My homemade black powder

[Fly]

Well, black powder is really very tolerate of compression. It is sparks or heat that set it off. I have
tried hitting a small amount with a hammer & never could set it off in doing that, as a test.

Fly

[LIMPINGJ]

Has anyone tried to make charcoal from Bamboo? If so how did it work in your powder?

[Fly]

It is not very fast, for gun powder. Lot better choices out there.

Fly

[Whiterabbit]

Is anyone concerned about pressing dry powder inside a fully-enclosed metal canister constrained in a press? I would think of nothing else the misting reduces the chance of an explosion during pressing.

Steve

I am not concerned.

[maillemaker]

I am not concerned.

Well, I am. The idea of constraining dry black powder inside of a pressure vessel screams "BOMB" to me. I find that idea more concerning than milling. I think I'll be doing it damp.


I bought a Harbor Freight 2-drum 3-pound tumbler a few days ago. I need to order one of Fly's puck makers and get a hydraulic press.

Steve

[Nobade]

Well, I am. The idea of constraining dry black powder inside of a pressure vessel screams "BOMB" to me. I find that idea more concerning than milling. I think I'll be doing it damp.


I bought a Harbor Freight 2-drum 3-pound tumbler a few days ago. I need to order one of Fly's puck makers and get a hydraulic press.

Steve

You don't press it dry. You have to add a tiny bit of water to make it work, otherwise you get compressed dust that falls apart after pressing. Do it right and it rings like a ceramic and is very tough.

-Nobade

[Fly]

Nobade is spot on. We do not wet it much, just a very small misting to get it to stick together some.

Fly

[Whiterabbit]

and if you add too much, holy moly does it make a fantastic mess. even 1 teaspoon of water and a quarter pound of airfloat BP and you get moisture flow out of the bottom of the die.

[Avenger442]

I was making some charcoal out of willow today while burning up some brush and old pallets. Some of the heavy pallets got on top of the popcorn can I was using as a retort. The seam split. It had quit having a flame at the hole in the top so I rolled it out of the fire to let it cool. It was still a little warm when I put it on my out side work table but I didn't think anything about it. Then I noticed the seam was split. So I removed the top and found that the coal was burning inside the can. I put it out with some water.

Did I ruin, as far as using it for powder, what was left of the charcoal? Or can I go ahead and grind it up and make the black?

[Fly]

No it will dry, but you maybe did not get it cooked complete. It sounds like your vent holes were not
large enough. It built to much pressure & split the can. Recook what you have after it dry,s & do it again
with larger holes are more holes. Your learning (wink) Fly

[Avenger442]

Thanks.
I think I crushed it with the pallet and split it.
I have short cooked some where all but a small portion of the middle was charcoal. I ground up what was coal and recooked the rest.
Yep. I'm a learnin newbie.

[Fly]

Heck you will be making better powder then us ole timers in no time.
Fun an't it? Fly

[Avenger442]

Better than eating a pickle sandwich.

[WallyinIN]

Just finished my new press in time to use it with the batch of weeping willow charcoal

[Avenger442]

WallyinIN;
How much powder is that in weight?

Like Fly said "Fun ain't it"

I'm going to grind mine up some time toward the end of the month and load some cartridges for one of my pistols. If that goes well, I have what I was after.

[Hotfxr]

I learned this one the hard way. Well not really the hard way, but I am sometimes too stubborn to listen to even myself and was continuously using too much water. Now, with 8 ounces of freshly milled powder, it gets just a few light mists from a spray bottle and then pressed into pucks. I am getting virtually no seepage at the bottom of the die and after 3 weeks or so (wrapped in butcher paper and stored in a wooden box with some desiccant inside) the pucks have a nice "ting" sound when you tap them and the screened powder is working better than ever.

[WallyinIN]

Hotfxr,
I use a similar approach. A half oound batch requires 9 grams of water to be at 4% moisture. I olace my water bottle on my scale and zero it out every 3-4 sprays is worth about 3 grams on my bottle. I mist the powder then mix it usually 3 times and I check the weight of the bottle and make sure I have used the 9 grams. This has turned out great pucks everytime.

Wally

[Dave M]

Fly thanks for the help on using my harbor freight ball mill. I filled it halfway with 54 cal. Balls and it's working great know. The problem I'm having is when I fire it out of a 50 cal pistol or 54 cal long rifle I blow my patches literally apart or make holes. I'm not compressing the powder when I make it, just wetting and running over a window screen. So I am weighing my charges. The powder is about half the weight of goex 3f. I've tried rem patches, 15 thous. Pillow ticking. And old jeans.

[rancher1913]

quick sulfur question for you experts. can you use the garden sulfur that is 90% sulfur and 10% "other" for the recipe, don't know what the "other" is and don't know how it would affect the final recipe.

[Rojelio]

I've used the garden dusting sulfur before and it worked just fine. Of course I didn't do a direct comparison with lab grade sulfur so take it for what it's worth.