Balsa is, or used to be, used to sandwich between fiberglass layers for boat decks, and sometimes hulls. If you get someone at a boat company to tell you where they source it from, you might find it less expensive.
I get 99.9 mill cert Lead from a local supplier I found when a co near built X Ray rooms Lined in Lead. Now I have Pure Lead and Cheap! after I called a roofing supplier next door looking for lead flashing I got on the scent and followed it all the way to my new supplier! NOW? I found wooden air freight pallet and dunnage Local Strangely Light Weight! I suspect is Bolsa or close cousin?
Jake the scientist! Great work you all have done, from the different types of wood, corning, ingredient ratios to ball mill media etc etc! Thank you for your time and efforts and for bringing us along! Your videos are great, very much appreciated and fun to watch!
Great info as always, in theory balsa wood contains more % of cellulose and less % impurity by weight (more elemental carbon after cooking) than harder woods, this could be the explanation why the residue is a little less or at least softer than other woods, (if that is true at least in part); using 100% cotton (it contains at least 95% cellulose, thats what the books state) using charcloth from old t-shirts and/or old denim could make good clean burning black powder.
An assay will show clearly.. Generally depending on temperature of the charring temperature you're looking at about 30% volatile hydrocarbons, 65-69% fixed carbon content and somewhere between 1-5% mineral content. The higher the char temp, the lower the volatile hydrocarbons, the higher the fixed carbon and ash content. The hydrocarbons offset the less desirable material. You can look up the hydrocarbons in the wood, look at constituent elements and get a fairly good idea the byproduct of the hydrocarbons. You can use chemistry and math to estimate the beneficial gas and vapor byproduct weights. I do this. I'm going to make a video about it soon.
Years back, somebody had suggested to me to try and make an old style balsa surfboard out of fig wood. He said it was almost as light as balsa but, at the time, people were ripping out fig orchards to replant almonds, he could get fig for free. I never went through the trouble but it has me wondering if fig could be a substitute for balsa in your antique propellant. It grows very fast and you can likely make a test batch from just the dried annual prunings.
Well said on pushing back against those who just want to be cruel armchair criticizers. I've always enjoyed your approach to figuring this out and have learned quite a bit myself from your channel. Keep up the great work and thanks for taking the time to share it all. 👍
Balsa - softest PAULOWNIA (Paulownia spp.) 260 LBF (1,160 N) The other Balsa. Paulownia can be very light and soft, and is really the only other wood that at times can even approach Balsa’s lightness. Ironically, both are hardwoods. BALSAM POPLAR (Populus balsamifera) 300 LBF (1,330 N)Related to Cottonwood and Aspen, Balsam Poplar has a unique scent when green, though it dries to one of the lightest and softest of all woods. EUROPEAN SILVER FIR (Abies alba) 320 LBF (1,420 N) Not only the softest of the Fir species (Abies genus), European Silver Fir is also among the softest of the softwoods. The remaining woods on this list are all hardwoods.
I started 8 Paulownia from seed this past winter though I killed 5 of them due to over-watering so I currently have 1 solid sapling and 2 in recovery. Hopefully in a year or so I'll have some wood to send to Jake to try out.
I saw that someone asked about other organics. For instance, I have read that activated charcoal made from cow bone is particularly good at bonding with heavy metals and radioactive isotopes. Now that you are getting dialed in, it might be fun to experiment with non-traditional charcoal sources. Either way, your videos are very appreciated.
what an interesting question, and if it does work, and work well, what kind of heat has to be generated for how long to carbonize the bones? Sounds like an interesting rabbit hole
I love these kinds of videos. As someone who has only shot inline muzzleloaders with substitute powders, I have been researching and want to get into flintlocks and percussion muzzleloaders with real BP. I think I am going to purchase some Swiss BP once I get a "real" muzzleloader, but the casting of bullets and the making of black powder intrigues me to try that as well when I get the basics down. The in depth videos and testing videos of yours have been very interesting.
I see that others have commented on Cottonwood. I live in Wyoming and the state tree is the cottonwood species Populus Balsamifera (AKA "Great Plains Poplar"). I do not have a Cottonwood tree in my yard but I see them around everywhere. They tend to shed "Branches" with winds and weather. I hear that dried stripped branches work great. I shall have to visit some city parks and collect branches after a wind or snow storm. Sometimes the Tree Service Folks will be selling cottonwood as firewood. If branches work better than logs, I shall see what I can get.
Tree of Heaven pith is also close for density also. If you find a stand of it. They will get up to 8" in diameter and when you cut them down, if the wind hasn't knocked them over, they often have a 4" plus core in the middle.
You should try Paulownia wood charcoal. It is the classic wood used in Chinese fireworks. It is super lightweight and makes super fine charcoal powder. This tree is considered an invasive pest tree and around here it can be found growing along the side of the highway.
