My homemade black powder

[DoubleBuck]

Oh, NO!!!! You di-ent!
Congratulations, buddy! I wondered what you were talking about something about rings. Now I guess we know! We'll see you when you get released!!!!

[almar]

Okay I had to try and went out back and loaded my 1860 Uberti percussion revolver with 25 grains and shot off two more rounds with a 220 grain Johnson and dow bullet. First was 709fps the other was 702, they were stout as heck blowing away the entire percussion cap. Very potent powder, not as much as my best batch, but darn close. This is good but I need to understand more. I'm going to charr more tomorrow but at 560 or so and longer
. Stay tuned...

I might switch to my now preferred bullet from accurate molds, it's a 250gr beast that allows 30 gr of powder with modern flat top and its heeled. I can't think of any bullet better for these revolvers, I might switch to the walker or dragoon and load it with 40 or more grains.


Thanks doublebuck, I'm almost 50 it took awhile to find a good one, but I did. I am blessed.

[Linstrum]

Just a heads up, when reading stuff about how hot to roast wood, take a good close look at whether the temperature is degrees C or degrees F. I've seen it where it just says "500º", so make a good guess. If it something from the scientific community it WILL BE in Celsius or Kelvin, denoted C or K. For Kelvin, see below.

Wood heated to 750º C is "dead burnt" because 750º C is 1382º F, which is a pretty good red heat. All the useful volatiles have been distilled out at that temperature.

Us "heathens" here in the United States are about the only ones left who still use Fahrenheit, plus the scientific community in the United States always uses Celsius, too. For what it is worth, Celsius used to be called Centigrade before about 1970, so you may see that in older references, but both are noted as "ºC".

One degree C is exactly 1.8 degrees F. To make things screwy, water freezes at 0º C but at 32º F, and water boils at 100º C and 212º F (at sea level). That is where the 1.8 comes from, 212 minus 32 = 180, 100 minus 0 = 100, therefor 180 ÷ 100 = 1.8. The offset between freezing points is 32 degrees, though, so converting from C to F is not done by multiplying and diving by 1.8, uh uh, nope. Use a conversion table or conversion calculator unless you like adding and subtracting 32.

To make us tear our hair out, some use degrees Kelvin, ºK, where zero starts at absolute zero, -273.15º Celsius. One degree K is one degree Celsius, the zero points are offset by 273.15º. That's 459.67º below zero Fahrenheit. Kelvin is rarely used for everyday stuff.

[Vettepilot]

Almar must've found a good one! Being allowed to play on wediing day?! She's a "keeper"!

Yeah, my reading indicates we should be working in the 500 to 700 degree range--> FARENHEIT.

Vettepilot

[Vettepilot]

Interesting... been making some charcoal myself today, and this is my first batch using my Dutch Oven rigged with a barbeque thermometer. Hence, this will be the first charcoal cook for me whilst monitoring temperature.

Now keep in mind this is with the Red Cedar pet bedding chips I had mentioned, so using that's a first for me as well.

This was all done on my turkey fryer. Man! It went really fast! I was done in about 40 minutes.

Details:

I filled the Dutch Oven slightly over full to account for the slightly convex lid, but I did not pack nor compress the wood chips.

I used a thick layer of ceramic Kaowool insulation around the oven. When cooking, there was a fair amount of smoke coming from both my vent, and under the lid, so I quickly piled bricks on top looking to try to seal the lid a bit.

It heated up to around 250F in about 10 minutes, and emitted copious amounts of smoke. The temp then climbed fairly steadily to just over 600, where it hesitated. I turned the head down at this point. It then climbed on up to 650, whereby I turned the flame down as low as I dared. It kept going to 700, and at that point I removed my insulation, and that stopped the temp climb.

At this point though, the smoke had greatly diminished. I went ahead and held it there for about 5 minutes, and shut it down. When I shut it down, there was not a lot of smoke, and what there was barely held a flame when tested. The rig did not cool down below 400F for probably another 15 minutes.

By the new ideas on charcoal posted here, this batch is probably over-cooked, but I learned a lot via using the thermometer. I am going to test and use the coal anyway, and I'll let you all know.

Vettepilot

[DoubleBuck]

Linstrum;
I don't use Celsius myself, but I do use an internet conversion table, to figure out how much it is.

[DoubleBuck]

VettePilot;
I've been waiting for your first test! I hope it comes out great for you. That Dutch Oven looks like it should make charcoal! Now, as I said; they all dance, but can she sing? We hope so!

[Vettepilot]

Here's some pics of today's cook. We'll see what it looks like tomorrow after my doctor's appt. if there's time.

I've got vice grips holding the lid tight now that there's room for them with that insulation out of the way. Hopefully it didn't let enough air in for my charcoal to burn up. I think I'll braze some latches on it, and maybe run by Tractor Supply and see about a wood stove gasket for the lid too. Just details, but all in all I like the rig.

I'm slow, but I'm pretty good... ;~) (Ha ha...)

Vettepilot

[DoubleBuck]

VP;
I see nothing wrong with that! Let us know how it turns out and good luck with it!

[Vettepilot]

I think I forgot to tell you guys. I have a whole bunch of dead Mesquite around here, so against my better judgement and what I've learned, a while back I decided to try it.

Yeah, don't bother. Slow, and very dirty.

Vettepilot

[DoubleBuck]

VP;
Tumbleweeds! I've always thought tumbleweeds would be the desert powder maker. They are light, grow fast, burn with amazing heat and don't have much ash. They may not be any better than the Mesquite, but I would be surprised if they didn't make fast powder.

