People should know that they shouldn't open the top right away after cooking their char. It's hard not to take a peek but if you do it will start to burn and turn into ash. Wait at least 20minutes for it to cool.
@@CIA_AlienI use an old hand cranked meat grinder - cheap to pick up used, and you'll get the charcoal down to somewhere inbetween airfloat and granulated sugar in no time at all. Do the grinding outside, though, quite a dusty process.
@@skippymctwist7 Excellent method in the event that there is no power. That's a 1st one on me! I use an old food processor called 'Ninja' for my powders like charcoal, aluminum, hexamine and many more. Saves tons of time! My motive is total self-sufficiency in the event that the internet takes a sh1t and munitions are gone. You should try doing it from the garage if you have a window. I improvise using an old portable fan and it sucks anything I don't want to coat my lungs outside. If you saw one part of my garage, you would think I am running a meth lab. Have a bunch of distillation apparatuses, scales and much more. Thanks for responding brother. Stuff goes south, keep your chin in the mud.
I know I practice and Incorporate his lessons into my learning curve! my curve goes round to a circle or dead end sometimes? shhh. now i may be roasting very "carefully" in a Class I Div I inert environment some 20K PSI pucks and corned bp above suphur's and knO3's melting temp just to see if it's better? than before.
Have you read Like Fire and Powder by Brett Gibbons? It’s about the historic production of gun powder at the Waltham Abbey gunpowder mills. Goes into detail about the manufacturing processes they used. Gets fairly specific on the ingredients they used. There’s a whole chapter on charcoal. Really short but interesting read.
I've been binge watching your channel for the last several days. I started black powder activities during the covid crap in 2020, but life got in the way. So now I'm back to my adventure to turn my money into smoke and noise. I'm learning from your videos. Thank you for your work. Subscribed.
I’ve been making small batches of charcoal for drawing or to make black grain filler for decades. You can make small test batches with an Altoid mint can. In winter, I put it in the wood stove and remove it when it stops venting.
During the late 1880's they started making brown powder for Naval cannons. They would make charcoal but stop before it turned black. Supposedly they also eliminated most of the Sulphur. Supposedly it was slower burning which gave higher velocities in longer barrels. Without the Sulphur it was harder to ignite but that was offset a little bit by brown charcoal being a little easier to ignite since it had more volatiles left in it. I'd love to see you experiment with some. Maybe even do a series where you experiment with making charcoal anywhere from still brown to ultra cooked and see what differences you get.
Good one Jake, I have the sherwin williams model pyrolyzer myself. For sure you want to get the bark off as usually there is a lot of sandy grit that accumulates there as well as its typically the most sapiest part.
What if you made charcoal out of some weird stuff like particle board, balsa wood, twigs from trimming the hedges, a book, toilet paper, cardboard, puzzle pieces, cereal boxes, oh you get the idea.
I think you'd find that the glue and binders in processed wood products would not be good for the result. Th's why it's best to de-bark the wood...there's stuff in the bark that doesn't help. You are after the purest carbon you can get....
@@slcgrgcrgcaneafgugiesclawhfg I tried it just to see if it would work, and it does. It seems to burn as fast as the BP that I have made using Cedar, Grapevine, and pine. And I can't tell that it's any dirtier than the other. Cardboard and paper is made from fast growing wood. I ran across a video a while back where a fellow was using straw to make charcoal , and it got me to thinking. I didn't have any straw but I did have a bunch of cardboard and paper. So I tried it and it worked.
I’ve even made charcoal by purchasing a grape vine wreath at hobby lobby. Breaking it up, throwing in the retort (can with hole) and cooking it. Works pretty well!!
Yes it was very helpful thank you so much. I've got all kind of Grapevine around here and in my vicinity actually all over the county so I'm going to give that a try and see how it works. Thanks again for the video it certainly was helpful. Keep ye powder dry!
I've used a metal paint can alot of times for charcoal, but I would start with the hole down and after the steam boils out, it becomes a flamable gas (cars, generators can run on it) and so provides a lot of it's own fuel and when that flaming slows, then I would flip it over so could tell better when it is close to done. Then I put a penny over the hole so no oxygen can get into the charcoal and form ash, until it's cool. Some times when when charcoaling sawdust and shavings, I would put a can or jar in the center because that part would sometimes not get done and that took care of that.
Making the charcoal is the hardest part. I like to ball mill it into powder by itself first as it is less likely to explode in the mill. I also separately mill the KNO3. The Sulphur is usually already a fine powder. Milling it aa together takes a bit less time if everything is fine dust.
I have been making charcoal for along time and I have have found that using a large old dutch oven works really well. I use the charcoal for forging mostly and hard wood seems to be the best for that. I wonder if a small cast iron dutchy would work well for making finer softwood charcoal like you use in black powder. I have learned alot from your channel's videos and will try making my own powder for my rifles sometime. Thanks for the info.
I really want to say thank you. Before i saw any of your videos my blackpowder was not very good. Worse then goex. But what i have learned threw you. My powder its so much better.
Some of the guys that I know that make their own also made basically a thermocouple controlled Kiln. They can hold temp between 530 and 550 all day and do about a 2 pound batch at a time. Another easy to find item that works good for powder is Sumac (non poisonous) and Heavenly Tree; although heavenly tree can make some VERY light powder and pretty much requires pucking.
Jake, love your videos! I would like to see more info on the compressing or pucking, ie: at what pressure do you compress to? How long do you leave it under pressure, how soon do you remove the pucks from the die? Thanks in advance and keep up the good work! Derrell
Very similar to making biochar. I was told to take it to 800o for three hours when making a 55gal drum full inside of 400 gal oil tank.We used very dry wood or chicken manure. I knew the gasses were volatile so tried it next time with a copper tune running from the barrel . Lit it and it burned the wood gas for over an hour.
