Willow charcoal? Is there a difference?

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CANNONMAN

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I find that there are approximately 90 species of willow in North America. Where I am there is the "Weeping Willow". Anybody know if this species of willow is a member of the acclaimed willow for charcoal in the manufacture of BP? As always, my gratitude for your wit and wisdom. CANNONMAN
 
I would expect it to be just fine for charcoal....give it a try and let us know how it works!
 
I think so also. However, my supply of other ingredients is limited. Ps, enjoy your responses. CANNONMAN
 
I had run out of sulfur myself and ordered some pretty cheap off flea bay...I think they have the kno3 pretty cheap as well....seems like it was just over a dollar a pound.
 
I now know the differences!

I have followed everyone's leads and suggestions. The very best answers came from "Ulrich Bretscher's Black Powder" The equations and chemical formulations are readily simplified. Anyone who has had even a high school chemistry course will have no problem following them. This is a great source for anyone interested in why and how BP works. Moreover, why and how to make anything from garbage to BP that out performs conventional BP sold today.



"There are reasons and results. Those with reasons have no results." CANNONMAN

Ulrich Brestcher's Page Link
 
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In the Foxfire book #5 the mountain folk interviewed found alder to work just fine for BP making. From what I gather, any wood that'll burn clean with little ash would work just fine. That's good, cuz I've got alder out the yang, but only know of a couple willows round here.
 
When I first acquired my Podewils-Lindner I spent a lot of time in research of it. One of the intriguing items I ran across was that the original Bavarian recipe for black powder for their paper cartridges called for Alder charcoal. In my research for the differences in the type of wood used for charcoal was a chart which rated the types of wood by the BTU content of the charcoal that it would produce. If I remember correctly willow was pretty high in BTU content which was surprising to me.
 
My online research indicates that the heat content of red or white alder is 14.8 Mbtu per cord weighing 2380 #/ cord compared to willow at 14.2 Mbtu per cord weighing 2295 #/cord....relatively comparable. In the Texas hill country during the ACW they used red cedar at 12.1 Mbtu/cord, but weighs less at around 1955#/cord. Thus, if you calculate the heat content per #, cedar seems comparable????
 
I had a big willow of the weeping variety fall during an ice storm. Its still there. Need some? There is a source. The trunk is 18 in to 2 feet. What about hickory charcoal.
 
Here is a pretty good reference for different types of wood....but I dont think its all in the speed...some are much dirtier. The guy also notes conditions such as temp and humidity made significant differences in speeds....so itll give you and idea but nothing is written in stone....I think any soft woods would be good...the less sappy the better, sycamore for example I would think would be pretty fair since its very soft and has little sap....the outer part of the eastern red cedar is real soft but very sappy so I believe it would be fairly fast but extremely dirty.
http://www.wichitabuggywhip.com/fireworks/charcoal_tests.html
 
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Umptifratz years ago, the charcoal industry flourished in Missouri. There was a lot of hardwood. Oak made up the majority. Hickory, Ash and Beech were also plentiful. One of the oaks was Black Jack. No one gathered it because it was so hard, Wu looked for deadfall that was half gotten. Ot burned hot. It sure is hard on chain saws and axes. Every small down had a charcoal plant to provide charcoal for smelters in the area
 
Ive done a little blacksmithing and a good supply of the right kind of charcoal
is a precious comodity certain oaks were very good but i would think that
the charcoal which made a good fire was probably not the best for BP
 
Might be damn fine charcoal...but it wont make good powder...its not about heat as MR picker mentioned...when you grind the ingredients for BP...the charcoal should look like a ladder type molecule which you are smashing the voids full of sulfur and kno3...is how it was explained to me...harder densor woods may make more heat but burn rate sucko.
 
Well so much for the next generation then..... I've heard that soft pine is a good alternative. Do you think that might work in the absence of willow?

Aloha,

Tom
 
As far as cedar goes I have available tons of originally kiln dried old cedar privacy fence pickets further seasoned by baking for 20 years in the hot Texas summers...should work ok...your mileage may vary. I even have access to bat guano for the way they did it back in the old days in Tejas.
 
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