[Vettepilot]

Yeah, I had that thought once myself, and do think they would be worth trying.

The first time I lit off a pile of tumbleweeds many years ago, I was absolutely astonished at how fiercely they burn. I'll keep my eyes out for a pile of them now that you reminded me.

An interesting note about tumbleweeds--> they only grow where the ground has been disturbed. It's really odd. There won't be a tumbleweed in sight, then when some construction/dirt movement occurs, up pop tumbleweeds a short time later!!

I looked in the Dutch Oven from yesterday's cook. It looks great, and none of the chips burned so I guess air did not get in. This was so fast and easy that if the charcoal works well, I'll definitely be doing the cedar chips again!

Vettepilot

[almar]

Good stuff Vett. I just got the bricks for the kiln today, they are still in the box untouched till I get the rest of the materials. today is my day off, I did another charcoal "cook" and it turned out bad, lots of uncharred wood and some overcharred. My test is on a piece of white paper, if it scribes a brown streak its good, if it scribes black its overdone, if it doesn't scribe at all its "raw". The wood on the bottom of the cylinder was overdone and the top was uncharred. The kiln will change this but I still have to build it. I will not be using this charcoal, I think I know enough now to discard the charcoal and not go through the whole process to confirm. I know what I'm looking for, the problem is getting it consistently. This is the last time I will be using this charcoal making setup. The heat in this crude setup comes in hot from the bottom and rises to the top so obviously its not going to be even.

Another tip for those who want to test their powder, make sure its fully dry. I was scratching my head today when testing my powder from yesterday. The swiss powder shot at about 760 fps, my powder from yesterday shot at about 710 fps, today, the powder I just screened it shot at 600??? So all kinds of questions started coming up like powder density vs velocity and no... It was simple, it was just not fully dry...small things...I put it in an oven on parchment paper and dried it for an hour. The density is 30.56gr weight/30gr volume at fffg and it shoots at 718 fps. This is a good powder, its not perfect, the charcoal had a lot of dark black in it mixed in with the brown, but its usable and good enough to fully process.

[DoubleBuck]

Almar;
haha, you mean you forgot to dry your powder, before you shot it?
I don't suppose that would have had anything do do with YOU GETTING MARRIED YESTERDAY? LOL
It sounds like you got it going on, seriously. Keep the posts coming. I'm kind of standing by on making powder until you get done. haha You have some interesting stuff going on. Several guys do. I'm enjoying all of it.

[DoubleBuck]

VP;
I made some powder out of eastern red cedar one time and it was pretty good. I'll be interested to hear how it comes out for you.

[LAGS]

I just saw on the Net , that Goex just released a press statement that they were shutting down their plant in La.
Does anyone have more info ?

[almar]

There was a fire I think, not sure about it shutting down for good...

[almar]

Almar;
haha, you mean you forgot to dry your powder, before you shot it?
I don't suppose that would have had anything do do with YOU GETTING MARRIED YESTERDAY? LOL
It sounds like you got it going on, seriously. Keep the posts coming. I'm kind of standing by on making powder until you get done. haha You have some interesting stuff going on. Several guys do. I'm enjoying all of it.

Yeah...haha, it was straight out of the press where I moistened it a bit and thought it was dry enough after screening and sitting out in the sun a bit...guess not. Honestly, I think I never will be fully done, I will keep learning as long as I keep making my powder. Always something to improve, something to discover. If I would throw a percentage out there, I guess 95% of what it takes to make BP is out there in this thread already and in other sources, the rest is our own fine tuning based on our tools, wood, etc.

[DoubleBuck]

Almar;
This brown Charcoal and (for me) having just found the pressing regimen to get the density up; and now finding you can cook it cool and pressure cook the wood to save volatiles has turned my simple little procedure up a notch. I'm gonna cook a batch here pretty quick. Even though I probably have a couple of pounds of left overs, of a couple of different woods. I have to try this. I'm flying blind on the vent, though. The two real good articles I've read both said they use pressure cookers, but not how much pressure. I'm seriously considering taking a 4 inch to two inch pipe reducer, with two threaded caps on it, full of wood and baking it at 521°+ F, for an hour, and see what it looks like. I can screw the caps on where they won't vent for sure. She may blow, that's the part we don't know, sir. But, if she don't, we're thinking a pound worth of #1 charcoal, every bake.

[almar]

Almar;
This brown Charcoal and (for me) having just found the pressing regimen to get the density up; and now finding you can cook it cool and pressure cook the wood to save volatiles has turned my simple little procedure up a notch. I'm gonna cook a batch here pretty quick. Even though I probably have a couple of pounds of left overs, of a couple of different woods. I have to try this. I'm flying blind on the vent, though. The two real good articles I've read both said they use pressure cookers, but not how much pressure. I'm seriously considering taking a 4 inch to two inch pipe reducer, with two threaded caps on it, full of wood and baking it at 521°+ F, for an hour, and see what it looks like. I can screw the caps on where they won't vent for sure. She may blow, that's the part we don't know, sir. But, if she don't, we're thinking a pound worth of #1 charcoal, every bake.

Maybe a cheap small pressure cooker with no plastic and replace the rubber seals with hi temp gasket? I don't know if i would go full seal on it, the water wont be able to escape and i think you want that. As long as the charcoal is in a very volatile rich environment i think it would be optimal enough... just my 2 cents, not sure if true or not.