Best source of charcoal to make black powder

[Ugly Sauce]

No worries, you didn't make it complicated. But there sure is much more to it than just mixing three things together! How many times have I heard: "black powder...oh, you just mix this-this and that"!!!!!

 

[Officers'Wife]

Okay, I think I get it. The most logical reason I see is the claim that pucking saturates the charcoal "more-better" with the sulfer than just mixing. (not how you spell sulfer?) I guess that makes the BP a bit more "energetic".

I have an allegory for the process but I learned to my sorrow that gets me in trouble. The milling process forces the niter and sulfur into the pores of charcoal and is far more responsible for the "energy" of the product than corning (pucking). Even to the point where I would say the longer the green powder is in the mill the better the final product. Corning covers a multitude of benefits most important is to establish a grain size that modifies the burn rate. For instance my husband's rifle works best with 6 mesh grain or twice the size of Fg. But then his deer rifle is a 75 caliber with 42 inch barrels (double.) The story is told he need not hit the whitetail as the wind from the slug will knock it down allowing him to get there and hit it in the head with a hammer. The story is not true.

 

[Officers'Wife]

No worries, you didn't make it complicated. But there sure is much more to it than just mixing three things together! How many times have I heard: "black powder...oh, you just mix this-this and that"!!!!!

Nothing is ever as it seems and very rarely as easy as the man on the street thinks it is! Keep in mind that people have studied the subject of black powder since at least the 9th century. Improvements have been made with each passing century. But that's the appeal of black powder, you can have a piece of the advancement of mankind make your ears ring and your lungs choke with brimstone all the while put meat on the table in a way that makes your ancestors give a small nod of approval. After me shall come a hunter, tell him I too have known.

 

[ThomasT]

Hopefully you can watch this video. Brush Hippie used to have a YT channel and they pretty much ran him off. This should answer all the questions about making BP pucks to be ground into powder.

https://gunstreamer.com/watch/compressing-black-powder_ayzBXtwpbuWax12.html

And here is the corning process.

https://gunstreamer.com/watch/making-corned-black-powder_JYaZmvV1EU7aeJz.html

 

[ThomasT]

If you like the videos from Brush Hippie he has many posted to that Gunstreamer site. You may have to create an account to watch them all but they are worth watching. Especially if you used to watch them on YT before the jackasses removed them and closed down his channel.

 

[AR. Hillbilly]

How come he didn’t dump the charcoal in the same container as the other two ingredients ?
In the hippie video, was the charcoal in the tumbler with the other two ingredients? I saw him weigh the charcoal but didn’t see him dump it in the tumbler hopper.

 

[damoc]

Responding to original post. Willow is everywhere and its easy to turn into charcoal. I have never understood the DIY mindset that has to sell or buy all the ingredients.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

I have an allegory for the process but I learned to my sorrow that gets me in trouble. The milling process forces the niter and sulfur into the pores of charcoal and is far more responsible for the "energy" of the product than corning (pucking). Even to the point where I would say the longer the green powder is in the mill the better the final product. Corning covers a multitude of benefits most important is to establish a grain size that modifies the burn rate. For instance my husband's rifle works best with 6 mesh grain or twice the size of Fg. But then his deer rifle is a 75 caliber with 42 inch barrels (double.) The story is told he need not hit the whitetail as the wind from the slug will knock it down allowing him to get there and hit it in the head with a hammer. The story is not true.

The story could be true. But a ball from a .75", be it rifle or musket, is truly the hammer of Thor.

 

[Officers'Wife]

The story could be true. But a ball from a .75", be it rifle or musket, is truly the hammer of Thor.

Hammer of Thor or simply a very large and heavy slug to my knowledge Dave has only had to track one deer… A buck somewhere between seven and seven hundred years old with meat so stringy it was very nearly too tough to even make jerky out of. Ironically, seven hundred yards later he gave up the ghost very close to the same area that I got the willow for the charcoal that made the powder that killed him. Between the cooking jerky and the summer sausage his sacrifice fed our family for over two months.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Little did that Buck know that the tender spring buds he chewed off that willow would end his 699 years on earth one day. A serious case of willow poisoning, and perhaps the source of the stringy meat.

 

[CorsiarRiley]

Responding to original post. Willow is everywhere and its easy to turn into charcoal. I have never understood the DIY mindset that has to sell or buy all the ingredients.

I went for a 2 hour drive around Central California and I did see 1 weaping willow next to someone's driveway. Might be the dry climate here but there just aren't alot of willow trees in my kneck of the woods.