Thanks for getting back to me. I am going to try Catty Nine Tail stalks/Reeds and char them down not the tops just the stalk because they kinda have the same characteristics as willow or grape vine. I will let you know how it works out.
I think you need a blend of charcoals hard woods retain a higher tannin resin content while the soft woods give a more pure carbon, but as you have found fouling issue. Tannins will also slow the burn, but should give a better polish. Have you tried tumbling with coal (anthracite) instead of graphite? Other things to try is a mix that has more external sulfur, like applied in the polishing tumble.. no sulfur polished with a sulfur mix?
I make mine on the grill using the cast iron pan heater. It’s also propane fueled. I use a large soup can with the lid cut off most of the way. Willow is what I have easy access too.
@@Everythingblackpowder You're very welcome! There seems to be a supreme shortage of gratitude, thankfulness, and empathy these days. What does it hurt to disperse some of this goodness? Pride I guess, hurts pride.
One of the cool things about this is grabbing a little bit of the charcoal for your flint and steel fire kit and lighting your campfire by putting a small piece of charcoal in your unloaded flintlock pan and tossing a spark on it to light the tinder that lights the campfire you use to roast your dinner on after a day in the field.
I have a question about sieving the powder after you puck it and let it dry. What sieve should I use to get 2F and 3F I have 10, 20, 30, and 40 mesh sieve's. I would hate to buy a pound just to check the size of the granules. Thanks in advance
I use one of those giant Christmas cookie tins. I used northern catalpa wood, which is a fast growing, soft deciduous tree. I cook it in my outdoor fire pit. I haven't made any powder with it yet and will report back when I do. I've never heard of that species being used but it seems to fit the bill in terms of properties. I had a large branch of it that I trimmed last winter and figured I'd give it a try. I've got white pine, eastern red cedar and buckthorn in the area but the catalpa tree is actually on my property.
@@Everythingblackpowder So I've heard. They're both very easy to come by here. After I do a run with the catalpa and see if its any good ill likely move on to those, or buckthorn which is very invasive around here.
Hi, this is a great video and I appreciate all the info. Would Muscadine (mountain grape) vine work. I have never made my own powder but I'm really thinking of trying it.
We have tons of Alder here in WA but I'm wondering if Black Locust would be worth a try. It would be awesome to actually find a use for them crap thorny trees. They are a very dense tight grained wood.
I live in WA and wouldn't know an Alder tree if it hit me in the head, LOL. I have looked up a few references with pictures so I think I have an idea of what to look for now. I have a red cedar in my backyard so am going to try to make charcoal from some of the dead branches I cut from it. Someone also mentioned Black Cottonwood. Just a matter of being able to identify it in the wild.
I have never really compared, new to making my own, but I have made my charcoal with an electric smoker. Instead of the pellets from the store, I break up small bits of wood to smoke with. I have used wild cherry, muscadine(wild grape), and others, with good results as smoking wood. I have also used the charcoal afterwards for powder. Seems fine, although, like I said, I have nevger compared with other charcoals. Oh yeah, I know you already know, use green wood.
Have you tried cotton wood? If so how did it work? If you haven't, please do a video on cotton wood BP test.. I plan on starting making BP this coming summer just wondering on the cotton wood. Ty
You can get pretty decently figured wood and thus stock blanks from white ash, otherwise your better off using it for firewood. It burns great, but as the name implies, creates massive amounts of ash. I suspect that that characteristic would make it less than optimal for gunpowder charcoal.
@@kbjerke I hear some of the softer maple species make ok charcoal but have no first hand experience. I sure have burned a lot of it in my wood stove though.
I'm new to this thoroughly enjoyable channel and I have a question or two. Firstly, is there any merit to using saw dust of the desired wood type? i e. Intentionally cutting the wood for the purpose of generating and cooking the resulting chips/dust/shavings as they're already sort of "powderised". I'm thinking this might make the egress of tars, resins etc from the wood better or faster? Or secondly, would the resulting saw dust being cooked tend to mat down, clump together in the cooking tin and thereby negate the perceived better tar, resin egress idea? I appreciate the work you're doing 👍🏻
Saw dust is a little too fine but it will work. The important thing is that you have uniformity in your pieces of wood (diameter and length) so it cooks evenly. I suppose it’s the same principle with sawdust.
Great information. I like to put my retort (I think that's the official name of the cooking vessel) in the center of my fire pit. I also typically use very dry, spalted alder. There's something about the wood being on the verge of rotting that gives it some extra speed. Big leaf maple wood also makes some decent charcoal. The nice thing about not using propane is the $$ saved.
Have you tried Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) charcoal? It certainly performed best for fireworks making than anything else, I never tried for shooting. Steve
I live in North Florida. We have some pretty thick, large diameter wild grape vines in the trees in these parts. They have a rather shaggy bark on them. Should this bark, and bark from grape vines in general, be stripped, before making charcoal with them? For smaller grape vines this would seem to be a pain in the butt to have to do. Thanks.
Since I have 2 face cords of split seasoned willow in the shed, I guess I am obligated to try this method. I'm basically sitting on a gold mine. Lol Thanks for another great video!
How would Southern Yellow Pine work. I know Dupont used Long Leaf Pine stumps to make explosives at their Brunswick Ga plant for almost 100 years. I have access to all three, Long Leaf, Loblolly and Slash. Any thoughts as to suitability and if so which one would make the best charcoal?