Very interesting. I have always used Goex in my flint. It’s really all that’s available in my area. I too shoot 3 & swab, because it’s how I’ve always done it, it’s neither right nor wrong. Love the videos, it’s getting me excited about shooting black powder again!
I've been itching to try balsa ever sense I saw your last video on how clean it was. But you are right. it is expensive for what you get. And knowing how light balsa is, I was certain you would need a lot. Organics burn at different rates, so an organic that burns quick and thoroughly leaving no residue, might be something to look at. And, the charcoal doesn't have to come from a tree, does it. Good video by the way.
Fascinating experiment! I’ve never used Swiss myself. I was always a Goex man. Nowadays most places sell Schutzen. I used to think Schutzen was Swiss but the way I know the difference is Swiss has the red cap and Schutzen has the blue cap. I don’t shoot black powder anymore and have never used the percussion cylinder that my Uberti 1858 new model army revolver came with because it’s so hard to find within 300 miles of where I live as are Remington percussion caps. Winchester super x .45 Colt 250 grain cowboy loads are easier to find within 300 miles of where I live so I just shoot those from my piece using my Howell cylinder
I wish I could send you some of our native species of softwoods from here in Oz to see how they'd perform. There are 3 I'd love to see the results of being Silky Oak, Blue Quondong and Bunya Pine. I reckon customs wouldn't let em through though.
Man, I love where this is going. I now regret throwing a load of palowina(princess tree or something like that. invasive) on the brush pile. It was quite light.
If you had to go buy balsa to make a batch equal to the volume of a bottle of Swiss, would it end up costing more for the balsa, factoring in the cost of all the ingredients?
I am a BPCR shooter and tend to look more for powders that clean "easier" than actually produce less visible fouling in the bore. With the general theory that being less likely to produce regions of "crusty" or "difficult to remove" fouling is preferable to less fouling overall. This channel, however, has me questioning this wisdom. I frequently have considered making my own "anachronistic firearm propellant", paying close attention to the content of resins and other volatiles in the charcoal (which I believe is the primary thing that makes fouling easier to manage). I have even considered, but have not tried, adding violin rosin into my recipe for bullet lube. You are the first person that I have found that is actually doing any documentation of carbon sources for BP and the associated changes in the physical characteristics of the combustion products/velocity/etc. I think that, given this, that you are now my favorite RU-vidr. :)
It must be satisfying to come up with good black powder that you make on your own, not to mention that you will not be dependent on a big company for your needs! Also, the balsa wood charcoal should make your load of gear lighter to tote! (bad joke)
Once again great stuff, I would like to know more about the report that balsa is in wind generator propellers and if so where can you salvage some? This is one of the only channels that I read all the comments and replies descriptions and watch the whole video after hitting the like button😂 thanks for all the work you do on this.
That's a very interesting find. I would have expected a dirtier burn. I've noticed my faster powders tend to leave more soot and tar where my slower ones leave sulfur heavy ash. I still have a lot more to try though as I think I've only tried a handful of different chars for powder making.
When I was shooting competitively, I swabbed every shot. For shot to shot consistency. Once down and once up. Then load, this was a timed event and any thing you could do to be consistent just made you better. Also have you tried cottonwood? While it's technically a deciduous hardwood, it's lighter that cedar.
Jake thanks for sharing your knowledge on antique propellant. Man I like your reasoning on your experimentation on this. Like your no BS style too. ATB
Great video. Nice to see quality in this day and time and quality cost most of the time. Keep work on it you will get your FPS up with Swiss. Good to see a young fellow such as yourself interested in old traditional ways.
As for swabbing your barrel I know guys who shoot rolling blocks and Sharp's rifle that swab their barrel after every shot. They'll shoot and then they push a patch through the barrel
most people forget all front stuffers are different some you swab at 3 shots some will be good at 7 shots! you jake i was talking to a guy the other day and he said he uses aluminum rods or different sizes in the mill and he gets good results! the balsa got me thinking wonder how mullen stalks would do for charcoal? they work pretty good for char for a flint and steel set they might make descent powder charcoal.
Damn. Your channel is seriously one of those gems sitting out there in YT Land. I'm wondering if Moringa Oleifera (Common: Moringa) wood would be any good for your charcoal making? Moringa dries to a dry, stringy wood, you can rip it and shred it, breaks poorly due to the fibers, and not good as a carving wood. The whole damn plant has edible uses, and depending on growth conditions the plant can be conditioned through pollarding or coppicing to make it grow back shoots semi-yearly and yearly. I own two plants and they produce up to 15 ft branches yearly that I cut down for basic fencing, chop and drop fertilizer, or burn pit material.
There's one type of charcoal that should get you even cleaner results than balsa, binchotan. Binchotan is made from Japanese Ubame Oak wood and is prized as the absolute cleanest burning charcoal on Earth, with a carbon content of 95% or higher compared to 75-ish of most other charcoals. It's very labor intensive to produce and that will be reflected in the price, but being denser than balsa it should last you longer.
