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Thread: My homemade black powder

  1. #2901
    Boolit Master
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    Bob (You dee man) ! Fun hearing you doing that every year.

    Your Friend Fly

  2. #2902
    Boolit Buddy TheOutlawKid's Avatar
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    Wait....whats KNO2? Cuz i use KNO3...which i purchased a couple years back from duda diesel.

  3. #2903
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by TheOutlawKid View Post
    Wait....whats KNO2? Cuz i use KNO3...which i purchased a couple years back from duda diesel.
    Yep it works great. The only thing I do not like with duda diesels KNO-3 it is pilled. Not a big deal other than is takes longer to ball mill down into
    fine powder.
    Fly

  4. #2904
    Boolit Master
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    I run it thru my coffee grinder first to break down the prills. It is the same one I use to grind my pucks. Counts down the milling time a lot.

    swamp
    There is no problem so great, that it cannot be solved by the proper application of high explosives.

  5. #2905
    Boolit Master
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    Now why did I not think of that Swamp?????? Geezzzzzzzzzzzz that,s why I come here (wink)

    Fly

  6. #2906
    Boolit Master
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    Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Give Thanks for all we have.

    Fly

  7. #2907
    Moderator Emeritus


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    Same to you and your families.

  8. #2908
    Boolit Man
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    I did an experiment. I had made bp in the past by milling all 3 ingredients together. I do this in the woods about 800'
    from the house. Great bp but pain in the butt having to drag out the generator to run ball mill. I have decided to try milling the charcoal/sulfur together and in a separate container mill the *** nitrate. all the ingredients were then shifted together in the 75/15/10 weights like I normally do. I touch off some green meal which burn but at a slower rate and dirtier. I then try mixing with water and then do the same process as I done in the past. It did ignite but again dirtier and slower than my original way of making bp. i may try compressing it just to see what the results would be.

    From what I gather I am going back to milling all 3 ingredients together in the woods. If I did not have that option than I can see me doing it seperated with a lesser quality bp. Lesser quality is better than no bp.

    Next up is trying some store bought hardwood charcoal. I will do the 3 ingredients together method. Just looking to see all my options on making bp. If somewhat fast and clean maybe good for cannon blank firing which can eat up a lot of bp.

  9. #2909
    Boolit Master
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    May I suggest NO store bought charcoal. It is hardwood, great for cooking not so for black powder.
    Charcoal is the grail of good BP. Mill all three together.

    Fly

  10. #2910
    Boolit Master
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    Glad to see this thread is still active. Somehow all my stuff from Cast Boolits had started going into my Spam folder for a good while and I just discovered the fact.

    Been really busy taking care of my sister, (terminal cancer), but I now have ALL the goodies gathered up for making BP and hopefully will find the time to jump right in soon.

    Happy Holidays to all!
    Vettepilot
    "Those who sacrifice freedom for security, have neither."
    Benjamin Franklin. (A very wise man!)

  11. #2911
    Boolit Master
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    Man I,m so sorry to hear that with your sister. May god bless her and your family.

    Fly

  12. #2912
    Boolit Master
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    Thanks so much Fly. And thanks for all I have learned from you here.

    Great group of people here!

    Merry Christmas to all!

    Vettepilot
    "Those who sacrifice freedom for security, have neither."
    Benjamin Franklin. (A very wise man!)

  13. #2913
    Boolit Master
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    I agree with the idea of not buying/using store bought charcoal for various reasons. A question though... There is some charcoal that mostly comes from Mexico that is not processed. It is raw chunks of Mesquite wood, made straight into charcoal; not pressed wood processed briquets. Somewhere in my studies, I saw a chart of the performance of BP made of various woods and Mesquite rated quite high.

    Thoughts/comments??

    Vettepilot
    "Those who sacrifice freedom for security, have neither."
    Benjamin Franklin. (A very wise man!)

  14. #2914
    Boolit Master
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    Yes I bought some of that for my smoker. Never used mesquite so I can,t comment .

    Fly

  15. #2915
    Boolit Master
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    I did make one batch with Mesquite Wood since I have two trees in my yards at both houses.
    And make my own Mesquite Charcoal for my barbeque and smoker.
    The powder Worked.
    But it seemed to burn Slower and left a lot of Residue.
    I am sure it will work fine for cannons or fireworks.
    Now I need to find some Black Willow Trees here in Arizona , or just contact someone who makes and sells Black Willow Charcoal before I hear up again for my next load of BP

  16. #2916
    Boolit Master
    swamp's Avatar
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    I have both Willow and Tree of Heaven float. How much powder do you make at a time? I have plenty of TOH but only 5 oz. of Willow.

    swamp
    There is no problem so great, that it cannot be solved by the proper application of high explosives.

  17. #2917
    Boolit Master
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    I plan to make at least 5 -1 lb batches next month.
    But Know I will be making more in the following months

  18. #2918
    Boolit Master
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    I too would like to find some Black Willow here in Arizona. (Northern part of the state.) It seems like there ought to be some; maybe along the Colorado River somewhere's, but I haven't found it yet. I have a large tub of some wood I THINK might be Black Willow that I found at a pond near Prescott. We'll see how that works for now... I have a similar tub of Juniper to try out. I read somewhere that Juniper was once used to make very high quality BP in England long ago. We'll see...

    Vettepilot
    "Those who sacrifice freedom for security, have neither."
    Benjamin Franklin. (A very wise man!)

  19. #2919
    Boolit Master
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    I think I will swing by the National Forest office that is over by my other house , and ask them where all the Willow trees are , and if I have to have a permit to collect downed wood.
    You think that they should know ?

  20. #2920
    Boolit Master
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    They might if you catch the right person. Sometimes the rangers are really helpful, sometimes not so much. One of the University botanical or biology departments would probably know.

    I am not up on the Arizona wood collecting laws any more. It used to be "dead and down" was fair game. Probably still is... Right now they have some positively MASSIVE clean/clear/thin out operations going on in the forests, but of course that's all pine and scrub oak.

    If I get back down to Tucson with any extra time on my hands, I'll check with the U of A, and let you know what they say.

    Vettepilot
    "Those who sacrifice freedom for security, have neither."
    Benjamin Franklin. (A very wise man!)

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