I’m gonna save y’all a lot of time with this tip… I make my charcoal with Cedar picket fence slats from Home Depot. Be selective when picking slats. Avoid knots! I shoot my BP firearms with my own self made BP ONLY! I have never used commercial BP, or Pyrodex. Good BP must be made from “Softwood” charcoal (Coniferous wood), with a few hardwood exceptions. Willow is actually considered “Hardwood” but does make excellent charcoal for BP.
I dont currently need BP, but ive not made it in a few years. Concerning woods, last summer my FIL cut down a couple old pear trees to make room for a shop expansion. Most of those trees have been sitting out in his fields since. Since its free wood basically, would this work in a pinch?
Question, what do you use to powder the toilet paper charcoal? I tried using a hand blender and even cut off some of the plastic so the blades could work the charcoal. Not real effective. Hope there is a better way. Thanks!
Good morning, I'm from Brazil. I don't speak English, I'm using a Google translator I would like to make this gunpowder, but I need the proportions. Do you use 77 charcoal, 13 potassium nitrate and 10 sulfur? It will help me a lot if you can pass it on to me.
@@Everythingblackpowder in a test you used sodium, what did you think could cause oxidation in the barrel of the gun? I really wanted to make one without smoke and in the first test it seems that there was almost no smoke..
Where do you source your wood? I've heard that dogwood and willow is probably the best available here in the US since alder buckthorn isn't native to the US (even though it has been introduced to the eastern US).
Thank U for sharing those tips, I have experimented with white pine as I have a few of those trees on my property that always drops branches, what is ur opinion on white pine for charcoal?
I am going to be making black powder just wondering if the time of year you cut your wood makes a difference. Thinking cut when sap is not running or do you think it makes no difference?
I read a lot of this even though I haven’t personally seen a difference but the general consensus is you need to harvest your wood in late winter early spring
I was looking in the comments to make sure that I'm not asking a question that someone else had already posted. Would it be ok to use scrap pine contruction lumber? I wasn't sure since its been kiln dried.
Ok Jake. All of the willows around here are around ponds and they look nice so I can’t trim them. Is there a source for the blackthorn or willow. I know you’re busy but when you can THANKS Joe
I have been putting my willow wood in a paint can. I than put in in my woodstove when I go to bed. It's in there all night. Is it possible that I am over cooking it? The powder I make works fine in the pan of my flintlock brown bess .
Excellent video. Do you happen to have a video on milling/making a ball mill? I'm just getting in to making blackpowder having shot BP guns for a few years now, and being tired of overpaying for something I can make myself plus I already have 25lbs of both pure sulfur and nitrate sitting in the garage that i use for other projects
Good evening! The Chinese believed that the best gunpowder was obtained from the coal of the Chinese ash or Aylanthus chinensis (Fraxinus chinensis). It's a weed tree and not hard to find. You can use the core of Elderberry (Sambucus). You can use the wood of the Silvery Loch (Elaeagnus commutata). Its wood is similar to Sea Buckthorn.
I can't find a source for Alder Buckthorn anywhere around here, but I do have piles of Eastern Cedar, so that's what I've been using. What I'm wondering, is if there is a difference in the quality of the charcoal made with more of the cambium/sapwood or the heartwood? Or isn't there any?
@@randynix6412 I mix it as one wood. In the last year I've cut over 400 cedars on my property and pick the branches that are about 1" in diameter, cut into 6" sections and stuff the paint can. Sometimes i split them.
Thanks for this vid. I eventually plan on making charcoal on a modest scale, but using a paint can will work with what I have on hand right now. And I'm in luck...I have about 40 willows along my property line! Not sure which variety they are (northern Wyoming), but I do know the wood burns hot and clean, so bet it will make decent charcoal.
Have you ever tried Mulberry? I have one in my front yard my Wife wants me to get rid of but my first batch CIA Method screened was pretty weak. I need to get a Press and Die so I can try it again.
I have two separate questions... First, would it be a good idea to attempt to burn the smoke coming from the container as the wood cooks? The reason for that is because I make a lot of charcoal, and on windless days the smoke hangs, and kills my lungs. The second question is: The reason I make charcoal is primarily for both my grill, and to make activated charcoal for water filtration. I know that using activated charcoal may be pointless for black powder, but is there a possibility that it makes a difference in the end result in making black powder? Does anyone know if it would ruin it, or possibly make it work better?
No buckthorn here in Michigan that I found...but I do have an abundance of willow. I have some weeping willow but I haven't been over to the "owner" of the shop that it's near to ask if I can pick up some of the fallen detritus from it. I do have a lot of Peachleaf Willow that I have access to and the bp i make from it has outperformed Shuetzin and gets real close Swiss.
love your videos. Very Informative. And helpful. But I would like to mention something I was told by a 40 year veteran gunsmith of the air force. Black powder is not a propellent. It is an explosive. I am not nit picking here so please dont think that I am. I am just saying what he told me.
I cut down some Chinese Tree of Heaven trees in my backyard recently. They're supposed to make good sporting charcoal. Want me to send you some? Secondly, would you use a 6" round log or smaller, round branches? Thanks
I wasn't even aware this tree existed until I ran accross your post. They have been spotted in Washington state, so I will be on the lookout. Might just hold my nose and give it a try. Red Alder is my go to at the moment. It is pleantiful and makes some really fast powder. @@garand4674
I have a question I have a case cleaner cleaning my brass it vibrates it doesn't roll could I use it to make black powder with lead round balls would it mix properly if I covered the holes in the top of it course
I was taught to put the can over smoldering black willow and then scrape the residue that collects on the inside of the can. Your way keeps your hands alot cleaner.
