My first batch was made with Ailanthus (Tree of Heaven). When I move to the farm permanently, there are gobs of red cedar and grapevine out there. The right charcoal source is about 90% of the trick. Nearly any fast-growing wood is good. The other ingredients are readily available from Walmart. The only real expenditures is the ball mill and the grading sieves. I bought mine for the purpose, but you can get by with kitchen sieves.
Safe? I'm doing no more than sub-1lb batches. Most of the processing is done with the raw materials in a safe form or else raw BP that is damp. Once it is dry, I'm doing final grinding and sifting in small quantities outside with a face shield. I use a ceramic coffee grinder with the glass container removed and a tupperware container in its place.
