My homemade black powder

[Whizzer]

I used both eastern & western cedars & they are good. I can't say there faster but they have more fouling in the barrel
them black willow. But if I did not have black willow around I would most likely use them.

Fly

I use the lizard bedding a Walmart sells. It's in chips already, so I use a TLUD cooker. (Top Lit Up Draft) It doesn't seem like it should work, but it sure does. I believe it is Eastern Red Cedar.

Dirty and faaaast. Yup.

I don't have access to Black Willow.

[Boz330]

Tree of Heaven is an invasive species and grows about everywhere and it works well.
Here is a link to pictures and where it grows. http://www.invasive.org/browse/subinfo.cfm?sub=3003

Bob

[okshooter]

I had my burn barrel going the other day (blow downs, twigs, some small logs all with bark and 99% hickory) and had to leave as it got down to coals so I put it out with the water hose. Later I collected some of the charcoal and after drying, ground them up with a kitchen grinder. Some time after, I began to read this thread more closely.

So my question is: Should I discard this and start over with some of the softer woods mentioned?

Thanks!

[Fly]

I would, for you will just be wasting your chemicals. I,m not saying it won't burn but will not be very good powder.

Fly PS I live in NE Oklahoma also. there is a lot of Black willow in our part of the state.

[Whizzer]

I had my burn barrel going the other day (blow downs, twigs, some small logs all with bark and 99% hickory) and had to leave as it got down to coals so I put it out with the water hose. Later I collected some of the charcoal and after drying, ground them up with a kitchen grinder. Some time after, I began to read this thread more closely.

So my question is: Should I discard this and start over with some of the softer woods mentioned?

Thanks!

You'll have to make your charcoal in an oxygen starved enviornment, or you'll have VERY poor results.


Here is a good way, using the retort method. http://www.brianredmond.net/dwilliam.../charcoal.html

I use a TLUD cooker more often than not. But it doesn't matter too much. You just have to starve the cooker of most of the oxygen, or instead of charcoal, you just get ash.
Here is Ned Gorski's youtube video on his TLUDs. Ned is a fireworks guru of the first order. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3NWN1PEjoQ

Charcoal is the trick in making good BP. Mine is stupid fast, but dirty dirty dirty, and I have never managed to grade it consistently for repeatable velocity....YET!.

When my work slows down as winter approaches, I'm going to press pucks and buy some screens for grading. Been putting that off, but I've gotten interested in cap and ball, and cartridge BP shooting. My poorly compacted and graded powder never mattered too much in my muzzleloader rifles. Not so 45 colt BPC, or cap and ball.


<edit> Just saw Fly's reply. He beat me to the punch. But he's right. Don't give up. It's worth doing this, but mix your BP in small quantities. Most accidents are from known errors. Some are inexplicable.... Small quantities could turn a catastrophy into a survivable event.

[okshooter]

Fly and Whizzer,
Thanks for the advice/comebacks! I will discard what I have. The project will have to go on hold for a while due to pickup repairs and other priorities. I will continue to read and follow this thread though and soak up some more knowledge.

[Whizzer]

I just PM'd you my cell number. When you are ready, call me. I can help you get on the right track, I think.

[Hotfxr]

Whaling 32/64" mesh 3% 4 mesh 12%
Lifesaving 6 mesh 3% 12 mesh 12%
Cannon 6 mesh 3% 12 mesh 12%
Saluting 10 mesh 3% 20 mesh 12%
Fg 12 mesh 3% 16 mesh 12%
FFg 16 mesh 3% 30 mesh 12%
FFFg 20 mesh 3% 50 mesh 12%
FFFFg 40 mesh 3% 100 mesh 12%
FFFFFg (no longer manufactured by Goex)

mesh size, then percentage. What percentage passs the large screen, and is held back by the small screen.

Thank you for the info Whiterabbit. My top layer is 12 mesh so off to find a sheet of 6 mesh.
Thanks again.

[Avenger442]

I have read through this thread. I have never shot black powder but have an interest in doing it. If I understand it correctly, if you are going to load cartridges it is better to make pucks corn the mixture. Are there any advantages to adding the alcohol red gum to wet it or include the red gum in the mix in the ball mill and wet that with alcohol when making pucks? Does this help produce grains that will not go back to dust?

This one may be for another thread but, when shooting black powder cartridges do you use the same lubes that you use in the smokeless cartridges? In the muzzle loader the patch contains the lube correct?

[Whiterabbit]

I'm confused about charcoal - using willow or some other kind - isn't charcoal essentially just carbon?

why can't I use carbon from, say, a water filter?

My wife used to ask why her engagement ring has a black stone in it. I tried your line, it didn't work.

[Whiterabbit]

Thank you for the info Whiterabbit. My top layer is 12 mesh so off to find a sheet of 6 mesh.
Thanks again.

All sizes available for $6-10 each in a 12"x12" sheet in stainless steel from www.grainger.com

[Whiterabbit]

I have read through this thread. I have never shot black powder but have an interest in doing it. If I understand it correctly, if you are going to load cartridges it is better to make pucks corn the mixture. Are there any advantages to adding the alcohol red gum to wet it or include the red gum in the mix in the ball mill and wet that with alcohol when making pucks? Does this help produce grains that will not go back to dust?

