cowboy charcoal

[japcat]

I read that cowboy is pretty good to make bp. Is there any thing else that would be better or equal? I cant find any willow trees where i live. I was wondering what are people using to heat the wood. Using a little propane stove or a little gas stove? thanks

[aquaman]

I use the cowboy charcoal and it's great. If you have a lowes you can probably find it.

 

If not I have found willow charcoal in a grocery store near my house. It was basically wood chips but you can make it into charcoal by cooking it.

[crazyboy25]

i have heard plum is good do you know how it compares to others (i have 2 plum trees in my backyard)

[MisterSteve]

Cool thats great I guess I'll get some of that I saw it at home depot and its so cheap! Like $4 for 20 lbs.

[aquaman]

Just make sure its hardwood like THIS

[japcat]

cool thanks. Also what do you guys use to cook the wood. I wanted something that lasts, safe and cheap. It needs to be portable since i will be using it outside. Unless you guys think i can cook it on my stove in my garage? I would cook it in my garage only if it wont make my garage smell.

[rocket]

You wont want to do it in your garage as a lot of smoke is produced. Just get a fire going in the backyard and cook it in a paint tin or something similar with some holes in the lid.

 

If you buy this cowboy brand you wont need to cook it as it looks like it is already cooked.

[FrankRizzo]

Take a gander here:

 

http://www.apcforum.net/forums/index.php?s...pression&st=320

[tentacles]

I'm curious if anyone has tried other brands of hardwood lump charcoal... I know kingsford makes one, and I bought a bag of "blackwood canyon". From looking at the chunks, it's mostly or all oak, with the bark on still. The kingsford is sold at walmart here.

[TheSidewinder]

I bought a bag of "Cowboy-lookalike" charcoal. Perfectly cooked, large lumps of hardwood. I've milled some down to airfloat and it works great for my BP mixes.

 

I don't remember the brand name, but I got it at Lunds (local grocery chain). 10 lbs for $4.99 on sale. I'm supplied for a LONG time now.

 

M

[marks265]

I watched an episode of "How It's Made" last night. One segment was on making charcoal. I will go out on a limb because the briquettes they were making has a "K" stamped in them which to me has Kingsford written all over it. It said that hardwood was used but when they showed the yard there were bulldozers were mixing 1000's of yards of saw dust so I would guess any kind of hardwood under the sun is used. What got me the most is that they said they added lime so that when the charcoal burns it leaves the white ash look to show the progress of the charcoal as it burns. Then they also stated that corn starch is also used as a binder for pressing the briquettes. Go figure there I suppose! No amounts or percentages were given of course.

I just wanted to add this post to let people know what else might be in cowboy charcoal. I make my own and know that I have 100 % fuel and what kind.

[Richtee]

I just wanted to add this post to let people know what else might be in cowboy charcoal. I make my own and know that I have 100 % fuel and what kind.

 

None of what you mentioned is in Cowboy brand charcoal. Cowboy is LUMP... not bricks.

[Swede]

Some smart guy on another thread mentioned separating the cowboy charcoal lumps by FEEL. Sort the lumps by density, rejecting the obviously heavier lumps than the lighter lumps. Use the less dense lumps for your BP, and use the heavier for slower BP or cooking steaks! I always though that was a good idea.

[Mumbles]

I second swede's mention of only using the light and less dense pieces. From my experience these are primarily maple, and will preform significantly better than the hard dense pieces (primarily oak). I still have to break up my cowboy charcoal by hand, so it's easy for me to do. In the blender I use to break them down into smaller pieces, the hard oak is broken down far slower so it makes the selection process easy. Some gets through obviously, but it's definitely enriched for the softer woods. The hard stuff normally just gets thrown away.

[Richtee]

I second swede's mention of only using the light and less dense pieces. From my experience these are primarily maple, and will preform significantly better than the hard dense pieces (primarily oak). I still have to break up my cowboy charcoal by hand, so it's easy for me to do. In the blender I use to break them down into smaller pieces, the hard oak is broken down far slower so it makes the selection process easy. Some gets through obviously, but it's definitely enriched for the softer woods. The hard stuff normally just gets thrown away.

Use that to fire yer BBQ or smoker!

[trag]

Have any of you tried using Carbon Black for the charcoal component of black powder? David Sleeter discusses it in his book "Amateur Rocket Motor Construction". It seems like a low oil, low particle size carbon black would be about as pure and fine as you could hope for, but I have no personal experience with it.

 

I found a distributer in Dallas, TX who is selling some older bags of carbon black they have on hand for under $2/lb in 50lb bags. The manufacturer is Columbian Carbon and their distributer is D&F Distributing in Dallas, TX. The product name is Raven 2000. The sales person I spoke with was John Lawrence and his contact information is "John Lawrence" <jlawrence@dfdist.com> and 214-520-1334. The carbon black he has on hand is a shipment which was never paid for by the original customer. It's been in their warehouse since 2002, so may have absorbed moisture, but a pre-mill bake should solve that issue. According to CC's brochure the mean particle size is 18 nm and the percent volatiles is .9%. The only downside is that 50 lbs is way more carbon than most of us could use in a reasonable amount of time. Still, carbon black doesn't seem to be the easiest thing to find, so I'm kind of proud of finding it at a low price.

