This discovery has opened up Pandora's box.... All brands and types of TP, all brands and types of paper towels, nose tissues, napkins, all types of paper and cardboard... Before, we were(or thought we were) confined to woods. Now it's literally anything derived from wood. That is a massive list of things to test. I look forward to going down the rabbit hole with you Sir!

Wiping out the competition.

Suggestion from someone who understands how paper is made: Do a comparison between: Pulped and non pulped within the same brand . To explain further: Pulping, put the bog paper in a bucket, add water, stir. TP, a stick will be fine, just leave it a bit. For other types of paper, you will need mechanical stiring like a paint stirer on a drill. Strain water, and press the results to remove the water creating a "paper brick" This method should maximise the collected ammount for any single burn by reducing the volume, and compressing the particles. Further note Paper types for soft papers TAD - Through Air Dryed - mostly hand towels, but some manufacturers are now making toilet paper. Thick, abosrbent, lots of air, light per square cm. Virgin - obvious, don't kill the trees. Recycled - scratches the bum, leaves flakes of paper on the floor when tearing a bit off after tearing one out. Mixed - Virgin and recycled meet in a head on collision of style, grace and .. bwahahaa, nearly kept a straight face. CTMP - Chemi Thermal Mechanical Paper - Hand towel paper, yellow, hard, scratchy, but super absorbent. Heavy per Square cm (or inch or whaterver non binary measurement you prefer. hell use points of an AU for all I care) righto, that's enough, google's a thing. peace out ppl.

I would guess the source of the yellow is very likely added lotion. We have a line that does that at work. All of our paper is from the same pulp source. I mainly suggested single ply cause you tore off the tail seal glue in case it mattered. But the entire length of the product is glued together. One ply paper doesn't have the extra glue and should certainly not have any lotion. Sure it sucks to use but I can certainly see it being the superior choice as a fairly pure source for carbon. Heck I just spent the last 12 hours running laminated product.

I sure am glad you're testing all the different possibilities

I thought the first batch he made wasn't too crappy

You'll probably get the fastest results from the material where the fibers are most fluffed up prior to carbonizing, so cheap soft toilet paper or cotton balls. You want the spongiest fluffiest charcoal to maximize surface area and reactivity. Here in Europe we have hemp fibre (not medicinal) as a heat insulation material. If you carbonize those you pretty much have hemp charcoal. Its super fast. Hemp fibre is a construction material so nothing fishy about it.

I can say with a fair degree of certainty that nearly all paper products manufactured in the US are primarily made from a fast growing, genetically engineered variety of poplar often called hybrid poplar. They add a certain percentage of some type of pine or spruce which in the industry they call the soft wood, the poplar is referred to as the hardwood.

Couple of things: 1. I enjoy these "presentations." 2. I'm kind of curious how well shredded paper would work as a carbon source (as in "make sure you haven't run any credit cards through it and just make charcoal out of whatever's in your shredder"). 3. Tell Johnny to fix his diet and to stop straining when he poops (rock back and forth instead, sounds weird, but it works).

I make charcloth fire starters all the time. I wonder how cotton, as in batts and balls would work as a charcoal source? Organic cotton has to be about the purest form of cellulose, with no chemical processing or added chemicals, and it's readily available.

Kirkland Brand TP from Costco would be worth a try. A quote from a site I found "Costco’s Kirkland toilet paper is made from wood pulp from 100% virgin forest fibers in Canada, specifically from boreal forests."

Press on!, Back when I was in school we called this science. The potential variations just in TP alone are endless, and I'm interested in progressing the science. Please keep it going, it's worthwhile research. We'll hold off on bulk TP purchases until you've solved the mysteries and "gotten to the bottom of it". Keep up the science and thank you. Sam

I'm wondering if you can burn a pile of each powder and predict the residue left over. Maybe a vertical metal piece that the smoke will darken or pour it into an open tube and swab after each test burn. While going shooting is always fun, it's less fun fighting the fouling. I'm guessing that each paper is made from the fastest growing "tree" that they can find. Cut it down, plant behind the cutting, wait 15+ years to do the cycle again. Huge parts of the Adirondacks in NY are owned by paper companies.