This one may be for another thread but, when shooting black powder cartridges do you use the same lubes that you use in the smokeless cartridges? In the muzzle loader the patch contains the lube correct?

If you corn, no need for gum or dextrin. And when you corn, the grains stay cohesive much better than mixing in the additives.

Compression is really helpful.

But if you corn, make sure you go very easy on the water. If you put too much with additives, it's easy to let it sit for awhile (weeks) to dry. When you corn, all that water you put in is coming right back out immediately, so it becomes a MESS if you use too much. I'm at the point of using a teaspoon of water for every 1/4 pound of powder. I'm not measuring, it just seems like that kind of ballpark. It really doesn't take much.

Frankly, I'd suggest you source a can of goex and play with loading before making your own. No need to put the horse before the cart.

[Hotfxr]

All sizes available for $6-10 each in a 12"x12" sheet in stainless steel from www.grainger.com

I looked there first since that is where I got my original ones. But this time my local store had none in stock and online was two weeks out so I grudgingly paid about $7 more and got it from Amazon but it will be here Sunday or Monday so I can get to playing with it. I did get one of the ceramic grinders that was recommended here and it works pretty well. When the mesh gets here I think I will have a complete set up. I made some stacked boxes for the mesh and now will have cannon size, 4f, 3f, 2f, and whatever goes all the way through will just go into the tumbler and be recycled. After reading as much as I can find on cannons, I am not as worried about consistency or purity as much as accurate weight in the packets. I mean I am going to shoot golf balls, canisters, and when I am feeling rich maybe lead balls. Plus when and if I get the powder mixed in with sawdust or dirt or twigs (don't ask) I just pour it into a special container that I use to blow gophers to the promised land.
I want to thank you all again for the help and ideas of this thread, long as it is. Even though we are up to 52 pages long now, this has got to be the greatest forum thread in history. Glad to be a part of it.

[Texantothecore]

Whiterabbit.

I accidently put about 5 oz. Of water in a batch and it squirted out of the die. Very little water is the rule. The 1500 psi pressure will evenly distribute the small amount of water throughout the puck.

[Avenger442]

If you corn, no need for gum or dextrin. And when you corn, the grains stay cohesive much better than mixing in the additives.

Compression is really helpful.

But if you corn, make sure you go very easy on the water. If you put too much with additives, it's easy to let it sit for awhile (weeks) to dry. When you corn, all that water you put in is coming right back out immediately, so it becomes a MESS if you use too much. I'm at the point of using a teaspoon of water for every 1/4 pound of powder. I'm not measuring, it just seems like that kind of ballpark. It really doesn't take much.

Frankly, I'd suggest you source a can of goex and play with loading before making your own. No need to put the horse before the cart.

Have some store bought "real black powder". And will be trying it out first.

Was just trying to understand durability of the grains if red gum not added. So corned broken into grains is as durable as store bought black?

[Fly]

If waters squrting out you got it a little to wet. No big deal other than you lose some kno-3.
I don't measure mine. What I do is mist my meal powder with water in a spray bottle VERY
LIGHTY. Mix the misted water in real good. take some meal powder & squeeze it in a tight fist.

If it just starts to stick together you good to go. If not repeat a little more misting till you get it.

Fly

[Nobade]

Have some store bought "real black powder". And will be trying it out first.

Was just trying to understand durability of the grains if red gum not added. So corned broken into grains is as durable as store bought black?

Yes, it is very tough - like broken bits of ceramic. You can't crush it with your fingers. Screened powder, however, without red gum, can be ground into dust between your fingers. Even if it has dextrin in it, though that is quite a bit tougher than without.

-Nobade

[Whiterabbit]

dextrin didn't work for me at all. I could easily pulverize it with my fingers. That is to say, 2% dextrin (store bought), ball milled in, no corning, balled and let cure. sucked. Compare to NO dextrin, pressed with my bench vise. Much better. Now I use a 6 ton press. is it even better still? dunno. It's faster. The grains are tough. Good enough for me.

I never used red gum, so dunno. But NOTHING plus pressure works like a champ, so IMO that is the way to go.

[Hotfxr]

For the last couple of years I was screening damp powder and letting it dry and screening it again. Always with dextrin. I would wet it down, then compress it a bit then immediately screed it across the screens. Worked great for a while, when I was using it as fast as I was making it. Then I noticed while in storage it was all reverting to 4f or smaller and lost a lot of power. (Figuring it soaked up moisture due to humidity). Now I am corning without dextrin and letting them dry and I have to use a grinder since it is so hard. Can't wait to try it out firing it out of a barrel somewhere.

[Whiterabbit]

you will be impressed. Your method and experience exactly mirrored mine. Down to screeding damp dextrin balls across 12 mesh to break them up to prep for screening to real powder. And ultimately ending up with 4F, especially after seating the RB in the bore. Which leads to INCREDIBLY dirty barrels on firing.

Nuts to that, now that I have a press and mold.