Rotten wood for charcoal

[RamblesTheGoat]

I am making some willow charcoal for black powder and some of the wood is rotten, will this still come out as good charcoal?

[superstring]

Hmmmm. interesting question. I'm just guessing here, as I haven't any solid knowledge of wood chemistry, but I think that the wood has undergone a chemical change in the rotted part. And it makes sense to me that the HC content of the wood is going to be different than the surrounding "good" material.

I'f it's ALL rotted, may be a waste of time, just a small percentage? most likely you'll not see a difference.

Ehh, just my 2 bits worth

[Bonny]

It might turn out great, but unless you separate the rotten stuff you'll never know. If it was me, I'd simply discard the rotten stuff and keep going.

[Bilbobaker]

I can't figure out what is is that makes one kind of wood superior for BP than others.

I've been thinking about using douglas fir bark, that stuff is crazy hot in wood fired steam boilers and makes incredible long lasting sparks.

 

I've also thought that chopped Doug fir needles and ground up Doug fir bark would be a great addition to charcoal in orange streaming or crackling stars, and may be nice rocket propellant for fiery trails.

 

Anyone tried either?

 

[Peret]

I can't figure out what is is that makes one kind of wood superior for BP than others.

Apparently, nobody has ever figured it out. Mainly I think that's because when gunpowder was a subject of scientific research, science was in its infancy - even the existence of atoms wasn't accepted as fact until the 1910s. It is known to depend to some extent on unknown residual volatiles and on the cellular structure of the wood. Now we also know it depends on the temperature of formation and the existence of large numbers of broken graphite rings, the ends of which are thought to be terminated by the aforesaid volatiles.

[RamblesTheGoat]

Well only about a sixth of the wood is rotten so I think that I won't see much of a difference, thanks!

[SolarSeeker]

Apparently, nobody has ever figured it out. Mainly I think that's because when gunpowder was a subject of scientific research, science was in its infancy - even the existence of atoms wasn't accepted as fact until the 1910s. It is known to depend to some extent on unknown residual volatiles and on the cellular structure of the wood. Now we also know it depends on the temperature of formation and the existence of large numbers of broken graphite rings, the ends of which are thought to be terminated by the aforesaid volatiles.

 

The density of the wood has a lot to do with how well the powder burns so charcoal made with cork or balsa is going to have a larger surface area than oak charcoal would.

Willow is good because it grows very steadily and as such it has a very uniform charcoal. Pine and other conifer woods are very sappy knotty woods which adds a lot of slower burning materials and lampblack into the mix so it's very good when you want a slower burning charcoal.

 

Considering that rotten wood is much softer than it's original form I would expect that it would turn out better than the base wood if the amount of remaining wood didn't have much dirt form decomposition in it.

Edited July 8, 2011 by SolarSeeker

[Mumbles]

There are a few scientific papers on the subject, and even they have about as good idea as we do. No one will debate that there are trends that tend to be followed, but there are no steadfast rules. Less dense hardwoods (the reproductive classification, not physical properties) do tend to be some of the better performers.

[oldmanbeefjerky]

I would imagin that the simplest solution would be to try a little bit of the rotted wood.

are you talking decomposed wood, all full of dirt and not recognizable as wood, or are you talking bleached and brittle soft flaky rotten wood?

if its blached and light, i think it would work rather well, if its like the inside of a termite ravaged tree trunk, i would advise against it

[oldmanbeefjerky]

This is from personal experience. my magnesium flint rod wont light up anything other than grass and bleachy white soft wood, and it literally goes up in flames straight away.