Old Dixie Gun Works catalogs would be a neat test if you have them. Guessing in todays age, the ink is at least organic but probably still adds to fowling. I nitrate pages from old ones to make my sharps paper cartridges because they look "antique/period". Haven't noticed fowling going up using them nitrated, so might be worthwhile if you have old ones around.

Things to watch for that will hurt your powder; -writing/printing paper will have polymers and clay content. -cardboard and vellum may contain this too, much more binder content, and LOTS of adhesive for corrugated. -fancy TP will contain various unguents and binders, plus adhesives to hold the ply together (if that's their method, some are mechanical... punched through) -grassy leaves/blades stand a good chance of containing enough silica to become problematic over time. Potential for abrasive ash, or even a hard brittle fouling. I don't think I've seen this one come up; a big old stack of cheap coffee filters. I can't say what the fiber assay would look like, but additives would be minimal since they'd end up in the drink. Another off the shelf source to explore might be aquarium filter activated charcoal.

Just wanted to say thanks for the work you do with these tests. In the spring I plan on trying out toilet paper and poplar. The only trees around me are hickory,oak,walnut,red cedar, and maple. Building a range out to 1,000 yards too so lots of experimenting with conicals.

I wish I was still working as a Corrections Officer in our local jail, if I was I would send you a couple rolls of the TP we gave the inmates. That stuff was the cheapest I've ever seen and I would be curious how that stuff behaved because it looked like a softer version of adding machine paper. We referred to it as "Sh*t tickets."

Very interesting!! Thanks for the add!!

Looking forward to the other toilet paper tests. Thanks. Good video. Had to subscribe to make sure I don't miss.

Recently found your channel and been binge-watching. Brilliant stuff, great resource of info.

That was a good segment Jake thanks for checking the other TP options looking forward to that next video

I’m SO HAPPY you did this video. I really liked the one you did and wondered about the other brands, but I suspect they’d all be good!

Good show. Catch you next time. God Bless. NW ga.

Another very interesting video! Until your last one I had never considered anything other than a wood for BP. Now you've opened up a whole new world of experimentation, or pandora's box as another comentator said. I look forward to more of this. Hope you and your family had a good Christmas and a happy New Year!

Keep this up and I wouldn't be surprised to see your subscriber base skyrocket. You seem to have stumbled into a KZfaq goldmine. It could last a long time too with all the ideas people are giving you. I've noticed many of the woods that are considered some of the best for black power have pith in young stems. It may not be easy but I'd like to see charcoal made from just the pith tested.

Love the experiments. Neat to watch I'm always excited whats next. Here's a different idea to try after the toilet paper series is over. Optimizing the Pritchett cartridge with modern materials?

Thank you for furthering the potential of black powder shooting for others!

Scott brand TP is pretty no frills. I suspect they don't add much if anything to their paper. Love the videos.

I really am enjoying this discussion. Would toilet paper for septic tanks and RV systems that breaks down in water work better. I am even more curious about high grade bamboo charcoal. It burns exceptionally clean and is extremely porous structurally, something you can turn into activated charcoal.

Thanks for posting these unbiased true videos. They are very insightful. I hope you get more subs, you deserve them.

Thanks for the follow-up. My son is getting big into making his own black powder, and he is getting a lot of great info from you. That makes me happy.

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I love your content. Please keep doing what your doing. Living in Florida I use orange citrus wood for powder. 😊

Excellent Jake! Keep up the good work. The yellow is excess Sulfur that did not burn. You might need to up your potassium nitrite a little bit. The requests for copy paper are not a real good idea. They have kaolin clay mixed in and maybe a little CaCO3 (limestone ground ver fine). The ash content is high.

Thanks Jake Great research 🧐

i love it , another great , informative presentation , i surmise its a lanoline additive in that brand of paper , cheers big ears from down under

Your thoroughness is outstanding, I really enjoy the content, good no nonsense explanation of what you are doing, I love the segments like BP 303 British, and the myth busting, keep up the good work

Wow, I'm working on making my first ever batch of black powder. On Christmas day, I fired up my woodstove, threw in the paint can filled with "old pallet" wood, which seems to be a softwood. The charcoal turned out nice. NOW, I must consider TP as a possible charcoal source, LOL.

Thanks for another great video! I would like to see something with Hemp. I thought about rope if it is a clean and pure source. Not sure what would be readily available to people other than rope. I think if you could find some sort of board it would be pressed with glue.

