9 replies to this topic

[fruitfulsteve]

Has anyone ever seen coal in a formula ? i was looking at some powdered coal the other day and thought it might be good in gold glitter/ slow gold formulas.

[whoof]

I have played around with powdered coke with limited sucess, there are a few impurities i think.

[fruitfulsteve]

Any particular problems noted ? i suspect ignition would be difficult, as would obtaining a consistent supply. Maybe sulphur contamination could also be a issue in chlorate comps.

[Mortartube]

Anthracite used to be used in smoke comps.

[digger]

Anthracite used to be used in smoke comps.

Interesting, I thought it was anthracene that used to be used

[Arthur Brown]

Most times it's called coal but really it's charcoal that the formulation needs. Yes I have a vague memory of a formula with anthracite but which one....

Just remember that old formulae were sometimes badly written and some of that deliberately!

[whoof]

Any particular problems noted ? i suspect ignition would be difficult, as would obtaining a consistent supply. Maybe sulphur contamination could also be a issue in chlorate comps.

Never tried chlorate.
Required a lot of grinding.
By BP was generally poor anyway but the coke was very slow and sputtered.
Did not have a ball mill then though so it may be improvable.
I suspect that coke does not have the microporous structure of proper charcoal.
Also smelled rather different to BP when burnt.

[fruitfulsteve]

I'm not suggesting it could be a replacement for charcoal in BP, but could perhaps be used instead of the course charcoal in slow golds and such like.

[whoof]

Possibly, i have not tried it.
I believe that the best anthracite is american.
The welsh stuff is somewhat impure.
coal is awful , full of tar.

[fruitfulsteve]

Well history is usually a good guide, coal been around a while and i'm sure if it any pyro uses they would have been well documented by now.
Still i might just save a couple of jars for future experimentation.