Originally Posted by
DoubleBuck
HighUintas, I have put feelers out, to see if I could find a Paulownia tree. The State says it 'may' be in Benton County, but I'm yet to find it. I have many types of trees here on my farm, and my wife is into all things plants, and she's looking too. We're fairly sure, from the flower pictures, of Paulownia, that we don't have any. Arkansas also lists it as an extreme invasive species, so I'm glad we don't have any. But, if I find one, I'll snatch some wood, and give it a try. Lots of guys say it's the real deal. I've used three willows, including Black, and I've used Black Locust. It was very fast linear burn, and was clean, but according to the Chrono, it was 100 fps slower than Balsa. BUT, Sassafras was very close to 100 fps faster, than my Balsa powder, which is incredible on the linear rate. That Sassafras is three years old. Lots of people tout Black Willow, but it was third in the chrono department, for me. I have one more, that I really want to test out, but can't get weather cooperation, at this time. We've had light rain, every day for a week.
On the press deal and dry powder; I have a 20 ton commercial press (and a 60 ton, too) which I use to make pucks. I've not used the big one, because people seem to be getting their results with 12 and some even 6 ton presses. And, I don't want to kill my puck die, which becomes a possibility, with 60 tons. What I may not be doing, is leaving them long enough in the press. The longest I ever left one, was about 10 minutes and that was because I got busy and forgot it. Usually, I leave them about 2 minutes, in the press, with the press loaded pretty well. Paramax says he's getting good results with a 12 ton press, and I know I'm putting more than that on them, but don't know if length of time is what I'm missing. BTW, I do 1 one ounce puck, at a time. Measuring them with Mics, I'm getting that optimum compression of them, but dry just has not worked for me.
On the Sulfur deal, I've read what VettePilot said about it 'plasticizing' with pressure, but have no idea where. Probably on one of the Pyro sites, or another group on this site. But, as I recall, that text also said, once that happens, there was no need keep the pressure on it. VettePilot, do you concur?
You asked me about my cleanliness and speed tests translating to the same, in the barrel? The cleanliness, absolutely. The speed, I cannot verify. I've only owned the chronograph for about three months, or so. I will say, that the three powders that have chronographed the fastest, had the fastest linear burn rates, as well. I shot up all my Swiss powder, before I bought the chrono, so I don't have a 'factory' baseline to compare to. But, I had my rifle zeroed with it, and the three powders I've made, which had a faster linear burn rate, than Swiss, all three shot high, on the same target. And, I do have the couple of videos, on the linear burn tester, for the Swiss. It was very mediocre on the linear burn. I was using Graff and Son's Swiss and they have changed manufacturers since I bought their powder probably three years ago. So, it may be hard to get that baseline back. I can tell you, lighting a line with a stick match, almost every powder I have tested, blew that Swiss away, with easy lighting. It was stupid hard to light. The first time I lit mine, it smoked my hand. haha