Based on your latest video, I expect that Swiss has some ‘secret recipe’ for their charcoal. There are so many factors, chip size, age, dryness, heartwood vs sapwood, temperature its cooked at, cook time, that dialing it in could get interesting. I do know that those IR thermometers are not particularly accurate, angle and distance changes the reading a lot. You might be able to find a cheep electric heat treat kiln that you could set exact temperatures on, and really dial in your results there.
Their secret is Alder Buckthorn and charring it so that there is still some remaining creosote content [not charcoaling it to dead, dead carbon status.] The creosote content is why it's faster burning & the residue from Swiss isn't hard, from what I've read over the years. [This is from research I did before the SARS-Wuhan lockdown.] The recipe for Dupont's pyramidal ["brown" powder, developed for big ship's guns just prior to the advent of smokeless powder technology] included stopping the charring process once the bunker temp rose above 425 F [the bunker temp rises, plateaus, rises again as the various volatiles are burnt off.] Again, all this is from memory, and I've got a bad case of CRS, so do your own research rather than taking my word for it.
With my powder, I find that the percussion cap sometimes won't light the powder in the revolver. Any tips? I've heard that the sulfur lights before everything else, so maybe add more sulfur to a batch?
People should know that they shouldn't open the top right away after cooking their char. It's hard not to take a peek but if you do it will start to burn and turn into ash. Wait at least 20minutes for it to cool.
Thanks Steve, I completely forgot to mention that.
@@Everythingblackpowder should do a video on breaking it down via rolling pin or media grinder. Thanks dude.
@@CIA_AlienI use an old hand cranked meat grinder - cheap to pick up used, and you'll get the charcoal down to somewhere inbetween airfloat and granulated sugar in no time at all. Do the grinding outside, though, quite a dusty process.
@@skippymctwist7 Excellent method in the event that there is no power. That's a 1st one on me! I use an old food processor called 'Ninja' for my powders like charcoal, aluminum, hexamine and many more. Saves tons of time! My motive is total self-sufficiency in the event that the internet takes a sh1t and munitions are gone.
You should try doing it from the garage if you have a window. I improvise using an old portable fan and it sucks anything I don't want to coat my lungs outside. If you saw one part of my garage, you would think I am running a meth lab. Have a bunch of distillation apparatuses, scales and much more.
Thanks for responding brother. Stuff goes south, keep your chin in the mud.
I learned this the hard way…
The time you invest into making these projects is immensely beneficial for others who want to make their own blackpowder.
In other words, Thank you!
Happy to help
Have you considered getting a Patreon account for support?
What you’re doing is good, might as well get a few bucks for it.
Not really.
I know I practice and Incorporate his lessons into my learning curve! my curve goes round to a circle or dead end sometimes?
shhh. now i may be roasting very "carefully" in a Class I Div I inert environment some 20K PSI pucks and corned bp above suphur's and knO3's melting temp just to see if it's better? than before.
can i use oak charcoal for blackpowder
Have you read Like Fire and Powder by Brett Gibbons? It’s about the historic production of gun powder at the Waltham Abbey gunpowder mills. Goes into detail about the manufacturing processes they used. Gets fairly specific on the ingredients they used. There’s a whole chapter on charcoal.
Really short but interesting read.
Great book. Went into great detail about purifying potassium nitrate, which I wasn't doing.
I've been binge watching your channel for the last several days. I started black powder activities during the covid crap in 2020, but life got in the way. So now I'm back to my adventure to turn my money into smoke and noise. I'm learning from your videos. Thank you for your work. Subscribed.
Thank you. Glad to hear it
I’ve been making small batches of charcoal for drawing or to make black grain filler for decades. You can make small test batches with an Altoid mint can. In winter, I put it in the wood stove and remove it when it stops venting.
During the late 1880's they started making brown powder for Naval cannons. They would make charcoal but stop before it turned black. Supposedly they also eliminated most of the Sulphur. Supposedly it was slower burning which gave higher velocities in longer barrels. Without the Sulphur it was harder to ignite but that was offset a little bit by brown charcoal being a little easier to ignite since it had more volatiles left in it. I'd love to see you experiment with some. Maybe even do a series where you experiment with making charcoal anywhere from still brown to ultra cooked and see what differences you get.
I have made some brown powder and I have a burning test video.
I always think about that aspect of brown powder (less cooked = more volatiles), and what a hybrid of brown/black powder would shoot like.
Over cooked is ash. Artist method is stupid! make big fire, hose out, harvest charcoal, dry in sun
@@dylanstandingalone volitals make crud, not energy
Good one Jake, I have the sherwin williams model pyrolyzer myself. For sure you want to get the bark off as usually there is a lot of sandy grit that accumulates there as well as its typically the most sapiest part.
What if you made charcoal out of some weird stuff like particle board, balsa wood, twigs from trimming the hedges, a book, toilet paper, cardboard, puzzle pieces, cereal boxes, oh you get the idea.
I think you'd find that the glue and binders in processed wood products would not be good for the result. Th's why it's best to de-bark the wood...there's stuff in the bark that doesn't help. You are after the purest carbon you can get....
You can make charcoal for BP out of cardboard. I have used it in a batch and it seems to burn fast. And I have also made some out of pinecones.
Sounds like Doc Brown refilling the "Mr. Fusion"
@@leonardwilson980 I have a virtually limitless supply of cardboard. Just how viable is this?
@@slcgrgcrgcaneafgugiesclawhfg I tried it just to see if it would work, and it does. It seems to burn as fast as the BP that I have made using Cedar, Grapevine, and pine. And I can't tell that it's any dirtier than the other. Cardboard and paper is made from fast growing wood. I ran across a video a while back where a fellow was using straw to make charcoal , and it got me to thinking. I didn't have any straw but I did have a bunch of cardboard and paper. So I tried it and it worked.
