famdoc2892
07-22-2013, 10:08 AM
[This will be old hat for you old hands, so let me thank you in advance for your patience and help. Thanks especially to Cal50 whose PMs have helped already. For the benefit of others, I'm reproducing my questions to him in a new thread.]
I'm making my own black willow charcoal using a cookie tin retort to process young branches under 2" diameter and stripped of their bark while green. My KNO3 is Spectracide Stump remover, and industrial supply powdered sulfur at 99.8%+ purity. Ground each ingredient in a small (1-1 1/2 cup) ceramic mortar till finely powdered, mixed at 75/13/12 by weight using my reloading powder scale and ground together, added water to clay consistency, ground a little more and screened onto butcher paper through a window screen (about 1.2 mm). May have been a bit moist, got some "strings" of granules that I put back through screen when dry, then sifted out fines through a skillet grease screen (about 0.8mm). As noted, burning a sample was disappointing. [loud hissing "smoke bomb"]
I'm in process of building a ball mill, and was undecided about the value of pressing the powder. I've read through Ulrich Bretscher's page and that by Don Williams, and much of Ian von Maltitz's book, but feeling a little discouraged about my current results. I'm wondering if the equipment is the difference? I'm an experienced reloader and caster, so not afraid of a new process and learning curve, but want to make sure I'm on the right track. Any thought? Sound familiar?
I'm making my own black willow charcoal using a cookie tin retort to process young branches under 2" diameter and stripped of their bark while green. My KNO3 is Spectracide Stump remover, and industrial supply powdered sulfur at 99.8%+ purity. Ground each ingredient in a small (1-1 1/2 cup) ceramic mortar till finely powdered, mixed at 75/13/12 by weight using my reloading powder scale and ground together, added water to clay consistency, ground a little more and screened onto butcher paper through a window screen (about 1.2 mm). May have been a bit moist, got some "strings" of granules that I put back through screen when dry, then sifted out fines through a skillet grease screen (about 0.8mm). As noted, burning a sample was disappointing. [loud hissing "smoke bomb"]
I'm in process of building a ball mill, and was undecided about the value of pressing the powder. I've read through Ulrich Bretscher's page and that by Don Williams, and much of Ian von Maltitz's book, but feeling a little discouraged about my current results. I'm wondering if the equipment is the difference? I'm an experienced reloader and caster, so not afraid of a new process and learning curve, but want to make sure I'm on the right track. Any thought? Sound familiar?