21 replies to this topic

[Vic]

Any body making charcoal at the moment? I sat out side the other night with a few beers,

it was lovely just sitting there, looking at the fire and listening to the gentle roaring from the gas flame coming from my old saucepan retort.

[pyrotrev]

Nice

[crystal palace fireworks]

Sounds bliss to me

[seymour]

I like to have a paint tin of wood cooking in the fire at home at much as possible. While a paint tin of a size that fits in the domestic fire only has enough volume to make a few hundred grams, doing it daily adds up! I now estimate that I've got charcoal for a few hundred kilos of BP

What wood are you cooking up there Vic?

[MDH]

Yes. I'm using shore pine, which has proven to actually be an extremely reactive and superior quality charcoal.

[Vic]

What wood are you cooking up there Vic?

Nothing special just spruce and willow, I have already made apple that I have found is good for spark producing effects.

Edited by Vic, 24 September 2011 - 09:46 AM.

[helix]

I've been using western red cedar shingles recently and have been using that as a charcoal source.

[megabusa]

Excellent Vic !

I love doing that on a summer evening - cooking charcoal, drinking beer & talking rubbish !!!

Apple for good sparks ? That's interesting.

Cheers,

Phil.

[MDH]

Madrona also makes good sparks.

I made something called the "Charcoal Thread" a long time ago before in hopes we could have a discussion solely about charcoal since it's something that is actually, in my own opinion, vastly more complicated than most pages and guides on black powder make it look, but that topic sank.

Some charcoals need to be overoxidized, such as ones containing lots of fats and oils, some should probably be underoxidized as they have more inorganic compounds in them naturally. I think it's worth its own discussion.

For instance, the shore pine I'm using right now, I thought at first was a bad charcoal when I tried making some 74:14:12. It bubbled and burned poorly. By that point most people would give up on it, but I started "messing around " - eventually I switched the ratios to something along the lines of 68:21:11 and with just a pile of greenmix it burned with a ferocious flash, leaving little residue on the practically unburnt piece of paper it was on.

[Vic]

Madrona also makes good sparks.I made something called the "Charcoal Thread" a long time ago before in hopes we could have a discussion solely about charcoal since it's something that is actually, in my own opinion, vastly more complicated than most pages and guides on black powder make it look, but that topic sank.Some charcoals need to be overoxidized, such as ones containing lots of fats and oils, some should probably be underoxidized as they have more inorganic compounds in them naturally. I think it's worth its own discussion.For instance, the shore pine I'm using right now, I thought at first was a bad charcoal when I tried making some 74:14:12. It bubbled and burned poorly. By that point most people would give up on it, but I started "messing around " - eventually I switched the ratios to something along the lines of 68:21:11 and with just a pile of greenmix it burned with a ferocious flash, leaving little residue on the practically unburnt piece of paper it was on.

I could not agree more, most would say charcoal is charcoal and make do with whatever they have and if it works why change it.

But charcoals and the making of is a vast subject with many subtleties and as you point out some need to be over oxidized and vice versa for some others, though I have not researched this myself.
And when you add in the binders for say a charcoal streamer star the vast difference between Dextrin and SGRS and how they burn is considerable.

I did think at one time, that we could have a forum project were we could all test different charcoals and pool our results, but how we could go about that with all the variables I do not know.
Maybe someone else has some ideas?

Edited by Vic, 26 September 2011 - 09:06 PM.

[Karl]

Was making up some Willow last night, nothing better on a cool autumn evening.

[Night Owl]

So was I lol

Was making up some Willow last night, nothing better on a cool autumn evening.

[megabusa]

I've got a load of pine cones I made into charcoal a while ago. Not used them yet but I'm going to try them in Slow Gold this week.

[Night Owl]

How long from picking them from the ground can they be made into charcoal?

I've got a load of pine cones I made into charcoal a while ago. Not used them yet but I'm going to try them in Slow Gold this week.

[starseeker]

I've got a load of pine cones I made into charcoal a while ago. Not used them yet but I'm going to try them in Slow Gold this week.

I would be interested to hear how cone charcoal performs.