 

This stuff is in "beads" which apparently break up into the specified particle size. I'm a little vague on how that last bit works.

[tentacles]

It's probably run through a machine that packs the dust into pellets so you don't die when you open a bag. Carbon black (lampblack) is used for super long hangtime firedust trails. It does not make good BP, but as an additive in BP for rockets, makes great tails. That is a fantastic price. You might consider buying a bag and splitting it up. I know FrankRizzo here was looking for like 10lbs of the stuff, and I wouldn't mind a pound or two myself.

[Swede]

I've never messed with carbon black myself, but I've heard it's so fine and "floaty" that it makes airfloat charcoal look like lead. It's probably pretty tricky stuff to work with if you want to avoid blackening everything in the immediate vicinity, including your lungs. Wear appropriate gear. Maybe some lamp black "specialists" can comment.

[TheSidewinder]

Lampblack is one of THE nastiest things to work with, at least as far as cleanup is concerned!

 

ANYTHING that touches it gets stained and the crap will NOT wash out/off. I have a pair of lampblack-contaminated overalls in the garage that I don't dare bring indoors.

 

And in the formula that contained it, I couldn't see that it made a difference. Airfloat produced the same burn result. *shrug*

[Mumbles]

I do personally like it. It gives a real nice creamy texture to charcoal stars that I just can't get with charcoal. I use very small amounts, about 4-6%, and it adds something extra to the stars. Maybe it's because I know I went through the extra effort and hell to make them, but I find it more attractive. Sometimes if the wind is low the stars leave kind of a ghost trail that lingers and fades away after a few seconds. Kind of like lowering the lights at the end of a play or opera.

 

This link has the lampblack stars I mentioned:

http://www.apcforum.net/Mumbles/5%20timed%20spider.wmv

 

I've never had bad luck working with it. It does require dedicated clothing. If you're really careful, it's not that bad. I've used it indoors, though it is not something I recomend. I generally add it very slowly, letting it slide off the scoop onto a pile of the Nitrate or sulfur. The nitrate is sticky and dense, so it helps to keep down dust. I run my fingers through it a few times to get it mixed in before adding the other chemicals and screening it. The spider stars above are not ballmilled interestingly eonugh. I do need to ball mill my nitrate though. I put a little streak on my forearm once, just to see what all the fuss was about. Yep, stayed there for about a week and a half. It wasn't that noticable under my arm hair, looked kind of like a shadow, but it would be very noticable if you got it on your hands or face. Honestly, I'd rather work with lampblack than bright flake Al.

[Mumbles]

My work bench is wooden, so it stays a while. Not that it wasn't grey already.

[Ventsi]

I'm curious if anyone has tried other brands of hardwood lump charcoal... I know kingsford makes one, and I bought a bag of "blackwood canyon". From looking at the chunks, it's mostly or all oak, with the bark on still. The kingsford is sold at walmart here.

 

 

Well i recently bought a bag of Lazzari Mesquite Chrarcoal its al naturale lumps ,i even found a branch that was still intact

{im milling it down to AF right now}

 

i dont know how good it will be for Chrys. though

i have used Cowboy brand but they didnt supply it till summer where i live

 

 

anyone have any info on the Mesquite Tree?

bad or good

[Swede]

anyone have any info on the Mesquite Tree?

bad or good

 

All I can do is guess. Lighter softwoods are supposed to make faster BP; conversely, higher density in charcoal is the enemy of speed. Mesquite lumps tend to be smaller, knottier, more bark, etc, which tends to reduce speed. But grapevine (who would a' thunk it?) is supposed to make good BP. My guess is... average BP in terms of speed and gas.

 

And since I've never tried it, that makes this about as useless a post as can be! Let us know how it goes, and good luck with it.

Edited February 11, 2009 by Swede

[Ventsi]

Well I did a few tests...

 

 

The charcoal performs VERY pooorly when used for BP,

ubt i cut a 100g C6 batch with it and the stars performed fairly good

 

ill make a few cremora fireballs{mainly what ill be using it for!}

and maybe a 2" shell

 

ill post the results here;

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/ventsi

[Richtee]

Well I did a few tests...

 

 

The charcoal performs VERY pooorly when used for BP,

ubt i cut a 100g C6 batch with it and the stars performed fairly good

 

ill make a few cremora fireballs{mainly what ill be using it for!}

 

Yep..it's pretty much crap. Well, as far as lift/burst apps anyway. Might make some decent BM for quickmatch with all the sparking going on.