Making Charcoal

[lead chucker]

When making charcoal for black powder how do you know when its done. I make two batches and they looked good. Made a third batch and after it cooled it still had a little that wasn't done all the way. it seemed to have stopped smoking so i figured it was done. Another thing is what do you look for when you may have over cooked the charcoal? I think that doing this correctly really improves the quality of the powder. Im using cedar shavings.

[JimB..]

I’ve only made lump charcoal and I always just go longer than I think it needs. Without oxygen I believe the carbon is fairly inert, so time doesn’t matter. For my application a little ash doesn’t matter, probably does for yours.

Shavings seems a curious way to start, I’d think lump so that it’s easy to grade and then grind the selected pieces to the desired size.

[Trapper-Jack]

When I cook my charcoal, I call it done when it the smoke begins to decrease. If you are monitoring the temperature, I've noticed that it will begin to climb. I don't let it get over 600 degrees. In my experiments, cedar shavings made powder, but it was the least energetic. I currently am using willow and am seriously looking at Juniper. Spruce also did well.

[Super Sneaky Steve]

Cook time will depend on what you're cooking, how thick it is, how much moisture is in the wood, how much heat you're producing as well as many other factors.

What it boils down to is experience and having the same repeatable process.

I normally cook willow cut to the same dimensions. I put it in a crock pot which is then placed into a canning pot. The canning pot is filled to the top with wood that I burn as fuel. I know when that's burned all the way down the contents in the inner pot will be fully cooked.

[LAGS]

Using the toilet paper is really nice.
The paper is so consistent that you can almost set a time on cooking it as long as your heat is consistant.
My TP cooks perfect in 45 minutes to one hour .
But I do check it to see that it is right at the point that it is not totally chared and what they call still brown .

[lead chucker]

Does toilet paper make good black powder?

[2TM101]

Does toilet paper make good black powder?

Someone does not watch Youtube.

[dondiego]

Does toilet paper make good black powder?

It makes good charcoal.

[Sandro_ventania]

Does toilet paper make good black powder?

Imagine!!!

https://youtu.be/UTV5I8HDX1I?feature=shared

[Super Sneaky Steve]

I have some Cottenelle in the garage right now. I'm still undecided if I want to press or screen.

Back to making char. I found the lack of smoke to be a poor indicator. I always need to continue to cook a good while after. I do use pretty high heat. I'm cheap so propane and briquettes are rarely used. Old wood in the back yard is usually used.

[LAGS]

So far,
I have found that TP makes very consistent Charcoal.
It is very light and turns to Air Fly very easily.
It is consistent with the Charcoal that I made out of Balsa Wood before .
But a lot cheaper and available.
So far,
Cottonelle seemed to be the best .
But other TP ‘s seem to make very good charcoal that are faster , cleaner powders than things like Cedar Chip Cheacoal

[redhawk0]

I use a retort with two holes in the lid. Packed FULL of my wood. I put the retort in my patio fire pit and once it gets good and hot I light the two holes with a lighter to keep the flame going. (this keeps the air out ...which causes ash) Once things burn down to a point where the two lit holes go out...I pull the retort out of the fire. This generally takes about 2.5 hours. Then all the charcoal is done...no ash (or very little)...and run it through my ball grinder.

redhawk

[LAGS]

So far what I have found is .
4 rolls of standard sized TP rolls with the cardboard tubes cut out will fit in a gallon paint can retort.
It will make almost enough charcoal to do a full pound and a half of BP .
Three larger size rolls will make the same amount.

[HamGunner]

What ever method we use, if it works, it works. Consistency from batch to batch is what I think is just as important as actually getting a Perfect char, whatever that is.

I use a fish/turkey fryer burner to cook my charcoal and is has a very nice control valve to control the heat. On the burner I char the wood or most recently (Toilet Paper), in a large pressure pan cooker. I have a baffle in the bottom to keep the wood from touching the bottom of the cooker and I have fashioned a round weld wire cage to contain the wood so that it can not touch the sides of the cooker.

