THANK GOD that fixed! (wink)
Fly
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THANK GOD that fixed! (wink)
Fly
Hey fly I got your compressing tool a few weeks ago, havent tried it out yet though. I need to get something to compress it with
When you do let us know how you like it.
Fly
Darn kid "borrowed"! all my homemade BP have some more in the mill, but it will be a week before I get it prepossessed drying time and screening. O well glad he likes guns and shooting.:bigsmyl2:
Hell teach him to make his own. Problem with kids today! Heeeeeeeee Heeeeeeeeeee!
Fly
Anyone know why we take the bark off before turning wood into charcoal? This is my most disliked job in the whole process. Is it slower, weaker and dirtier powder? Or just because that is the way it's done?
The bark contains a much higher percentage of lignens and other non-desirables. Leaving the bark on would be like or worse than mixing good and bad wood types. Try a shave horse and draw knife, it makes short work of even dry bark.
Wally
Does anyone have a list of the better woods to use for gunpowder? So far I've tried 2/4's with no luck. Last batch was with ***** willow that worked good. I used 60grains by volume out of a 50 cal. Pistol muzzleloader that got me to around 780 fps. I didn't have sulfur at the time with the 2/4. It gave just a pop sound instead of a good blast. When I used goex 3f with 40 grains I got around 780fps.
So far I've been having a "blast" with making and shooting homemade powder. There's just something very satisfying about making great things with your bare hands. If anyone hasn't tried it yet, give it a go. You'll be shooting a lot more in a week then most of your life.
Dave
Dave Great post. We know Black willow is GREAT charcoal for BP. But there are others. I,m a historian & I know the the north used Black
willow for a reason. Why it was dam good. We read all this other stuff. But when push comes to shove Black Willow always come to the top.
JMOHOP Fly
Thanks Fly. I've been doing some scouting in the woods for black willow, but no luck yet. I may have to wait till spring time to id with the help of its leaves. I'm going to get some to plant for future use also.
By the way, check will be in the mail Monday for your puck die.
I sometimes get a pop rather than a blast when using BH209. To be expected, given higher ignition temp. So having similar results when skipping the sulfur for homemade black sounds about right.
Does sulfur have any drawbacks if low ignition temp is not needed? fouling increase, more hydroscopic, anything? Folks experiment removing sulfur, why? is there a benefit to be had?
If it shoots cleaner or more powerful (higher percentage of KNO3 and Charcoal in the resulting mix) then it might be worth trying for inlines and similar.
Thoughts?
Dave, here is a link with some of the different woods listed. I have a another more extensive one saved someplace if I can locate it. :idea:
http://www.musketeer.ch/blackpowder/charcoal.html
LynC2 interesting article, a specially about charring temp. I've just built a small fire around a old popcorn tin to char not giving any control over temp. I'll have to try charring at 2 different temps to see if I get a velocity change
whiterabbit I would "think" the sulfur added would help with ignition time when firing from a flintlock. If it goes off a fraction of a second faster, this would have to make your shots more accurate while hunting. Less chance of moving off target. And I need all the help I can get
Another benefit of lower char temps that maintain some of the creosote in the charcoal is softer fouling. Similar to swiss versus goex. I am still in design mode on how to easily control the temp. If anyone has experience with temp control while charring please post.
Wally
Well I,m in the process of building a new retort. It is a double barrel design. I,m insulating the bottom barrel, &
venting the small barrel gases back into the lower barrel, threw a barrel valve. But it is still being fitted & such. When
I get it going & working as I want I will post some picks.
Fly
Would you need temp control of the heat source or just a upper limit on charcoal to know when to pull it?
Well I can very it with intake air control.
Fly
I've only experimented with 3 different woods; Sand Bar Willow, Black Willow, and Tree of Heaven. TOH has given me the best velocities BUT that may be from improved processes as much as the wood itself. I started with the Sand Bar Willow because that was what I could find and was pretty happy with the results. Fly sent me some Black and that worked a little better. I went to TOH because in one of the charts it rated pretty high and it is everywhere around this area. I can walk 25 yrds from my shop door and get all that I want.
I believe that any of the Willows will give satisfactory results with good technique. The reason that Black Willow might have been the preferred wood was results and availability in quantity. If you are feeding the war machine, quantity and consistency takes president over supreme quality. Certain woods might make better powder but if you can't get enough to feed an Army what's the point. As far as the TOH it probably didn't enter this country till long after BP lost favor to smokeless. It is a native Chinese tree.
There is only so much velocity that you can get from BP and even 100fps difference from wood to wood won't make a hill of beans for fun shooting. Even for competition consistency in velocity means more than max velocity. For hunting which is primarily what I do with mine, minute of deer to 125yd or so is sufficient. Beyond that, distance estimation is paramount regardless of which powder you use just because of the trajectory.
My first loads made with the Sand Bar Willow gave me about 75fps less than Swiss in a 40-65. That went all of the way through a deer. I even tried it in a silhouette match at 300yds and while my score was lower than usual (12 of 20) with 2 misses less than an inch off, I was impressed. At 500yds that increased considerably though. I haven't tried it since and my procedures have improved considerably since then. Too much to do and not enough time.
Bob
From personal experience.
1 Harvest your wood in the Spring after leaves appear. The bark is much easier to strip and the wood gets a chance to dry before use.
2 Anything over 3/4" needs to be split. The density of wood and the size of in your retort controls the evenness of the char.
Mold maker,
Agree 100% on spring harvest, been doing that for my diamond willow sticks and that almost makes peeling them easy. The stave horse and draw knife are always ready from my bow making so if I get tougher bark I just use those instead of trying to hold the pieces.
Fly and Dave M,
However we can keep the retort internal temp from exceeding 625F will keep the creosote but has to complete the char. The professional systems I have been studying use a thermocouple inside the retort and control the fuel inside an insulated oven to regulate. Poor mans version might be a brick oven using a small fire under the retort to start then using the wood gas piped back under the retort with a bleeder valve to control temp. Measuring inside retort with a 1000f thermometer.
Wally