Interesting to say the least! Keep up the good work, and keep the videos heading our way!

There are a couple of companies (Grove, etc) that make TP from bamboo. Bamboo is not really wood but more of a grass. This might be cool to try.

I'm definitely still hoping to see you try a batch with the purest cellulose you can get your hands on, see how much of an effect that has on things.

Good video. Good test. Good report on the less-than-satisfying results. Thank you.

I love this direction you are going - please keep experimenting with TP brands. I'd like to see the cheapest single-ply non-perforated TP available.

Rayonier, a paper & pulp company, states that "The long, strong fibers of softwood trees like Southern yellow pines and Douglas-firs are used to make toilet paper strong. The shorter fibers of hardwood trees like oaks and maples give toilet paper its soft texture."

Great series! I have another dumb hypothesis regarding toilet paper charcoal. As very soft woods seem to make fast powder, I’m curious if it is because they carbonize more thoroughly? And TP being pulped soft wood it carbonizes even better. Have you tried using saw dust? Maybe balsa or alder buckthorn sawdust? It could also be impurities in the paper making process that is making it dirty, as you’ve already surmised, so maybe finely ground pure soft wood would make powder that is both powerful and clean

I was told by someone that said he work in a TP factory that 2 ply was glued together. May be part of your yellow residue and even the dirty part. You may want to try one ply. I also posted your video links on a few BP sites so you are welcome for the subscribers. Keep it up I am loving this.

Re: yellow residues, i doubt its unburned sulfur. If its water soluble my guess would be potassium nitrite. Could be residues of emollients or moisturizers added to the TP. I prepped my own TP charcoal as i want to replicate your work, one thing i noticed is the density is quite low. I measured 52g of TP before carbureting, the total mass of finished charcoal was about 4 g.

Awesome ! keep up the Good work!!! Love you Guy's!!

During the Civil War soldirlers would keep a damp patch in their mouth. It helped to keep them hydrated and would be readily avaible to swab the barrel when residue built up.

I know that many papers use a type of clay additive to enhance certain properties. Maybe this is what's causing the chunky fouling and yellow color. I would be interested to see what cheap industrial toilet paper like you see in the bathrooms at service stations and Wal-Mart would do. One would think that this type of paper would have the least amount of additives simply from the cost of production standpoint.

Ok you got me hooked...as a (very amateur) scientist/chemist I want to try all the various strange ways of making the carbon base for the black powder. By strange I mean "cornstalk styrofoam", wasp nests, cattails....etc. Maybe even soaking some of the materials in Lye (wood ash) solution prior to carbonizing. I could probably look this up, but are there any easy ways to tell if it's worth anything just by looking at it? Don't want to go the whole nine yards on equipment just yet. Egg yolks might be fun...they already got sulfur in them. Just cruising around the internet looking for "strange" ingredients I ran across peat moss...hmmm Activating the charcoal also seems like a good idea (bind oxygen to the surface). You might even make a new BP convert here so I cant test my experiments on little piles of crude powder. My vote still goes to the Scott 1000/SimplyDone septic safe 1-ply TP. Trust me it's got no lotion in it....

Most commercial paper these days is Chlorine bleached, with a brew very like your basic household bleach. I suspect the dwindling amount of "currency" paper used around the world is , like traditional, dazzling white paper, OXYGEN bleached, typically using Hydrogen peroxide. Chlorine bleached paper is cheaper and faster to make. However, if you look at your collection of clasic paperback cowboy novels, you may well find that many of them are c showing signs of pages "yellowing" or being outright brown and feeling "dusty". This is because there is still residual chlorine in th epper and it is "aging" the pages, quite quickly. Another thing to consider is the fibre "density" of toilet paper, compared with, say office "copy / bond" paper. Black-powder, being a "mixture, not a compound like smokeless, may be ubject to burn-rate variations caused by differences in the physical "urface contact in a "dry-mix' formulation. Just my busted Nickel's worth.

Great video Jake, I would like to see a test done on the TP made from Bamboo. It would be made from a single source fiber and it's supposed to be of high quality. Thanks again for another great video!!!

