Making Black Powder- What kind of charcoal?

B

BlackPowderBen

New member
Hi all,
I was going to make black powder for my black powder guns with black willow charcoal because it burns fast, but it is unavailable online right now. Is there another kind of charcoal that will work for making black powder?

Thanks, BlackPowderBen
 
If you're going through the trouble of making your own black powder, why not make your own charcoal too? It's super simple. I've made black powder with 2x4 pine studs, and it's pretty good. Sooty, but good.
 
I've made some before, I used balsa wood. I haven't tried it in a rifle, I have I small pocket cannon I use it in. But it seems to work well, pretty potent stuff, more so than Pyrodex
 
There are many videos on YouTube and instructions elsewhere.

Basically you make a retort. You can use a 1 gallon paint can from Home Depot or wherever.

Cut your wood into sticks, fill can with sticks, seal lid on. Punch a 1/4" hole in the top. Cook the can over or in a fire. When the smoke coming out of the hole no longer supports burns (supports a flame), it's done. They say it takes 1-2 hours.

I am going to try this soon.

But you can also buy the ingredients from Skylighter and it works out to about $7 a pound to make powder vs the $26+ it is costing me to buy it now.

Steve
 
Ben ~ I make the charcoal ^^^ that way. However, I haven't used a paint can. Chopped up the chunks of 2x4 scrap and put it in an old Top tobacco can. Punched a couple nail holes in the lid. Every time I have enough limbs, branches and twigs to burn in the fire pit, I fill the can with wood chunks (black willow last few times) and toss it on some coals in the fire pit. When the smoke stops blowing out of the holes on the lid, the charcoal is done. Can take from 20 to 45 minutes in my experience depending on whether the wood is a bit wet, green, etc... Then I crunch the charcoal chunks as much as possible. After that, I use an electric coffee grinder to get it to a manageable powder.
 
Yes. Harbor Freight double can (6lb) ball mill and hard lead .60 cal balls. I sped up the mill to 90 rpm. I think it was 30 to start with, which is too slow for a good mill with the media I'm using. I mix all powders together and mill it for about 6 hours. I just followed what others were doing. Plenty of youtube videos on the subject. I just milled about a pound of sulfurless powder (4 parts kno3 and 1 part charcoal, by weight). Hoping it will be good shotgun powder. If you ever do this, make sure you run a long extension cord to your mill, and it's a good idea to have the mill over a hill or surrounded by sand bags. Not likely to blow, but if it does, you don't want shrapnel. Plug in and unplug the electric before you approach your mill. Follow safety precautions or you can get bad surprises.
 
Ben - go over to the castboolit site and do a search on it. There are some over there that make their own and a number of threads on it. The last I made was for chemistry class in high school almost 50 years ago - now I'd probably be locked up as a "tourist" for doing that for a chemistry project! I know I've read on some of the posts over there that willow is preferred by many. :)
 
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