I’ve even made charcoal by purchasing a grape vine wreath at hobby lobby. Breaking it up, throwing in the retort (can with hole) and cooking it. Works pretty well!!
Grape vine works well
Yes it was very helpful thank you so much. I've got all kind of Grapevine around here and in my vicinity actually all over the county so I'm going to give that a try and see how it works. Thanks again for the video it certainly was helpful. Keep ye powder dry!
You taught me alot. Thanks keep it up . Always looking forward for your videos.
I've used a metal paint can alot of times for charcoal, but I would start with the hole down and after the steam boils out, it becomes a flamable gas (cars, generators can run on it) and so provides a lot of it's own fuel and when that flaming slows, then I would flip it over so could tell better when it is close to done. Then I put a penny over the hole so no oxygen can get into the charcoal and form ash, until it's cool. Some times when when charcoaling sawdust and shavings, I would put a can or jar in the center because that part would sometimes not get done and that took care of that.
Wood gas? The condensate from charring wood?
@@randomidiot8142 Yes.
Making the charcoal is the hardest part. I like to ball mill it into powder by itself first as it is less likely to explode in the mill. I also separately mill the KNO3. The Sulphur is usually already a fine powder. Milling it aa together takes a bit less time if everything is fine dust.
I have been making charcoal for along time and I have have found that using a large old dutch oven works really well. I use the charcoal for forging mostly and hard wood seems to be the best for that. I wonder if a small cast iron dutchy would work well for making finer softwood charcoal like you use in black powder. I have learned alot from your channel's videos and will try making my own powder for my rifles sometime. Thanks for the info.
Thank you
I really want to say thank you. Before i saw any of your videos my blackpowder was not very good. Worse then goex. But what i have learned threw you. My powder its so much better.
Glad to hear it.
Some of the guys that I know that make their own also made basically a thermocouple controlled Kiln. They can hold temp between 530 and 550 all day and do about a 2 pound batch at a time. Another easy to find item that works good for powder is Sumac (non poisonous) and Heavenly Tree; although heavenly tree can make some VERY light powder and pretty much requires pucking.
Jake, love your videos! I would like to see more info on the compressing or pucking, ie: at what pressure do you compress to? How long do you leave it under pressure, how soon do you remove the pucks from the die? Thanks in advance and keep up the good work!
Derrell
Good video as always lots of knowledge there Thanks allot
Really appreciate you doing these Jake. You are the guy I point people to when I get asked about this!
Thank you, Ethan
Thank you for taking the time to make this video. I found it very interesting and I learned a lot. Answered many of my questions.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very similar to making biochar. I was told to take it to 800o for three hours when making a 55gal drum full inside of 400 gal oil tank.We used very dry wood or chicken manure. I knew the gasses were volatile so tried it next time with a copper tune running from the barrel . Lit it and it burned the wood gas for over an hour.
William what is your proses for pulverizing / crushing down your charcoal, and should it be in a powder form….
Magic bullet blender or something like it
Thanks for getting back to me. I am going to try Catty Nine Tail stalks/Reeds and char them down not the tops just the stalk because they kinda have the same characteristics as willow or grape vine. I will let you know how it works out.
@arthurvarady7258 excellent
Good to know about using grapevine. I have mountains of that. Thanks for the video.
I’m a machinist for a lumber mill and have access to unlimited amount of pine shavings. I have wondered how pine would work for a long time.
White pine works very well
I think you need a blend of charcoals hard woods retain a higher tannin resin content while the soft woods give a more pure carbon, but as you have found fouling issue. Tannins will also slow the burn, but should give a better polish. Have you tried tumbling with coal (anthracite) instead of graphite? Other things to try is a mix that has more external sulfur, like applied in the polishing tumble.. no sulfur polished with a sulfur mix?
I make mine on the grill using the cast iron pan heater. It’s also propane fueled. I use a large soup can with the lid cut off most of the way. Willow is what I have easy access too.
It works very well. My willow powder is equally to Goex
Your video definitely doesn't suck and I have it a thumbs up.
Thank you
@@Everythingblackpowder You're very welcome! There seems to be a supreme shortage of gratitude, thankfulness, and empathy these days. What does it hurt to disperse some of this goodness? Pride I guess, hurts pride.
One of the cool things about this is grabbing a little bit of the charcoal for your flint and steel fire kit and lighting your campfire by putting a small piece of charcoal in your unloaded flintlock pan and tossing a spark on it to light the tinder that lights the campfire you use to roast your dinner on after a day in the field.
We have loads of alder here in Alaska. Not sure if it’s the same as what you are using. Should work the same yes?
Beats me. I get mine imported from Ohio
I have a question about sieving the powder after you puck it and let it dry. What sieve should I use to get 2F and 3F I have 10, 20, 30, and 40 mesh sieve's. I would hate to buy a pound just to check the size of the granules.
Thanks in advance
I use one of those giant Christmas cookie tins. I used northern catalpa wood, which is a fast growing, soft deciduous tree. I cook it in my outdoor fire pit. I haven't made any powder with it yet and will report back when I do. I've never heard of that species being used but it seems to fit the bill in terms of properties. I had a large branch of it that I trimmed last winter and figured I'd give it a try. I've got white pine, eastern red cedar and buckthorn in the area but the catalpa tree is actually on my property.
White pine and red cedar make great black powder
@@Everythingblackpowder So I've heard. They're both very easy to come by here. After I do a run with the catalpa and see if its any good ill likely move on to those, or buckthorn which is very invasive around here.