I truly appreciate all the videos you make. Very informative, indeed! Even though I have been involved with BP revolvers and rifles, for a good number of years, which lead to reloading for our other pistols and rifles, I have never made any BP and plan to give it a try as I am gathering all that is needed. I have a metal fab shop so I have a 50ton press to make the pucks. I do have a question, do you think you can over do the pressing of the pucks and accidently get ignition? Also I noticed that I ordered the wrong Cottonelle toilet paper, the "Ultra clean" after reviewing your video so I reordered and have the "Comfort care" coming. Anyway, your videos are the best and I do not plan to make any of my own damn videos! At least not yet!!

waiting for CHARMIN. that's my favorite TP, and I have lots of that in the cabinets in each bathroom.

This serie is pure gold. Please do newspaper.

Well, kind of weird that powder made from TP like that would leave little klingons on the cleaning wipes when you run it through the barrel. Almost seems like it came full circle.

DAYUM, Jake! I never would have thought TP would be such a controversial component of vintage muzzle loading propellant! I really would like to know if the cheapest (dollar store) variety will work well, as it may not have any additives at all! You probably don't need to research the "scented" products, as BP smells just fine untainted. LOL You are probably aware that the original outhouse paper was the Sears catalog, but the old originals are hard to find these days. And I don't think the newer glossy pages would do well. Anyway, thanks for the video, please keep 'em coming, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 👍

Try activated charcoal, it is readily available, already finely powdered as purchased

Extremely interesting. Thanks for the info on Johnnie, keep me informed if he finds a new treatment black powder stuff is cool too😁

The fun part of trying new charcoals is you never know what to expect. Looking forward to seeing how the plain jane version works without all the perfumes and lotion additives. I emptied my paper shredder into the paint can retort and it is baking on the coals right now. You mentioned powders that didn't turn out so good; what you end up doing with these?

This particular series is very very interesting 😮

All those chemicals they put in tp that is unnecessary, thats why i use a bidet! Cant wait to see how the all cotton does b4 i buy any extra tp. Another great presentation! I totally look forward to watching your videos! Thanks guys (that includes Johnny)!

EBP brought up a good point. We don't know what the manufacturers used to make TP. Not knowing the starting ingredients makes reproducibility and explaining anything impossible.

Two things I will try if you do not get to them first are 1)amazon TP and 2)The Amazon box the TP came in. I want to try the cheapest toilet paper possible because its the cheapest, not because its better in any way. Just cheaper. I'm still researching the Polyvinyl Acetate that holds cardboard together. And for comparison - I'm doing this in a .45-70 CVA Scout, so I'm looking at this from the BP Cartridge perspective.

Another tp to try would be the boat/rv toilet paper, quick Google search says it has a diffrent binder/glue to allow it to break down quicker in the blackwater tanks

Interesting!! I am very Is curious what that yellow stuff was. I can't wait to see more of this

I advocate for testing printing paper. Something that can be acquired quite easily, relatively cheap(per ounce) and is already quite dense. Also, due to its easily-measured capacity, wide variety of weights and brightness levels(something to consider is additional brightening agents many fancier papers might employ).

One I've wondered about is enriched pasta (or just wheat flour, but as-is or distilled). A rotini was under a burner on my stove... it charcoal-ified... ground it up and sprinkled it on the burner... it was fast all by itself... read the box... it was enriched with ferrous sulphate... something I think serves as an accelerant. Somewhere in decades past though, I thought I read powder made with wheat straw has a tendency towards sponteous combustion? That could be a really bad thing...

Looks like Cottonelle is in the lead so far. The yellow color is weird. Normally I would guess Sulphur, but in TP? Thanks for the specs on your gun. I'm looking at Elk legal .50 cal. Haven't picked the gun up yet, so there is that. Also, thanks for doing this research. Very helpful. 😎

Printer paper could be the cheapest option. Places shred paper by the ton. Wonder if ink makes any difference.

Thank-You!

I think paper tpwels would be good, and bamboo paper towels. Maybe paper napkins as well.

I charred a roll of Charmin and used it with 77-13-10 for powder, right out of the drum it burns pretty clean no large amounts of residue, but it isn't corned either. My humidity is 90%+ so will need to wait for it to come down a tad.

Interesting results with the TP, I wonder how various types of leaves would be as a source of charcoal? Deciduous trees, pine needles, bamboo leaves, grass clippings etc.

