Best source of charcoal to make black powder

Good luck with that order. I placed an order with them and after hearing nothing for weeks and sending two email inquiries that went unanswered I gave up.

It turned out to be a good thing I think as it forced me to think of alternatives. I know everybody says willow is the best but I'd also read a lot of people used cedar with success. I bought some cedar fence pickets from the Home Depot and cooked it up in my homemade retort. I'm happy to say that the powder made with that charcoal works very well in my three flintlocks.

mmb617 said:

Good luck with that order. I placed an order with them and after hearing nothing for weeks and sending two email inquiries that went unanswered I gave up.

It turned out to be a good thing I think as it forced me to think of alternatives. I know everybody says willow is the best but I'd also read a lot of people used cedar with success. I bought some cedar fence pickets from the Home Depot and cooked it up in my homemade retort. I'm happy to say that the powder made with that charcoal works very well in my three flintlocks.

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I assume when you say you used fence pickets, you mean western cedar. Is the western cedar preferred over aromatic cedar? Our place is covered with Aromatic cedar trees. Just curious.

Aside from willow, I have heard tree of heaven is a good wood to use. I suspect cottonwood and silver maple might work as well.

I've mostly heard of willow, but nearly
but not as many that say alder

Never heard of cedar or conifer of any kind

Willow is probably the best. Alder is good, grapevine is good, beech is good, buckthorn is good, narrow leaf cottonwood is good, silver maple is good, plum is good.

hawg said:

Willow is probably the best. Alder is good, grapevine is good, beech is good, buckthorn is good, narrow leaf cottonwood is good, silver maple is good, plum is good.

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I have a huge weeping willow nearby so I suppose I should gather some fallen wood and experiment with making charcoal.

I've heard claims that grapevine and poplar are both excellent
I have a bunch of poplar charcoal I'll try out someday, but right now their is such a shortage of labor because folks make more money sitting on their couch than going to work that I don't have time for any personal time.

I made my own from willow. It was already dry wood. I cut into "tater tot" size pieces and used a Dutch oven as a retort on a campfire. I watched until the willow broke into flame then put the lid on. I left it on the fire a couple of hours letting the fire burn out and Dutch oven cooled before taking the lid off. Most of the willow tater tots were charred completely and as light as popcorn.

AR. Hillbilly said:

I assume when you say you used fence pickets, you mean western cedar. Is the western cedar preferred over aromatic cedar? Our place is covered with Aromatic cedar trees. Just curious.

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These are what I bought. What is available at various Home Depots probably varies by location.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/19-32-i...d-Dog-Ear-Fence-Picket-1002-418-099/303227981

CorsiarRiley said:

Well if I don't get any response I will have to do a charge back with my credit card. If they are out of business they should not be accepting payments for order that will never be filled.

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While I got an email confirming my order immediately after I placed it that was the end of any communication with Custom Charcoal. They didn't respond to either of my email inquiries but they never charged my card either. I see their website is still up so I don't know what their story is.

I have used pine 2x4 studs, willow from my creek, and eastern red cedar. Willow has been the best. I understand that cottonwood is nearly as good as willow, and I have a big cottonwood that needs to come down. If I start charcoaling, is there a market for it??

noelf2 said:

I have used pine 2x4 studs, willow from my creek, and eastern red cedar. Willow has been the best. I understand that cottonwood is nearly as good as willow, and I have a big cottonwood that needs to come down. If I start charcoaling, is there a market for it??

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Dunno. Maybe do a sample batch and see? I suspect you would have success listing on the cast boolits and traditional muzzleloading forums. Probably get a higher price if you put it into a ball mill and made air float with it.

CorsiarRiley said:

just checked my card and they didn't charge it. Email is where my confusion came from.View attachment 1035963

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I had a similar email from them after I placed my order on 10-1-21. It also said 1-2 days prep time but that was the last communication I ever got and my card was never charged. If they are still in business they are not responding to customer inquiries.

Maybe it's just me but if I ran an online company I'd make sure someone was responding to questions from customers. It's very frustrating when you can't get an answer after placing an order.

I had placed an order for a couple touch hole liners with another online company back on May 9 and got an email saying the item was on backorder and they'd send me a tracking number when it shipped. Well here it is 6 months later and I'd heard nothing so I asked for a status report. I was informed that the item shipped June 25 and was delivered June 29 via FedEx. I don't know where FedEx might have delivered that package but it wasn't to me. I'm told that because so much time has gone by there is nothing the shipper can do about it, but if they had sent me a tracking number I would have been looking for it and known there was a problem at the time. But I never got any tracking number from them. Oh well, it was only $15.

I work for a wholesale automation distributor, and my experience the last year is that you can't get anyone at almost any vendor/manufacturer to respond to most inquiries more than half the time.
It is insane!

I have read that during the Great War when supplies were short, Aspen was used in lieu of willow with good results. I have never made any black powder so this is just something I read in an old history book. The book referred to it as the Great War which seemed strange until I looked at the publishing date, they didn't know there would we a WWII when it was written. I think Aspens, cottonwood, and willow are cousins in the grand scheme of things.

chickasaw_hunter said:

I have read that during the Great War when supplies were short, Aspen was used in lieu of willow with good results. I have never made any black powder so this is just something I read in an old history book. The book referred to it as the Great War which seemed strange until I looked at the publishing date, they didn't know there would we a WWII when it was written. I think Aspens, cottonwood, and willow are cousins in the grand scheme of things.

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I think they are all closely related and all are fast growing species with low density wood. Makes sense that they might all work.

Fireworks supply companies (like Skylighter.com) also sell charcoal in micro fine ground form. Will that not work for making black powder? It sure beats grinding it yourself.

"willow charcoal is customcharcoal.com at $45 for 8 lbs"
I ordered it twice, included my credit card both times, which they've never charged.

There was another kind of wood a fireworks site talked about called paulownia wood as being best. From wiki I gather it may be the peckerwood that grows up nearly overnight around logging landings.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulownia

BTW, a question just formed in my mind. If you made charcoal out of a dense hardwood like Fir would the charcoal weight more than if you made it out of balsa? The reason I ask is that that Paulownia is next to balsa for light weight.
The reason it might matter is during measurement if done by weight.

H&R Glock said:

Fireworks supply companies (like Skylighter.com) also sell charcoal in micro fine ground form. Will that not work for making black powder? It sure beats grinding it yourself.

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It will work, but not as well. Hardwood charcoal is preferred in making black powder for fireworks. That powder is good for fireworks because it results in better visual sparking effects, but it's not good for shooting due to having a relatively slow burn rate.

I believe cedar will work very well, and that is very easy to find. It sure is not hard to make charcoal. Since for safety reasons (for us "hobby" guys) black powder is only made in small batches, it would not hurt to try it, and then find some willow later. You can even find cedar in any "Home Improvement Center" which sells lumber.

I find it kind of puzzling to pay $45 bucks for eight pounds of charcoal, when it is so easy to make. ??

I've heard that grape vine is as good or equal to willow. Anyone who lived near a grape orchard or wine maker/grape grower could certainly get a lifetime free supply of that.

I’ve never tried to make charcoal before but have been considering the idea. How many pounds of wood would one have to char up to get 8lbs of finished charcoal? I am betting several times that?

Or maybe a better question… assuming one-man “artisanal” making, like a smallish retort over a campfire, what kind of practical quantity results? A pound of charcoal will make several pounds of black powder, so one doesn’t need a huge amount. On the other hand it would be nice to make a couple pounds at a time rather than a couple of ounces….