@@Everythingblackpowder Amazon has several listings for it, actually. Binchotan is primarily used in the food industry for grilling, so it's in constant demand for hibachi restaurants and stuff like that.
Bass wood is another light wood sold at craft stores (for carving I think) that might be a good substitute for balsa. (I don't know how it compares price and availability wise.)
It grows wild in the south. I was thinking about sending in a box full. I have to get ambitious first and find one to cut up. They are fairly rare. Lots of pine forest plantations.
I wonder if using paper products (e.g. processed cellulose) would result in even cleaner powder possibly for a cheaper price? They would have to be free from dyes or other introduced impurities but it might work.
The stem of palm fronds, just below the leaves and before the flair where it attaches to the tree (remove the two rows of hooks from the stem) Palm stem looks alot like balsa w/ a very thin, hard dense skin. Each stem is about 3 ft x 3" x 1.5".
Did You ever try to make "brown powder"? The only difference with the usual black powder is that You have to burn your charcoal at 200 degrees only Celsius but for longer. It said that this type of powder burns hotter and cleaner.
I wonder if it’s because the Balsa has had everything stripped from it to cause it to be feather light before it is processed into charcoal for this purpose. because the charcoal is just a catalyst to carry the sulfur and nitrate for these substances to have something to bind to. Just my two cents , but what the hell do I know because Jake I am following your steps to the wonderful world of Super Duper Bad Ass Antique Muzzle Loading Propellent because you have been testing everything except Linoleum to make the stuff and my hats off to you my brother. Keep us in the loop…..
Try hemp stalks in place of balsa. I'll bet you'll get similar results. Also sumac or catalpa wood might be good candidates. Both are relatively soft, deciduous woods that are widespread and native to the US.
For what it looks like in the video the balsa powder produced less smoke then the Swiss. This might be a long shot but something that might be cheaper than balsa and may work would be bamboo. And have you tried any of the super hardwoods like North African spotted hardwood or or redwood could it be interesting to see the difference between one of those in like the balsa powder
I can't remember what book it was but it stated balsa was one of the best for this with I think grape vine or something like that being a close second.
hmm i wonder if its the density and softness of the wood. im curious on what just plain soft cotton would be like if it got turned into charcoal. a bag of cotton balls or a cotton coil is super cheap.
Could you test out cottonwood? We have a ton of it in Colorado and It grows really fast. I don’t have the means and knowledge to test it out to the extent you’re able to.
The softer the wood, the better the results. I would like to see the pressure comparison. I bet the balsa would be low enough that the Powder charge could be increased an greatly outperform Swiss.
I'm tempted to try that because it's invasive species where I live and it's all over and some people let you cut down the cottonwood tree for free if you just get rid of it for them
It might be expensive but it would be interesting to run some Swiss through a spectrometer and see what is really in it (hope I said that right!). Swiss is fast and clean, so what if they were adding trace amounts nitrocellulose to their powder. Not enough to affect pressures much but just enough to clean up some of the black powder residue and add a touch of velocity. Just speculation but interesting.
Pawlonia wood could be an option instead of Balsa wood. We use it as a substitute for balsa in model aeroplanes also a lot of the kitsets from china use pawlonia due to it being so much cheaper. I will be trying both for some black powder once all the other ingredients arrive. Regards Robert (New Zealand)
As an old modeler I was buying all my balsa in bulk. Today when you go buy those windmills say thanks for the increase in price and lack of quality in balsa today! I bought my balsa in blocks of 2x4x4 or bigger and cut it to size. it can still be ordered and you can still get scraps.
Great video. What gets me is carbon is carbon is carbon. What about different wood is creating such drastic results. Is it microscopic holes in the carbon. But the longer you ball mill it the better which means crushing it down as fine as possible so holes should be removed. Is it a chemical that’s on the wood that is left over from the burning process? If so then I would think that chemical could be added to other charcoals. It would just be nice to know exactly what is causing the difference. I mean logically you would think activated nano carbon would be the best but it’s not. That tells me it’s some other residue acting like a fuel.
Thanks for doing this research and sharing it with "the world." Balsa has a Janka hardness rating of 100. For comparison eastern white pine has a rating of 380 and red alder is at 590, black cottonwood is at 350. There's got to be something more than hardness involved, but the comparison is interesting. Also, is craft balsa treated with chemicals of any sort? Thanks again.