I place a temperature gauge sensor down through the lid's steam release stem into the cooker and into the stacked wood. I turn the heat up just enough that I get a good blue flame and monitor the temperature closely. When the temperature has finally climbed up to 500 degrees, I start inching the heat control knob down a bit, because once the wood gets to that temperature, it wants to have a run-away if one is not careful and the temperature will suddenly jump well over 600 degrees. I shoot for 550 degrees.

This part of the control is not possible unless one knows the actual temperature of the wood. By tossing the retort into hot coals or a fire will work, but one can not get precise temperature control that way. By just judging by the amount of smoke being released or by the amount of flame, should you ignite the vent hole, you are only guessing at the actual temperature. It is a fairly close guess and I used to do it this way and I got decent strength powder. But I truly think one needs to have a temperature gauge to know for sure that the char is at the proper temperature and for when the char is actually done. The temperature will start dropping once most of the wood has reached it's charring point.

LIke Lags mentioned for his TP, it only takes me from 45 minutes to one hour to finish a batch of Toilet Paper to the point that it is still a dark golden brown color and not black. Black is over cooked. It can still make good powder, but it is even better if the charred wood still has a brown cast to it.

I have monitored many other's reports on their woods and I tried many types of woods myself and my best woods were Sassafras and Black Willow. But with the ease of making TP charcoal and the huge reduction in work involved, I really doubt that I will go back to woods unless we have another TP shortage. In case of a TP shortage, I think I can find a better use for the TP.

[lead chucker]

How about the Kirkland brand TP?

[HamGunner]

I have been using Walley World's Great Value Ultra Strength and it seems to work as well as Sam's Club Member Mark TP. The Members Mark TP is lighter and softer, but makes less charcoal than the same amount of rolls of the Great Value Ultra Strength, so it is my thinking that the heavier the TP, the less you have to stuff into your retort to get the same amount of charcoal. One of the Great Value Ultra Strength rolls makes right about enough charcoal to make 1/2 lb. of powder.

Not proven by me or anyone else that I have read so far, but I suspect that TP is likely TP as long as it has not had something added, like skin conditioner or something such as that.

Heck, John Wayne TP might just be the best to use for charcoal.

[dtknowles]

Has anyone tried the crap toilet paper, the cheap single ply rough stuff. You guys seem to all be using the multi-ply soft toilet paper.

While I agree that consistency is of great value, if you don't have consistency, you can just test what you make and label it as to proper application. At work when we have a lot of lot to lot variation we do what we call simulated service testing so we know the capability of every lot and then we cherry pick lots for use where best properties are most important. Use the strongest material in the most critical applications and use the lesser stuff where it is less critical. No waste except the extra work to test and cherry pick every lot but we would test every lot anyway. This would go off the rails if most lots tested low but thankfully that is not the case.

Back to black powder, if you make a batch (lot) than needs 90 gr. (volume) to get 70 gr. performance, just label it so and use 90 gr. If you get some stuff that is up to snuff label it as such and use that in cartridges and use the other stuff in front stuffers.
Tim

[LAGS]

I think that you can use Any brand of toilet paper and you will get good BP.
But same as using wood.
Each will perform just a tiny bit different.
Even all wood from the same tree,
Or how you cooked your current batch of charcoal.
Find what you are going to use, and practice so you and the charcoal are consistant.

[Delkal]

I have to admit I was always confused about how using hard to get specialty woods like willow would make better black powder vs just buying a bag of Fogo lump charcoal. But TP?

Is it just that starting from purer cellulose is better? So how about making it from old cotton T Shirts?

[lead chucker]

I watched the video and i will try the TP charcoal. I thought i was making good BP but am not getting the velocities he was getting. The only problem is i have probably 15-18 pounds already made from cedar and just pucked up another 5 pounds tonight and have to let dry for a couple weeks before i grind it and screen it. I might just make a special batch with TP and see how it goes. The BP i make seems pretty good and performs good and isn't real dirty. Always room for improvement.