Last month I was gifted a box of sassafras wood from one of the members here to try out. It made into good powder and I sent him back a report with photos of my process and my results. He replied back encouraged me to post the information on the forum. Now, I would like to say that this is my method and certainly not the only way to make good powder, but there may be a nugget or two that can help others on this journey. Also, for me it is not the end all be all as my mind keeps going down rabbit holes thinking "what if" and I need to do another experiment to see if I can do it better. I would like to thank all the ones who have contributed to this thread as the information here is the real deal. This is pretty picture heavy so it may take a few posts.
4/13/2024
It was a nice day today so cooked off some of the sassafras wood you sent. There looks like it took about half of the box for a gallon paint can. I kept the outside temperature at about 450 degrees. I didn't get a time that it took to cook it off but I'm guessing about 40-45 minutes.
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It cooked down to a nice uniform charcoal. There was a hint of brown on some of the larger pieces. It all ground down to a fine powder with an old hand meat grinder.