 

[Mosin77]

I went for a 2 hour drive around Central California and I did see 1 weaping willow next to someone's driveway. Might be the dry climate here but there just aren't alot of willow trees in my kneck of the woods.

“Excuse me sir, would you mind if I just lop off a few of your willow tree’s branches? Don’t worry, I probably won’t need to chop down the whole thing. I just need to brew up some homemade black powder and your tree is the only one in 45 miles that will make the right sort of charcoal when I set it on fire.”

What reasonable person could fail to be persuaded by such a request?

 

[Ugly Sauce]

One could always dress up as a tree-trimmer, paint a Tree Trimmer's sign on the side of one's truck, (or car? Motorcycle?) and inform the owner of said tree that it is in very poor health, but that for a very low price you could give it a good trimming. Perhaps the first trimming could be "free", as the tree must be trimmed often.

What reasonable person could fail to be persuaded by that??

 

[CorsiarRiley]

Went to Angie's list and sent out a request to buy willow wood to every available tree trimmer in my area. Bit of a stretch but better than waiting 10 years for my little 6 inch cutting to grow.

 

[Big Bore 44]

I went for a 2 hour drive around Central California and I did see 1 weaping willow next to someone's driveway. Might be the dry climate here but there just aren't a lot of willow trees in my kneck of the woods.

Willows grow almost everywhere along watercourses. Go to your local stream or river, there will be plenty of willow, maybe even some alder.

 

[damoc]

I went for a 2 hour drive around Central California and I did see 1 weaping willow next to someone's driveway. Might be the dry climate here but there just aren't alot of willow trees in my kneck of the woods.

Central california you will find them around all the irrigation ditches. Also near springs lakes and other water sources. willow suitable for BP may not look like a tree but rather a low cluster of woody branches growing out of the ground rather than out of a trunk. Best of luck.

 

[Bibbyman]

We have a good size stream running through the farm and a lot of willow along and in it. But I won't use it because the stream will flood often and I know it deposits sand in the bark. I know this because these trees along the flood plane will quickly dull a chan on a chainsaw.

I pick trees that are upland - usually found on damp, fertal soil. It doesn't take much.

 

[Officers'Wife]

Went to Angie's list and sent out a request to buy willow wood to every available tree trimmer in my area. Bit of a stretch but better than waiting 10 years for my little 6 inch cutting to grow.

Oh for pity sakes... Look up a product called "Austrees." They are a hybrid poplar that will grow to campfire size wood in about 3 years. They also have the pore size to make acceptable powder. Also the Burpees catalog has willow that also has a fast growth rate. Depending on your location both species transpire a lot of water so you will need a plant them in an area where they can keep their feet wet or water them daily.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Central california you will find them around all the irrigation ditches. Also near springs lakes and other water sources. willow suitable for BP may not look like a tree but rather a low cluster of woody branches growing out of the ground rather than out of a trunk. Best of luck.

That seems to be the kind of willow I'm seeing right around here. Cluster of woody branches growing out of the ground. No central or main trunk. I hit the jackpot yesterday. Was at the "kid's house" getting the kids off the bus, as mom was at work and dad busy being a soldier, they have about three acres and low and behold there's a GIANT willow bush just off the driveway and about 25 yards up the hill. !!! There's enough dead wood in it for a great supply, and judging by it's size and circumference (probably 15 foot high) it's probably at the end of it's life, which will really be a lot of wood when the whole thing dies.

So now just have to research it and I.D. which/what willow it actually is/species. But I'm happy. !!!

 

[colima]

I live in the CA central coast area, which is justifiably known for its barbecued tri-tip.
The wood of choice around here is mesquite charcoal, mostly imported from Mexico.
It comes as carbonized pieces of wood, with no additives or processing - great for cooking!
Does anyone know how good mesquite would be for making gunpowder?

 

[Ugly Sauce]

My guess would be that Mesquite is loaded with resins. Which might taste good, but now flash well. ? However, might smell great when shooting. !!

 

[Pete D.]

Definitely make your own. You can make a very serviceable retort from an old gallon paint can. Willow twigs or Alder.

 

[damoc]

Ive used mesquite for a small batch of powder it worked OK. I think the biggest consideration with wood for BP is the amount of ash produced. Woods which when burned leave large amounts of ash are less favorable IMO.

 

[Twocanary]

Very good powder can be made from balsa and paulownia. Balsa can be sourced from the RC airplane guys. Try to get crashed planes cheap or free and salvage the wood. Paulownia is/was used as cheap wood for packing crates. If you have stored china in a wood box that might be paulownia. I don't know how to ID that wood; a friend does that for me. Yard sales might be good.