"I don't pre-mill either of those. I do mill my charcoal for about 4 hours, which gets it really fine as well."
My own BP was kind of slow witted until I ran all three simultaneously in the ball mill (Bronze balls 5/8" diameter) with a table spoon of water per lb for 24 hours. Then, pressing the super fine powder under 5-10 tons in my home built cylinder with upper and lower pistons, the pucks seem almost as hard as granite.
A couple days ago I finally saw the grain mill I want to pulverize the pucks with;
https://www.ebay.com/itm/174678866856?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649
Most of the metal of the grinder that will touch the BP is either aluminum or stainless, click the photo thumbnails and you'll see the two corncob type crushing mill rolls, which are stainless. They can be adjusted to change the size of the particles. I've mentioned before a youtube video in which fireworks makers are grinding their pucks up with such a grinder, and I thought it was home made but now think it is a commercial grain grinder.
As with the ball mill I intend to operate it from a distance, cutting power to it and letting it sit a bit before dumping the balls and powder.
Likewise I hope to run the grinder outside where any mixture that somehow ignites will simply flair up without any part of my body in the pathway.
I think the best way to minimize accidents is to run small quantities, and remove the ground product to another place to screen them. 1 lb cans of BP are well known to be safe to store, but still I'll keep it in a place where it cannot start a fire, or get hot or wet.
This guy makes about 3 1/2" diameter pucks about 1/4-3/8" thick.
He doesn't seem to be too worried about the process, and his pucks break up easily making me think they should be harder. I figure the closer the microscopic particles are forced together the more powerful the corned powder will be, that translates into how hard the pucks are. But he may be making powder for lifting charges for fireworks mortars.
The whole idea behind this is to uncouple myself from commercial sources, as also is having the ability to make my own caps. In this way an overbearing government can never really take all my second amendment rights away.
Plus it's fun!
parts
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