Catalpa was used in some Asian powder recipes.
@@mkultraification Interesting. They were the originators of black powder, so maybe I'm onto something here.
@@Everythingblackpowder awesome, I was going to ask about white pine, as I actually have some in my woodpile 🤣
Well done and good presentation. thanks
Thank you
Have you tried cottonwood for charcoal. It seems to like moist ground similar to willow and alder buckthorn.
Not yet.
Hi, this is a great video and I appreciate all the info. Would Muscadine (mountain grape) vine work. I have never made my own powder but I'm really thinking of trying it.
We have tons of Alder here in WA but I'm wondering if Black Locust would be worth a try. It would be awesome to actually find a use for them crap thorny trees. They are a very dense tight grained wood.
Here in the Missouri Ozarks, we use Black Locust just like Red Oak. Its beautiful made into furniture or the latest that I saw was kitchen cabinets.
I live in WA and wouldn't know an Alder tree if it hit me in the head, LOL. I have looked up a few references with pictures so I think I have an idea of what to look for now. I have a red cedar in my backyard so am going to try to make charcoal from some of the dead branches I cut from it. Someone also mentioned Black Cottonwood. Just a matter of being able to identify it in the wild.
Excellent tutorial and information! 👍
I have never really compared, new to making my own, but I have made my charcoal with an electric smoker. Instead of the pellets from the store, I break up small bits of wood to smoke with. I have used wild cherry, muscadine(wild grape), and others, with good results as smoking wood. I have also used the charcoal afterwards for powder. Seems fine, although, like I said, I have nevger compared with other charcoals. Oh yeah, I know you already know, use green wood.
Have you tried cotton wood? If so how did it work? If you haven't, please do a video on cotton wood BP test.. I plan on starting making BP this coming summer just wondering on the cotton wood. Ty
I hear it works well
Thanks for making these videos, I've learned so much from watching..
Glad to hear it
Good basic helpful info! Excellent!👍👍
I have a lot of standing dead ash on my property. Would it make good charcoal?
Thanks for your video!
You can get pretty decently figured wood and thus stock blanks from white ash, otherwise your better off using it for firewood. It burns great, but as the name implies, creates massive amounts of ash. I suspect that that characteristic would make it less than optimal for gunpowder charcoal.
@@krockpotbroccoli65 I have a small amount of Maple, that might be better. Thanks for the comment.
@@kbjerke I hear some of the softer maple species make ok charcoal but have no first hand experience. I sure have burned a lot of it in my wood stove though.
I have used silver maple and it makes excellent powder. And Hoffman’s channel he did some with ash and got good results
Thanks for all you do! I've heard plum makes a decent bp charcoal...have you tried it? Also...what is the prep for grapevine? Thanks, again.
I haven’t tried plum. Scrape the bark off and char it up
@@Everythingblackpowder Thank you.
I'm new to this thoroughly enjoyable channel and I have a question or two.
Firstly, is there any merit to using saw dust of the desired wood type? i e. Intentionally cutting the wood for the purpose of generating and cooking the resulting chips/dust/shavings as they're already sort of "powderised". I'm thinking this might make the egress of tars, resins etc from the wood better or faster? Or secondly, would the resulting saw dust being cooked tend to mat down, clump together in the cooking tin and thereby negate the perceived better tar, resin egress idea?
I appreciate the work you're doing 👍🏻
Saw dust is a little too fine but it will work. The important thing is that you have uniformity in your pieces of wood (diameter and length) so it cooks evenly. I suppose it’s the same principle with sawdust.
Thanks 👍🏻
Great information. I like to put my retort (I think that's the official name of the cooking vessel) in the center of my fire pit. I also typically use very dry, spalted alder. There's something about the wood being on the verge of rotting that gives it some extra speed. Big leaf maple wood also makes some decent charcoal. The nice thing about not using propane is the $$ saved.
Have you tried Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) charcoal? It certainly performed best for fireworks making than anything else, I never tried for shooting.
Steve
I live in North Florida. We have some pretty thick, large diameter wild grape vines in the trees in these parts. They have a rather shaggy bark on them. Should this bark, and bark from grape vines in general, be stripped, before making charcoal with them? For smaller grape vines this would seem to be a pain in the butt to have to do. Thanks.
I recommend striping the bark off of any and all woods used for black powder.
@@Everythingblackpowder How does the bark, generally speaking, detract from good, fast black powder charcoal?
Does the paint can just have the one hole in the lid or are there others?
Just one hole in the lid
thank you@@Everythingblackpowder
Since I have 2 face cords of split seasoned willow in the shed, I guess I am obligated to try this method. I'm basically sitting on a gold mine. Lol Thanks for another great video!
what would be better hard wood or soft wood ?
Soft wood generally
How would Southern Yellow Pine work. I know Dupont used Long Leaf Pine stumps to make explosives at their Brunswick Ga plant for almost 100 years. I have access to all three, Long Leaf, Loblolly and Slash.
Any thoughts as to suitability and if so which one would make the best charcoal?
Where would you rate cedar compared to willow? Lots of cedar here, not so much of the other "ideal" woods.
It’s comparable to willow
Thank you , that was a very informative video on making charcoal .
You should wash the charcoal with hot rain water afterwards you be amazed as to how much potassium hydroxide is left in the charcoal.great video 🤩
I’m gonna save y’all a lot of time with this tip…
I make my charcoal with Cedar picket fence slats from Home Depot.
Be selective when picking slats. Avoid knots!
I shoot my BP firearms with my own self made BP ONLY!
I have never used commercial BP, or Pyrodex.
