Charcoal - again !

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sambo
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Charcoal - again !

Post by sambo »

One for the charcoal gurus ( that's pretty much you Ken and Richard ;-) )

I'm looking at sourcing some charcoal and I have the following options :

Vegetal charcoal powder Vine
Vegetal charcoal powder Pine
Vegetal charcoal powder Poplar
Vegetal charcoal powder Beech/birch
Vegetal charcoal powder Pine Extrafine
Vegetal charcoal powder Beech Extr.
Vegetal charcoal powder Hemp

The difference in price is negligible. What's likely to make the fastest blackpowder? I was under the impression Vine and Hemp would be the top 2 contenders, with Hemp i the lead ?

Sam.
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Boophoenix
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Re: Charcoal - again !

Post by Boophoenix »

Sambo, keep in mind if you're sourcing from another source than cooked for pyro you may have to work with them to cool down the cooking process some. This isn't such a variable for other uses I don't believe so it's never been a concern to vendors.
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Pyro-Gear
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Re: Charcoal - again !

Post by Pyro-Gear »

Sam one of the best charcoals we have ever tested was Picon http://nitroparis.com/en/producto/carbo ... con-polvo/

Name Sabina
Common Names Aromatic Cedar, Eastern Red Cedar
Scientific Name Juniperus virginiana
Family Cupressaceae

This was without doubt the best over the counter charcoal available.

I found the vine charcoal to be pretty mundane so I would ovoid that one, pine and beech are good performers so consider both of those charcoals.
I have yet to test hemp but rumour has it that it is a good performer.
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Boophoenix
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Re: Charcoal - again !

Post by Boophoenix »

Unless you are just tinkering around many of us over look one key point. Use what you have access to that performs the task at hand. Nothing worse than getting everything dialed in and having to start testing all over again.

In our little piece of the world the powder everything is compared to is GOEX. Very many charcoals can meet or beat that. Yet, the remainder of the industry here uses commercial powders for their ease of use and consistency.

As hobbyists we can afford to explore and use hotter powders, but if you plan to produce in any quantity this isn't as easy. You'd find you time likely better spent elsewhere.
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richardh08
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Re: Charcoal - again !

Post by richardh08 »

Following the tests I have run in the past, I would hesitate to recommend any particular charcoal solely on the type of wood from which it was made. I found almost as much variation between different samples that were (in some cases, allegedly) made from the same wood as I found between those made from different types of timber. However, the vast majority of the different charcoals I've tested perform at least reasonably well, so I think you would be unlucky to find a commercial sample that produced really poor BP.

I'd go with Ken's recommendation to avoid vine. I've only tested one sample and it was OK, but not great. It's used a lot in Malta, but that is probably because it's the only readily available raw material they have. Like him, I've never tried hemp. There are many varieties of pine wood so what you get could be down to luck. I've always found it to be a bit sparky, even when well milled.

Although I haven't tried it, I seem to recall that poplar is one that is recommended in the Spanish paper, and I've yet to see a really bad beech charcoal.

I hope that helps.
Even when I'm wrong, I'm convincing.
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Boophoenix
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Re: Charcoal - again !

Post by Boophoenix »

Thanks for bring up Poplar Richard. I stumbled across a source of material to cook a bit back and had been meaning to check for more info on it.
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sambo
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Re: Charcoal - again !

Post by sambo »

Thanks guys, thanks very much indeed.
I'm basically putting in an order with Jengo. I already have their agreement they will ship. Nitroparis did also agree but I prefer the other Items carried by Jengo. I will be getting Potassium Perchlorate / Guanidine Nitrate amongst other things. I can open this order up to the forum if Ken thinks that's suitable, but I'm not sure if that's appropriate.

I'll double check on the hemp.

thanks again.
dave321
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Re: Charcoal - again !

Post by dave321 »

sam,

can I ask what the guanidine nitrate is for, I'm just curious
dave
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Re: Charcoal - again !

Post by Mixer »

dave321 wrote:sam,

can I ask what the guanidine nitrate is for, I'm just curious
dave
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanidine_nitrate
sambo
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Re: Charcoal - again !

Post by sambo »

I use it in blue strobes with copper powder.
I might forfeit the Guanidine Nitrate in favour of placing the order with nitroparis for the picon charcoal, I just can't decide !
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biffo
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Re: Charcoal - again !

Post by biffo »

I'd like a couple of kgs of the coal if you go that way Sam. Regards B
sambo
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Re: Charcoal - again !

Post by sambo »

ok mate, I'll be contacting them when the month rolls over for an order.
sambo
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Re: Charcoal - again !

Post by sambo »

I've gone back through the NitroParis catalogue and they carry guanidine nitrate anyway so I'm waiting back on a quote. Hopefully it will be reasonable !
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biffo
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Re: Charcoal - again !

Post by biffo »

Thanks Sam. B
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