also believe fireworks are causing a big impact on the climate which is fuelling the anti-firework idiots. (not aimed at you Authur just idiotic low life's who want to destroy anything that is good)

[Well Combusted]

That is true about volcanoes but I do not take any of the stuff we are being told today that is happening that we are causing and in fact many scientists have said it is un-true and only a stage our climate goes through every so often. I see global warming as a new means of taxation and levying of money. People now also believe fireworks are causing a big impact on the climate which is fuelling the anti-firework idiots. (not aimed at you Authur just idiotic low life's who want to destroy anything that is good)

I doubt anyone could put up enough fireworks to make a significant difference to anyones climate. It MIGHT be possible to seed rain over a large city, but thats about it.

I am starting to have serious doubts about global warming as well, ever since it emerged that a) Anglia University was fiddling the data, b )theres been no significant rise in global temperatures for 10 years, and c) The Met Office, who cant even get nexts week's weather right with its computer modelling, uses the same faulty computer models and the same faulty data from University of East Anglia to predict global warming patterns. They said last summer was going to be a barbecue summer, and the winter was going to be mild!! Then they use the same model to tell us were all going to be basking in 60C in the UK and under 200 foot of water in 50 years time !!! I dont think so.........

Edited by Well Combusted, 18 March 2010 - 11:22 PM.

[pyrotechnist]

Exactly and well said our government are just in it for the money and want to frighten people into paying more.

[Arthur Brown]

Whatever the politics of gloom and doom, considering the local atmosphere only man does have an effect. Look at pictures of the Potteries (Stoke on Trent etc) These became dark places when the kilns were fired with black coal smoke all pervading.
With the advent of the clean air acts all this changed and people are healthier.

Whether "global warming" is part of the earth's natural cycle or due to man's actions or what proportion of each is certainly not proven. By the fossils present The Charnwood area or Leicestershire was once under a tropical sea.

[pyrotechnist]

We also used to be a tropical island and also had an ice age though these where all because of Britain moving along the earth's crust until we ended up here for now under a lovely rainy patch. I do believe we should stop pumping crap into the atmosphere but no affects are present even though gov are trying to say they are.

BTW if the vent whole of a retort is drilled in the bottom of a tin so that it sits on the fire and not above wont that allow fire to penetrate the tin causing it to oxidise more readily?

[seymour]

BTW if the vent whole of a retort is drilled in the bottom of a tin so that it sits on the fire and not above wont that allow fire to penetrate the tin causing it to oxidise more readily?

Unless you get a bit too exited and use an axe to make the hole it is not going to be an issue at all.

Remember that the wood will be loosing all the moisture content, as well as almost all of the oxygen and hydrogen in the celluloce and other carbohydrates (which forms water), as well as all the tars and other volatiles. There is a significant volume of gas escaping out of this hole. Air is not going to go from the low pressure outside the drum to the higher pressure inside of it.

Besides, even if it did, it would not matter what way the hole faced?

[Arthur Brown]

My thoughts! I had a tin with holes in the lid, it cooked out stinky smoke. I had another tin made a hole in the bottom and it didn't blow out stinky smoke. As I have to live with my neighbours I know which I prefer.