Good BP must be made from “Softwood” charcoal (Coniferous wood), with a few hardwood exceptions. Willow is actually considered “Hardwood” but does make excellent charcoal for BP.
thanks for this!
I dont currently need BP, but ive not made it in a few years. Concerning woods, last summer my FIL cut down a couple old pear trees to make room for a shop expansion.
Most of those trees have been sitting out in his fields since. Since its free wood basically, would this work in a pinch?
Have you used box wood I have lots of it where I live wondered if it would work well
Question, what do you use to powder the toilet paper charcoal? I tried using a hand blender and even cut off some of the plastic so the blades could work the charcoal. Not real effective. Hope there is a better way. Thanks!
Good morning, I'm from Brazil. I don't speak English, I'm using a Google translator I would like to make this gunpowder, but I need the proportions. Do you use 77 charcoal, 13 potassium nitrate and 10 sulfur? It will help me a lot if you can pass it on to me.
77 potassium, 13 charcoal, 10 sulfur
@@Everythingblackpowder in a test you used sodium, what did you think could cause oxidation in the barrel of the gun? I really wanted to make one without smoke and in the first test it seems that there was almost no smoke..
Could you use sawdust that you compress and then make that into charcoal?
Yep
@@EverythingblackpowderThanks, It's easier for me to get large amounts of sawdust than wood (Wood costs money but sawdust comes free)
Where do you source your wood? I've heard that dogwood and willow is probably the best available here in the US since alder buckthorn isn't native to the US (even though it has been introduced to the eastern US).
I get my alder buckthorn imported from Ohio. Everything else I can find locally
Thank U for sharing those tips, I have experimented with white pine as I have a few of those trees on my property that always drops branches, what is ur opinion on white pine for charcoal?
It works very well.
Have you ever tried using chinaberry to make the charcoal. Seems I heard that it made pretty good powder.
Nope
I wonder how charcoal made from cotton, either cotton balls or simple cotton cord, would work?
I haven’t tried it
I have a ton of scrap lumber laying around (doug fir). I know you also like red cedar, but would the fir work?
You bet
Douglas fir works fairly well for me, along with western white pine and hemlock
I am going to be making black powder just wondering if the time of year you cut your wood makes a difference. Thinking cut when sap is not running or do you think it makes no difference?
I read a lot of this even though I haven’t personally seen a difference but the general consensus is you need to harvest your wood in late winter early spring
I was looking in the comments to make sure that I'm not asking a question that someone else had already posted. Would it be ok to use scrap pine contruction lumber? I wasn't sure since its been kiln dried.
Yes it works okay
Very informative and useful. Thanks
Did this method perform better? Or was it about the same? As always thanks for the time and effort you put into this.
Ok Jake. All of the willows around here are around ponds and they look nice so I can’t trim them. Is there a source for the blackthorn or willow. I know you’re busy but when you can THANKS
Joe
I don’t have buckthorn around here, I have a friend from Ohio, send it to me but Willow works just fine
Damn I wish I could get your email. I have so many questions
Everythingblackpowder@gmail.com
Great vid and info.
Could I use like an empty cake tin or roses/quality street tin instead of a paint can?
I don’t see why not
@@Everythingblackpowder The only issue I can find is the seal on the lid may not be secure enough, under heat and pressure?!
As long as there’s a hole in it somewhere it shouldn’t be a problem
I have been putting my willow wood in a paint can. I than put in in my woodstove when I go to bed. It's in there all night. Is it possible that I am over cooking it? The powder I make works fine in the pan of my flintlock brown bess .
Yes but it will still work fine
Do you think that the fast buring result can vary if you would use birch or oak?
Excellent video. Do you happen to have a video on milling/making a ball mill? I'm just getting in to making blackpowder having shot BP guns for a few years now, and being tired of overpaying for something I can make myself plus I already have 25lbs of both pure sulfur and nitrate sitting in the garage that i use for other projects
Good evening! The Chinese believed that the best gunpowder was obtained from the coal of the Chinese ash or Aylanthus chinensis (Fraxinus chinensis). It's a weed tree and not hard to find. You can use the core of Elderberry (Sambucus). You can use the wood of the Silvery Loch (Elaeagnus commutata). Its wood is similar to Sea Buckthorn.
I have been told that pine cones are very good, but I have not tried them yet.... I have a bag full for my next batch of powder... 🙂
My question is Why not buy a bag of charcoal briquettes? Or Chunk charcoal ? Great videos by the way.
Charcoal briquettes make horrendous black powder. Hard wood lump charcoal will work but it makes weak black powder
I have European buckthorn. And it should be removed anyway . Close enough?
I would try it
Have you tried coffee bean or tobacco charcoal yet? Something just seems right about either of those.
Not yet
The thick tobacco stalk? How'd it go, if you tried it yet. Thanks.
Haven’t tried it yet.
I can't find a source for Alder Buckthorn anywhere around here, but I do have piles of Eastern Cedar, so that's what I've been using. What I'm wondering, is if there is a difference in the quality of the charcoal made with more of the cambium/sapwood or the heartwood? Or isn't there any?
I’ve tried both and couldn’t tell a difference in performance but that was back when I was using fresh cut wood
@@Everythingblackpowder Just a thought I had. Didn't know if more goodies might be residing in the heartwood.
Do you separate the heartwood in cedar or mix it as one wood
@@randynix6412 I mix it as one wood. In the last year I've cut over 400 cedars on my property and pick the branches that are about 1" in diameter, cut into 6" sections and stuff the paint can. Sometimes i split them.
Can you use an electric hot plate to make the charcoal?
