My homemade black powder

[Dirty Kurty]

sun dried..3 % dextrin . hard as a coffee mug..

[Themoose]

Well, I've made leap... thanks to all for sharing your experience... special thanks to FLY... Luck sent me a 15year old silver maple thanks to a storm last week... cut it down after it broken and half and hauled to the back... next day reading this sticky, I see where silver maple is a good source of charcoal... so in between work and the mowing I cut it up, stripped the bark off and stacked and covered it to dry till winter.. went to Wally World and bought 5 cu. ft. of red cedar chips and a 5 qt. cast dutch oven, drilled and tapped a 1/4 x20 hole and use a eyebolt with nut stop to plug the hole when taken off the fire... made me a fire in the fire pit last night, put about 1/3 full of chips and cooked it off to get anything burnt off the cast iron and discarded it... then filled the dutch oven full and set back in the fire.... I now have my first batch of charcoal... not sure how I am going to break it down to put in the ball mill, but I can go back to this thread to find the answer... could not find stump killer in area with KNO3, so ordered in online with the sulphur.. got my mill set up and assembled the 6 ton HF press.... will be making my first batch after UPS deliveers the KNO3... again, thanks to all for all your help.

TheMoose

[swamp]

To break down the charcoal for the mill I use a hand powered meat grinder with fine cutter. Best done outside.

swamp

[Eddie2002]

I've used a blender to grind up my charcoal, do it outside and stand up wind. Also don't let the charcoal get too hot from friction when getting ground up in the blender. I've noticed the stuff can heat up pretty fast during grinding.

[Fly]

Dirty Kurty, why are you using a binder with corned puck? when it,s not needed.

Fly

[Dirty Kurty]

Some how I just knew that using a binder would catch your attention Fly...I used it by force of habit. So now I will be pressing second batch 200 grams worth minus the dextrin. So after a day in the sun I will have some black willow with binder and without . Catalpa with and without.., Screened to Double F.. @ .080in. average size. . is my grain size in the ball park?.

[Dirty Kurty]

Heyy........where is my welcome to Cast Boolits....? geez it took four nights to read through this..I shoot ball and patch 50 caliber through self-made retrofit inline for a H&R. twist is around 1-70 .. 75 grains homemade weighed BP.. Ball milled with el cheapo 1lb. ball mill now upgraded with turbo charger motor and belt drive .. woohoooo!~~. never any difference between 8 hrs. and 12 hrs. mill time. well, with willow any hooo.. picture of mill up next..

[Dirty Kurty]

Heyy........where is my welcome to Cast Boolits....? geez it took four nights to read through this..I shoot ball and patch 50 caliber through self-made retrofit inline for a H&R. twist is around 1-70 .. 75 grains homemade weighed BP.. Ball milled with el cheapo 1lb. ball mill now upgraded with turbo charger motor and belt drive .. woohoooo!~~. never any difference between 8 hrs. and 12 hrs. mill time. well, with willow any hooo.. picture of mill up next..

Turbo charged for his pleasure.

[Markopolo]

Hey Dirty K... welcome to cast boolits!!!! Dang glad to have ya!!

Now that the formality’s are over, let’s talk about your turbo charging that tumbler.. so what sort of RPM you getting with that thing?? The real deal for me had been to increase the size of the tumbler jar, but not the rpm. I dont think there is a way to mill with a ball mill faster then the way we do it now... But you could easily get double the quantity. My mill does 2 jars at once, so it works pretty nice for me... I do like the fact that I can kill 2 different ingredients at the same time. I don’t mix in one container though unless I am using my kitchen aide mixer wet..

Again, welcome DK!!!

Marko

[Dirty Kurty]

64 rpm.. Fan motor from the curbside sale.. same ratio as the original.. More torque = less mill time with heavier lead..i use a mix of .480 and .530. works fine..I haven't taken it for a full load yet. im sure she'll pull the weight.

[Dirty Kurty]

It definitely mills 1lb. No more belt or power issues. . Everyone should join the Torque & Recoil Club...

[TheOutlawKid]

Dirty kurty, welcome to the forum. You really hit the ground running making black powder, great job...looking forward to more posts. I like how you repurposed a fan motor. Would like to see your entire mill set up if you get the time and would like to share.

[Markopolo]

I like the belt and pulleys... where did you find those ???

[Dirty Kurty]

I like the belt and pulleys... where did you find those ???

Moroso pulleys and belt from my drag racing days, electric water pump drive set-up...The 12 volt motor now runs my 350lb. deer feeder..Go big or go home!

[Dirty Kurty]

Awesome find a straight piece around 8 ft. Long Black Willow. Thank the ML Gods

[Dirty Kurty]

Hmm? What should i do with this fine specimen??????? Any suggestions.

[Dirty Kurty]

Yep. The ML Gods are asking for Black Willow C.C.....

[Dirty Kurty]

Yep. The ML Gods are asking for Black Willow C.C.....

Does anyone want it. I have plenty of these. Free is free.

[Dirty Kurty]

Not the Webber..There are two pieces . crappy picture

[Dirty Kurty]

Ok last picture of wood.