Ralph Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 (edited) i already have very good lift i just thaught some numerical data would be nice to show people and this was a method i saw used when some one was comparing burn speed of dry meal to burn speed of meal which had been wet and than alowed to dry (granulated with out a binder) what you sujest i use 3 hour milled any way i will report back with all the times once i am done (probably week and a half most of these are still as wood (acept juniper willow and balsa) Edited July 11, 2009 by Ralph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ventsi Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 (edited) Well my bestfriend's uncle has a willow that he said I can cut down if I want. The thing is pretty freaking big though and for now I'm just taking a few branches whenever I need them [debarking sucks on a small scale]. It makes some decent BP but I don't like how the charcoal is hard to break up, compared to stuff like pine C. its like pebbles. Anyway, any of you guys ever seen those big bags of Alder chips sold at sports stores for smoking fish? I'm thinking of buying one or two if its the good stuff, any info? Edited July 11, 2009 by Ventsi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 Anyway, any of you guys ever seen those big bags of Alder chips sold at sports stores for smoking fish? I'm thinking of buying one or two if its the good stuff, any info? Alder huh? Never tried that. 2x4s up here are yellow pine, can you say cheap? I cut them down to 10" lengths (that's how tall my cooker is) and split them. I never use wood with knots, that is what I start the fire with and I pull the cooker as soon as the steam stops coming out of the pot. I get very similar results as Ned Gorski does with my red gum milled BP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted July 11, 2009 Author Share Posted July 11, 2009 Alder is reported to give very good BP. The chips should be fine. Or, if you're like me and lazy, you can buy it. http://www.customcharcoal.com/ It's odd that your willow is hard. All of the willow I've cooked has been extremely soft. Branches up to 1" or so broke without a great deal of effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSidewinder Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 Mumbles is right about snapping the cooked sticks, Ventsi. I've got some Cowboy Brand "clone" stuff that is a hardwood of some sort. Takes a bit of force to break the 1-1/2 to 2 inch sticks, but very little for the 1-inch stuff. Are you sure you're cooking your wood all the way through when you make it into charcoal? Has all the outgassing stopped before you pull it from the fire? When you snap a stick of the cooked product, it should be shiny black, almost reflective for the stuff I have, all the way through to the core. And for the other charcoals I've seen, aside from mine, that's also been true. It's it's dull black it may be undercooked, and if it's dull brown, it's definitely undercooked. That would also make it a lot harder to mill, I *think*. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bananaphone69 Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 Ok, I've read over and over that alder from "custom charcoal" is where it's at for bp. I need a final consensus, because I have easy access to almost unlimited Paulownia, and I need to know if its worth spending the extra green. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 Ok, I've read over and over that alder from "custom charcoal" is where it's at for bp. I need a final consensus, because I have easy access to almost unlimited Paulownia, and I need to know if its worth spending the extra green. Paulowina? I have only been able to cook one pot of that and I used if for my 1" cannon. I should have used larger grains since it burned way to vigorously and distorted the sabot some. Impressive stuff but alder chips huh? Im gonna try that tonight, campfire with the kids, always a pot on the fire, 20 year old went to a friends house in May and was perplexed as to why there was no pot on the fire! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derekroolz Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 Paulowina? I have only been able to cook one pot of that and I used if for my 1" cannon. I should have used larger grains since it burned way to vigorously and distorted the sabot some. Impressive stuff but alder chips huh? Im gonna try that tonight, campfire with the kids, always a pot on the fire, 20 year old went to a friends house in May and was perplexed as to why there was no pot on the fire! HAHA thats hilarious, what do you recomend for cooking charcoal using hot coals for a grill and piling them on the sides or using the left overs from the fire and piling those around the can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted July 12, 2009 Share Posted July 12, 2009 (edited) HAHA thats hilarious, what do you recomend for cooking charcoal using hot coals for a grill and piling them on the sides or using the left overs from the fire and piling those around the can. I just finished a yellow pine cooking on the gas grill, took around 2.5 hours. Neighbors always ask what the heck I am doing that makes all that smoke, I just reply "Oh, just smoking stuff". Edited July 12, 2009 by dagabu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyrogeorge Posted July 12, 2009 Share Posted July 12, 2009 dagabu you can set fire in the holes when the smoke starts to avoid big smokes,and i think that it isn't good idea to breath the smoke..Also nice scale,i have the same Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50AE Posted July 12, 2009 Share Posted July 12, 2009 Funny, I bought 3 scales of the same kind too, it was the cheaper one on eBay. One I keep for me, the other 2 I will give them to my pyro friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGM Posted July 12, 2009 Share Posted July 12, 2009 Has anyone ever used cedar charcoal? I can't find a whole lot of info on it, but what I have read is promising. I have a bunch lying around after trimming some of my trees a few days ago, and I'm going to cook some up. I'll post my results tonight or tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bananaphone69 Posted July 12, 2009 Share Posted July 12, 2009 Never tried cedar, but just wanted to say I bought 5 of those scales on ebay for the price of 3 from the guy. He gave me a discount Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted July 12, 2009 Share Posted July 12, 2009 dagabu you can set fire in the holes when the smoke starts to avoid big smokes,and i think that it isn't good idea to breath the smoke..Also nice scale,i have the same Naw, it was all outside. no breathing the stuff. Just adressed it here:http://www.apcforum.net/forums/index.php?a...