Making blackpowder.

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Being the impatient man that I am, I had tried using a mortar and pestle too. I just mashed and mashed the ingredients till I had a really super duper fine powder. Heck, I thought it looked like a 10Fg powder, it was so fine. :D

When I tested the fine powder it burnt really fast. After asking many on this board on a thread about using 4Fg powder in a gun, I decided it would not be a very prudent substance to put in my gun. I haven't done anything with my 10Fg yet, but I suppose the next step is to make my little clay ball and get the cheese strainer out. (BTW-It would sure be nice to buy strainer with various size holes that would stack and that would sort out the powder into various sizes. I have seen these, but don't know where to buy it.)

So hang in their scrat and keep pluggin away. I know the ingredients will work, it is just a matter of slowing the burn rate down a tad by creating larger granules. Maybe the stuff wasn't dry enough or maybe the granules too big, but keep trying cause will get the right mix hammered out.

Scrat, maybe you should try creating the raw powder that I did and then do a test burn. That might at least verify that the ingredients are good enough.

Anyone else have any 'foolproof' ways to get the right size granules? I am targeting 3Fg, but anything that gets me close will work. Any better suggestions than cheese graters? What about these tray sortin thingies that I mentioned, anyone have a clue where to get them?

Oh, yeah, and my favorite 'grain-based' BP recipe:
75 grains Saltpeter
15 grains Charcoal
10 grains Sulfur

:neener:Sorry, couldn't resist. I prefer simplicity.:D
 
I guess the stuff I created is called 'meal powder'? Supposedly, it burns uncontrolled, which I can verify does work! For sure!

I just read this on the muskateer.ch site and thought it was pertinent.

So, scrat, I would suggest the idea again of testing some of your 'meal powder'. Don't use water or any other solvent. Just mix up the ingredients really well and super fine. Test it. Then we will know if your ingredients are good enough to go to the next step.
 
Buy Foxfire: Volume 5. It has a complete section on building muzzleloaders the REALLY old-fashioned way, as well as the directions for making blackpowder like they did in the Appalachians right up into the 20th century. For that matter, get the entire Foxfire series of books. Really interesting reading for anyone on the THR forum!
 
If you have a lot of $$ to spend, testing sieves will get you a very fine particle cut. I used to use them for various things when I was employed.
http://www.coleparmer.com/catalog/pr...x.asp?cls=2885

these are the screens I am referring to. They come in brass or stainless but are brutal on your checkbook -- especially when you are trying to minimize costs of your hobby.
Click to expand...

These look things really look great, but you are right, they are pretty pricey. They will have to go on my 'wish list'. Probably should buy the ball mill first. Gonna have to work on the wife first.:D
 
Lets see now, screens. Walmart, two three drawer plastic stack boxes. Junk store, frying pan splatter guards, several mesh sizes. Back to Walmart craft dept. Plastic mesh used for embroidery, comes in diferent mesh sizes.

Cut the bottoms out of all but one drawer and cut the tops out of the support frames. Cut the bottom out of one frame. Fasten the whole operation to some scrap plywood and hold together with bungee cords (Dollar Store).

Fasten an orbital sander to the plywood next to the stack drawers. Pour the powder from the broken cake in the top.

Next and most important step. Put the whole kit and kaboodle inside a large clear plastic trash bag and secure the open end around the drawers and board. LEAVE THE SANDER OUTSIDE THE BAG. If it's not obvious by now please know that the motor in the sander can make electric sparks. The sparks will set off the fine dust and then the whole shebang goes BANG:D:D

Turn on the sander and watch the powder sort its self out.

The top box holds the very large chunks and obviously the bottom catches all the very fine grains and LOTS of dust. The dust is simply reintroduced to the next batch and re-pressed.

I made some really fancy wood screen boxes that are air tight just for fun.

The main point is that screens don't have to be expensive. I don't try to match the grain size of commercial powder but rather get a variety of sizes that I can duplicate in a consistent manner.
 
you know what the problem with this site is. Everytime you read it someone comes up with something that you just keep adding to your summer todo list. mine is getting so long now.
 
I just use a 6" kitchen sieve that I had already. It's made of coarse stainless steel mesh.

You're trying to make it too complicated. Until you start pressing and corning your BP, you don't need multiple sieves.
 
