Best charcoal for blackpowder?

[Pyrostar]

Good news: My mother says that i can get my KNO3 back if i change my basic attitude.
Also, I will never ever !!! I´ll never create salutes anymore, just light-effects.

My friend says he just mix something together to make BP, just some dirt BBQ-Briquettes and some KNO3 and this does produce a pop unconfined
hehe, he is such a idiot

So, here is my question:
What is the best chacoal for blackpowder???
I am also interested in exotic charcoal´s such as chestnut or other´s.
I have heard that alder buckthorn should be the best charcoal, but I can´t find or "smell" it.

[flamekeeper]

You can try "Hemp coal" or "Balsa" but balsa is quite expensive here.
And I don't know if hemp is legal where you live.
I think all lightweight woods are good for fast and strong BP, but I'm not sure.


Greets
Ps.: Not sure if "Balsa" is the exact translation of the Dutch word.

[Pyrostar]

I can get hemp-seeds in fishing stores,
did anyone test the alder buckthorn coal???

I have tried willow and mill the BP for 5 hours and it didnt burn that fast.

I am very interested in other coals, i cant test the balsa, because it is very expensive here
(10g of wood!!! 6,90€)

what about chestnut, large leaf linden wood, poplar etc.

[mr.stijntje]

Willow should be doing well. Wat do you call slow?
I use Golden Flame BBQ charcoal, with 10 hours of milling. (Dry milled)
Dat is about the minimum.
5 hours is not much, and it also depends on your milling media. I'm using 2cm diameter glass balls. (20g each)

Try milling 10 hours or more. (Just turn it on in the evening and turn it off next morning.)
Then it'll be kinda quick, but still not quick enough for lift or break charges.

For that it should be made into pulverone.

[Pyrostar]

I dont think that my mother would let me turn the ball mill for 10h.
She would say it is too expensive and it is retarded to do that for blackpowder.

I might try the CIA-method.

[deadman]

I had a nice long post all ready and I lost it.
Here's the jist of what I said:

Willow is good enough.
How'd you make you're charcoal?
What kind of mill do you have?
Pulverone will slow down BP if a binder is used. Look into a BP die.


Here are the charcoal tests: http://www.creagan.net/fireworks/charcoal_tests.html

Sorry for the tone, just mad because I lost a nice long post and am in a hurry.

[Duvel]

Yeah willow is very fast, and for shooting mortars or other effect-charges you need to make it into pulverone just like Stijn said.
Try: make your chemicals as fine as posible, I prefer a ball mill for that, but with a mortar & pestle it will work too.
Mix them very well and add such an amount of water/alcohol it becomes a kinda dough, mix it very well.. !
Then let it dry for a short time, the KNO3 will recrystalize so it forms a white 'layer' around your composition.
Then stir it again very well, and let it dry a little further.
Then just make it into pulverone: push it through a mesh screen (you can just use a sieve bought by the supermarket or so) and let dry until all the water/alcohol is vaporized.

Questions?

[deadman]

Duvel, I believe you are using too much solvent if you are having the KNO3 recrystallizing out of the mixture. This is a big problem with stars and the process is called driving them in. Try using less water/alcohol mixture and compare them. Using 6-10 percent water and force it through a window screen helps spread the moisture evenly.

[Pyrostar]

For making charcoal i just take a coffeepot, put the willowwood in it and cook it for 30 minutes.
thge charcoal is very soft and make a "clicck" if you beat a stick of wood against the coal.

If I make BP with this charcoal, no residue is left( no ash).
there is just a dark trace on the stone from the burned BP

[chemicalbrother]

What about toilet paper charcoal?
I belive i 've heard it was even better than willow charcoal, could someone confirm that?

[Duvel]

It was just another way to do it, deadman
I do it just the ball mill method, then pulverone.

But, if you want to have a normal amount of C from toiletepaper, you have to use very very much toiletpaper I think I'll try it sometime.

[pudidotdk]

Has anyone ever tried BP with spruce?
I used our christmas tree and cooked a little charcoal. It was the first time I cooked charcoal, the result was awful. The outside of the lumps was overcooked, the inside not cooked enough.
Even though my BP made with horrible spruce performed better than my nice-cooked willow BP.
Hmm.

[Pretty green flames]

Spruce is good, i have used it for some time as my main charcoal for BP and it performed very well.