&qpid=50462 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGM Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 I cooked the cedar, but the only test I have done so far has been to grind up some BP in a mortar and pestle for a few minutes. Even with that, it looked promising, and was comparable to my willow charcoal under the same conditions. I'll make some legit BP tomorrow, I anticipate very good results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derekroolz Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 I cooked the cedar, but the only test I have done so far has been to grind up some BP in a mortar and pestle for a few minutes. Even with that, it looked promising, and was comparable to my willow charcoal under the same conditions. I'll make some legit BP tomorrow, I anticipate very good results. I bought some hickory chips and thought why not try it. I dont know if it will work though because there is some additives for flavor of the smoke, but atleast it will smell good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Never tried cedar, but just wanted to say I bought 5 of those scales on ebay for the price of 3 from the guy. He gave me a discount I found mine at DealExtreme.com, $7.00 delivered. Did I pay too much? I love the scale, works great and holds the calibration fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bananaphone69 Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 7 bucks, 12 including shipping, for 5... I got an awesome deal I know By the way, I was working on summer reading, and I read The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwel and in it, the blacksmith makes the main character make Alder charcoal for his forge to make the king a sword. He noted its superior heat, but it burned very quickly. Sounds good to me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEskimo Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 I use white pine from Lowe's for sparks, airfloat from Skylighter for sparks, and paulownia for lift. I can lift shells by using meal dust paulownia, without granulating or corning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted August 1, 2009 Author Share Posted August 1, 2009 How big of shells do you make that you can lift them with meal powder? It could get dangerous in larger shells. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flying fish Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 (edited) I was debating between willow and alder charcoal from Customcharcoal.com . I finally went with willow, figuring that...while willow is the same price for a lot half the size, It'll take me years to use up the 8 lbs of charcoal. And by that time I would have gotten off my ass and built a charcoal cooker, and found a sustained source of acceptable wood . I have a friend who has many white pines that need trimming in her yard, but we haven't scheduled a bonfire night yet. The word on the street/forums (and the data from that one study) seems to indicate that white pine makes great lift. I'll be sure to bring my charcoal cans over whenever bonfire night does happen! Edited August 3, 2009 by flying fish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psyco_1322 Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 I used to use pine for all my shell needs, which would be stars/burst/lift/etc. Even after granulating with red gum, the lift just didn't seem to have that much Umf! I too understood that pine was supposed to bring some good power, but I just wasn't seeing it. I bought some red alder from customcharcoal.com and have been using that since, and boy can I tell the difference! It's some hot stuff, and that's with 5% dextrin for binder. Red gum just allows your grains to smash and turn to dust, dextrin keeps them hard granules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 I used to use pine for all my shell needs, which would be stars/burst/lift/etc. Even after granulating with red gum, the lift just didn't seem to have that much Umf! I too understood that pine was supposed to bring some good power, but I just wasn't seeing it. I bought some red alder from customcharcoal.com and have been using that since, and boy can I tell the difference! It's some hot stuff, and that's with 5% dextrin for binder. Red gum just allows your grains to smash and turn to dust, dextrin keeps them hard granules. OK, I'm in, which one to buy? Alder or Willow? Wont come in time for PGI so White Pine rockets this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted August 3, 2009 Author Share Posted August 3, 2009 I'd go with the Alder. You get more bang for your buck (pun intended), and it's reported to be more powerful. I bought the willow unfortunately. It works great though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flying fish Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 LOL, now I have to decide whether to ask Custom charcoal to change my order, or just let them ship the willow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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