I just got through wetting and screening my first batch. Again, I had charcoal making problems and ended up with about 170 grains of charcoal. Boy, it takes a LOT of charcoal to weight 170 grains.
Anyway, before I wet and screened it, it burned very quick with a good PHOOF. Now I just got to wait for it to dry. Gotta work tomorrow and Wed., so maybe Thursday I'll be able to test the final product.

I just used a kitchen screen sieve for screening, powder looks about like FFg.
 
Well Pulp, sounds like you got the mix down pretty well. You are right about the charcoal, it takes a lot of it to make the 15 percent.

Keep practicing with the charcoal making, it'll get easier as you tweak the process.

My little tin can kiln holds ten pounds of wood and yields two pounds of charcoal. It's all in the charcoal.:D:D:D
 
Bingo. Got the mix right. tried a small amount today and PUF. burnt about the same as Goex. This mix has only been drying for about 24 hours. Will try it again then probably hit the range on sunday.
 
I usually let mine dry for about 12 hours. You can tell when it's dry enough. BP can be overdried. I think having a very small amount of moisture left in it allows it to be more powerful due to the extra gases. I don't mean wet BP, but don't over dry it either. 12-16 hrs should be more than enough.
 
It's been years since I've made my own with my grandfather, I have the recipe information just have to get my ingredients together I guess & try my hand at it.
 
Question on mixture

Ok Question i have on the mixture from what i think having just the right amount of nox to charcoal will give you effective results. Having a little more nox will give you better. having too much will start to give bad results. Or is it having more charcoal that gives you better results which is it. Im right where i think i need to be. But was thinking what would i have to do to make it better add more nox or more charcoal.
 
Bingo. Got the mix right. tried a small amount today and PUF. burnt about the same as Goex. This mix has only been drying for about 24 hours. Will try it again then probably hit the range on sunday.
Click to expand...

So scrat, what did you do different this time that made such a difference in the results?
 
i changed the formula then made it the dangerous way.

150 grams kno3
20 grams charcoal
10 grams sulfur

Put a bottle of rubbing alcohal in the freezer.

Grinded knox to a fine powder with mortal pestle. then put in cup. put charcoal and sulfur in mortal and blended them to a very fine mixed powder.

Got out the pan turned on the overhead fan. Put the stove on medium heat. Poured in 3/4 cup of water. added the Knox then stired it until it was completely dissolved. Then slowly added the charcoal sulfur mix. then started mixing it and mixing it. as the water started to evaporate and filter in the mix. i lowered the heat. At first i did not like the look to well so i added some more water to keep it wet until i felt it was really mixed. Then i added some alcohal to the mix under a low low flame and kept stiring. as the water evaporated i turned off the stove added some more alcoahal. Then stired it up some more. By this time it was really thick and pasty. So i gathered it all up. Put out some news papers. put the big hot ball on the paper. took out the cheese grater. Then grated it all up. At first it looked more like 2f. So i took out a long fine knife and slowly went over all of it to make sure it looked like 2ff. then i had it spread out pretty big. Left it that way for about an hour. Then put it all in a cleaned up Plastic coffee container. Then put the lid on it. Yesterday after about 2 hours. i could tell the stuff was going to be powerfull as you could really smell the alcohal and powder.

Today when i lit it. The stuff was strong very strong. Good strong smoke too. Just like Goex, maybe even better. I want to try this again with some willow charcoal. Also want to know what i can do to make it better add more knox or more charcoal.
 
Dangerous?? No kidding. Alcohol + open flame + blackpowder = KABOOM
Potassium nitrate is very soluble in water so heating is not needed. Getting the slurry mixed well could be done with a kitchen wisk, no flame needed.
 
I think the only problems in adjusting the ratio is that the KNO3 is the oxidizer, the Charcoal is the fuel. You can use more KNO3, then the fuel is burnt up faster, but you have less gases since there's less fuel. In a revolver, that might be ok. In a rifle I'd think you'd want a more gradual pressure build and slower powder is ok.
75% 15% 10% works so good I never saw a need to try anything else in shooting. I do other ratios for BP rockets though.
I just came across a bunch of swamp alder, I'll be making a batch with it to compare to willow. It should be as good, possibly better. The hottest BP I've ever seen was when I made a batch using balsa wood. It was lighting fast and bright too ( hot ) . That might be the ideal BP, but Balsa is so light it's tough to mill.
 
So one of you guys have to give me a deal on buying some charcoal from. i tried that one site listed on page one. Sent the guy an email and i still have not heard from him. Im having a heck of a time getting good charcoal thats the problem
 
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