Jake I have been using balsa to make charcoal because on my little farm in Costa Rica it is very attainable. It is thought of as a junk tree here. .what I have found is it depends on what part of the tree you get the balsa from . I don’t have a black powder gun but I do have a 20 inch black powder cannon that I have made .it shoots 1/2 in lead balls made from car batteries ( you have to use what you can get) .I have found that if you use the wood from the trunk or base of the tree it is about 60 feet faster than the larger branches. My friend visited me last week and brought a chronograph and now I can really see the difference. I have found the same thing about volume of wood to charcoal,but only with the trunk of the tree .I have been useing a propane tank that I cut the top off and made it to hold the wood . I converted a old barbecue for my heat to slow cook .I have found if you put the tank on its side you will get a more even burn verses a paint can standing on end. I rotate 1/2 turn ever hour for 4 hours and it is done.I then process it using an old sugar cane mill to grind it up before I mix it with and potassium nitrate in my homage ball mill .I am currently making four different kinds of balsa charcoal. Now that I have a chronograph I can get better results,even though I am using a cannon. I forgot to mention that I was told that the balsa imported to the states is soaked and pressed. The trees I use are only cut . If you look close the model airplane balsa is very closed on the ends from being compressed.the balsa I use is like a lot of little straws that store air in there tubes maybe that is a factor in burn rate. I am bring 50 pounds of my home made balsa charcoal home with me in August if you like I can mail you several kinds to Cary on your science . Anyway keep up the great work
@@Everythingblackpowder ok I will ring you plenty of charcoal from different parts of the tree. I am 73 years young so I have a lot of time to make charcoal . I will keep in touch and let you know when I will be going back to colorado
@@Everythingblackpowder I was reading some comments from some viewers and one said you could buy a 12 by 12 in by 6 inch box and it was about 7 lbs . This is the what I call the junk part of the tree I don’t use it any more the part I use is pure white and a box of that would maybe weigh one and a half pounds.. THE BALSA tree has only sap in the bark once cut and semi dried the bark just falls off it is about 3/8 of a inch thick.
You might want to try basswood, I believe it is cheaper and a little denser than balsa. And it's a northeastern American wood making it more available. It's supposed to have a lot of similar characteristics of balsa wood. Good luck, I I really enjoyed the content in your videos, and as soon as I get set up, I want to try making black powder myself. oops!! (I meant to say muzzleloader propellant) 😅😂😊
Hey. First off I really like your videos, they are very informative and great entertainment. I’d like to own a flintlock myself as soon as I’m able to find one. Making powder is the way id like to go. I live in the Arizona desert and mesquite is very abundant. Would that work in a propellant?
You said in another video that grapevine is also excellent for making charcoal. Can you use, or have you tried using scuppernong vine?? Grapevine is very rare here in SE Alabama, but many people have scuppernong vives in their yards. Love your videos!!!
Great video! You said that you tried red cedar; was it the shavings sold as pet bedding? I have heard that it makes powder that's as fast as willow charcoal. That's on my to-do list next to try. How did yours do?
Slightly different subject; the only alder buckthorne I have been able to find is bark which is traditionally medicinal. Will that work for charcoal or should it be solid wood? One other question, have you used white ash and if you have, how does it compare to other woods? I have been using white oak because that is what I have but it leaves a lot of soot and ash. Also want to express my appreciation for your efforts on behalf of muzzleloaders everywhere.
I noticed that too. It takes a lot of balsa charcoal. Now we need to find a balsa wood supplier / importer and see if we can get it cheap. Wow you used up the balsa i sent with the sea service pistol.🤔 wonder if balsa wood trees grow in our climate. plant a bunch of trees for our black powder addiction
So you addressed the light weight/softness of the wood. In an effort to not sound dumb on my part i going to ask possibly a crazy question just to see if I'm understanding correctly. Due density it takes two and half the volume to equal the weight? So when pressing into pucks it brings into a close weight to volume ratio? Now on a chance im making an equally dumb assumption, it could be the less dense characteristics of the wood could be leading to a more complete burn. As in open fire, open grained redpine burns three times faster than a log of the same size of oak I maybe be completely off on the thought.
Yes but since I double press my powder it is equal to weight grain and volume grains, just like the commercial brands. As for it making it more of a complete burn. Your guess is as good as mine.
I used to build balsa airplanes when i was a kid...too many years ago to count. We'd use colored tissue paper for the skin and shrink it with alcohol after gluing it on. Then we'd dope the skin, usually with laquer. Was your balsa salvage from broken models or drop off from the build process? Not sure if the heat from the charcoal process would fully consume the glue and lacquer residue...just a thought. You got very good results. Looking forward to the next batch.
After your last video I scanned the internet and found a company; BALSA WOOD INC. they offer a 12x12x6" box of balsa scraps for $10.95. I ordered 3 boxes, total cost just under $50.00. It contained about 7.5lb of balsa. Check them out if that is any cheaper than you have found. I haven't cooked any of it yet, too darn hot.
My homemade bp is not very dense for some reason the charge sits below the touch hole mine is converted pedersoli harpery ferry percussion pistol should i make larger grain sizes