Very interesting. Enjoy your videos 😊

Not sure if this helps at all, but I’m a reenactor and when we use the ‘reenactor’ black powder, that is the swept up junk from the floor at the factories, it’s all kinds of grain sizes. The inside of my barrel turns green/yellow after the barrel warms up after 6-7 shots. I never have that happen with higher quality power when actually firing live rounds when I’m at the range. In cartridges and muzzleloaders. I wonder what that yellow was.

Most paper plants buy pulp from pulping mills. Paper plants make both name brand and generics. Mike Rowe did an episode on this. I would recommend trying cotton.

Interesting. Charmin will probably do the same I'm guessing, you guys may be right about the additives to make it soft on the back side. I for one appreciate all the effort you guys are putting in to this. T.P. just may be the easiest carbon source for most of us to find.

To match the texture of balsa, maybe some tree bark would work. Something like Tamarack (larch), Cottonwood, and Douglas fir have thick corky bark.

Awesome content !

I think the region the paper is made is going to influence how the powder performs. Maybe look where each paper is made and see which trees are grown there to give an idea to what might have been used.

Amazon has a "chemical free category" which list Cottonelle Comfort and Cottonelle Ultra Clean, bamboo, and Scott ..

to get rid of the salts and sugars in the wood, black powder manufacturers in the past aged the wood chips outdoors for 2-3 years. I suggest soaking the toilet paper and rinsing it in distilled water, then drying the paper mass and making charcoal for black powder from it. maybe black powder would be cleaner to shoot

Me and a friend at work were just cutting some boards and the first thing I thought of was , I wonder if this would make good charcoal !! LOL I was just curious if you’ve tried Brazilian Apitong for charcoal and if not, would you be willing to try it in a video ??

may depend of the length of the cellulose fiber (or simplifying, the source). For example, cotton has longer fibers, while eucalyptus has shorter fibers. Some fibers may burn poorly and leave more residues left

Jake, I'm really enjoying your videos on making black powder. Have you ever tried shredded pine pet bedding for the carbon source? I watched a video by Dave Canterbury when he made some and it seemed to do pretty well.

Would be interesting to see scott brand and maybe even newsprint

You can try dried or moist paper pulp used by people that have a hobby of making paper.

Brown paper bags would be interesting.. Not brown cardboard since that uses silica glue. Brown paper lacks kaolin paper sizing but generally has considerably more lignin than more refined papers. What effect does lignin have? Most papers are made of primarily spruce and fir with some pine. Hardwoods are added in very small amounts.

In trying small batches of woods for BP, I notice a trend, the less ash a wood leaves, the lighter it is, the better the charcoal, and the BP. TP certainly is like this, it practically evaporates in fire, leaving almost no ashes. Yellow residue? Was this from recycling used paper? Lol, actually theres lots of chemicals in paper.

I will make sure to be appropriately seated in the restroom at work for when this premieres.

Paper is put through various bleaching and detergents and some has aloe applied. The cheap cheap single ply should have the fewest additives. Plus if there is a petroleum product used in the processing it will likely be more energetic

In chemistry the charcoal is often activated causing increase in surface area. I wonder if the TP due to it's loose and fine fibers allows for this action to happen. Also, removing the core before charring would make sure the volatiles in the glue does not transfer to the paper.

I wonder what Scott’s would be like enjoying watching your videos 👍🏻🤘🏻

Do you guys have blue workshop paper towel on huge rolls there? That might be interesting as here it doesn't have any junk on it so might be additive free? Great video Willard

Man you have brought a whole new meaning to the phrase JOHN WAYNE toilet paper rough tough and wont take shit off nobody

Really good video. O.K. my paper suggestion, those grey paper egg cartons. Those have to be the cheapest pulp made paper item.

Now that you have narrowed down what works, I have one more thing to try. Use Hydrogen Peroxide to moisten the powder before compressing it. Pure H2O2 is 'Rocket Fuel'. It also causes impurities to sort of 'fizz up' when in contact. It may help in the wetting process and everything has a very small amount of moisture, no matter how well we think it is 'dry'. The residual is rocket fuel ? Divide your favorite concoction in two, wet half with distilled water and half with Walmart 'brown bottle' H2o2. Test velocity, density and cleaning required. Surprises ? I'll leave the video making to you !