Making charcoal for BP

[EMC45]

I cut down and debarked som TOH and rendered it into charcoal. I used a metal coffee can with a double thickness of tinfoil on top wired closed. I poked a small hole in the foil and it gassed off for quite a while. I lit the gas coming out and it burned vigorously.

I simply put the can in the fire pit and stacked "fat lighter" around it and it burned until it stopped gassing off. I retrieved it the next day and the charcoal was perfect.

[Claypipe]

I think the big thing about temp is the consistency of the powder lot to lot. That would be difficult to do in a hobby setting. Bob

Maybe if one used a ceramics kiln?

[GhostHawk]

Skrapyard768 it is my understanding that most of that charcoal for grilling is hardwood.

For black powder you want the lightest wood you can find. Willow, tree of heaven. I've even heard of bundles of oatgrass.

I wonder about bundles of pigweed or horseweed stems an inch in diameter. Cut, dried, bundled, and charcoaled. Might be a little time spent experimenting would give you something that works really really well.