Absolutely
@@Everythingblackpowder Wow, thanks for the anwser
You bet
Thanks for this vid. I eventually plan on making charcoal on a modest scale, but using a paint can will work with what I have on hand right now. And I'm in luck...I have about 40 willows along my property line! Not sure which variety they are (northern Wyoming), but I do know the wood burns hot and clean, so bet it will make decent charcoal.
I never thought about the temperature affecting quality. Hmm 🤔 Thanks for sharing your experience.
Have you ever tried Mulberry? I have one in my front yard my Wife wants me to get rid of but my first batch CIA Method screened was pretty weak. I need to get a Press and Die so I can try it again.
I have not ever used mulberry. I don’t use the CIA method any more and I only make corned powder. It’s a game changer.
Dose make a difference if it is hardwood or softwood
Use softwood
Does "punk wood" (soft, dry, spongy, but not rotten wood) make good sporting grade black powder?
I really like this channel.
Thank you
Very interesting 👍👍👍
Thank you. ((SO, where do we get Alder Buckhorn?)) Merry Christmas. God Bless and stay safe.
Ohio
@@Everythingblackpowder See if I can order some!
What do you think of pine chips or cedar chips to make charcoal ?
It works well
I have two separate questions...
First, would it be a good idea to attempt to burn the smoke coming from the container as the wood cooks? The reason for that is because I make a lot of charcoal, and on windless days the smoke hangs, and kills my lungs.
The second question is: The reason I make charcoal is primarily for both my grill, and to make activated charcoal for water filtration. I know that using activated charcoal may be pointless for black powder, but is there a possibility that it makes a difference in the end result in making black powder? Does anyone know if it would ruin it, or possibly make it work better?
Yes you could turn it upside down and burn the vapor but I haven’t noticed any difference in the performance of the charcoal for black powder.
@@Everythingblackpowder Sounds like an appealing method to limit smoke inhalation if it doesn't make the coal any better or worse for making powder.
Coffee ground charcoal?
No buckthorn here in Michigan that I found...but I do have an abundance of willow. I have some weeping willow but I haven't been over to the "owner" of the shop that it's near to ask if I can pick up some of the fallen detritus from it. I do have a lot of Peachleaf Willow that I have access to and the bp i make from it has outperformed Shuetzin and gets real close Swiss.
There are about as many kinds of willow as there are oak, do all types of willow work? I am most familiar with weeping willow, have you used that?
I have not.
What if instead of using something paint can sized I use the actual turkey pot? Can a big batch work? I have a ton of those buck thorn around.
I don’t see why it wouldn’t
Sugar + acid sulfuric give carbon do you know if it's good?
I don’t know
love your videos. Very Informative. And helpful. But I would like to mention something I was told by a 40 year veteran gunsmith of the air force. Black powder is not a propellent. It is an explosive. I am not nit picking here so please dont think that I am. I am just saying what he told me.
It's actually considered a combustible solid.
The only wood that's readily available in my area is Juniper, Pine, Tamarack, and Red Fir. Would any of these make a good "propellant"?
I cut down some Chinese Tree of Heaven trees in my backyard recently. They're supposed to make good sporting charcoal. Want me to send you some? Secondly, would you use a 6" round log or smaller, round branches? Thanks
I read that they stink. Is that correct?
@@chaecoco2 yep, like a rancid nutty smell.
I wasn't even aware this tree existed until I ran accross your post. They have been spotted in Washington state, so I will be on the lookout. Might just hold my nose and give it a try. Red Alder is my go to at the moment. It is pleantiful and makes some really fast powder. @@garand4674
I have a question I have a case cleaner cleaning my brass it vibrates it doesn't roll could I use it to make black powder with lead round balls would it mix properly if I covered the holes in the top of it course
I don’t know. I’ve never tried it
I guess I'll give it a shot using your charcoal maker way I'll get a paint can and I'll let you know thanks I love your channel it's great
I was taught to put the can over smoldering black willow and then scrape the residue that collects on the inside of the can. Your way keeps your hands alot cleaner.
Based on your latest video, I expect that Swiss has some ‘secret recipe’ for their charcoal. There are so many factors, chip size, age, dryness, heartwood vs sapwood, temperature its cooked at, cook time, that dialing it in could get interesting.
I do know that those IR thermometers are not particularly accurate, angle and distance changes the reading a lot.
You might be able to find a cheep electric heat treat kiln that you could set exact temperatures on, and really dial in your results there.
Their secret is Alder Buckthorn and charring it so that there is still some remaining creosote content [not charcoaling it to dead, dead carbon status.] The creosote content is why it's faster burning & the residue from Swiss isn't hard, from what I've read over the years. [This is from research I did before the SARS-Wuhan lockdown.]
The recipe for Dupont's pyramidal ["brown" powder, developed for big ship's guns just prior to the advent of smokeless powder technology] included stopping the charring process once the bunker temp rose above 425 F [the bunker temp rises, plateaus, rises again as the various volatiles are burnt off.] Again, all this is from memory, and I've got a bad case of CRS, so do your own research rather than taking my word for it.
With my powder, I find that the percussion cap sometimes won't light the powder in the revolver. Any tips? I've heard that the sulfur lights before everything else, so maybe add more sulfur to a batch?
That’s unusual. Are you graphite coating your powder? What caps are you using?
Making sure to get one of the obvious ones out of the way, I assume you clean the channel in the nipple, right?
Does your gun work flawlessly with factory powder with same caps and mesh(size) of powder?
@@Everythingblackpowder I don't coat with graphite, and I use CCI no. 11. I even make sure the cones are clear.
@@luuk-out-below9804 I probably get a 90% fire when I use pyrodex 3f powder.