Originally Posted by
a.squibload
Progress report:
My frustration ( / confusion? ) with these alternate powders probably stems from procedure, not ingredients.
However, it led to making my first Holy Black. Didn't realize it was that easy. First batch seems really fast.
Ball milled 12 hours, wetted with alcohol, squeezed in gloved hand and pushed through window screen with
a credit card (I made a wood frame for the screen). Looks about like 3f size. A one-inch trail lit at one end went "poof!"
We'll see how fast it throws a lead ball.
I will still experiment with GP, etc., but the addition of charcoal is where it went wrong. Not sure of nomenclature
but tried the KNo3 + vitamin C + iron oxide + charcoal. Probably made it too wet. Finally dried ( I thought),
ball milling made big hard lumps like rocks. Busted them up, dried again, crushed with a stick. The resulting "powder"
was like gravel, mill meant nothing to it. Soaked it in alcohol to soften it up for another try. Three days, it's still wet,
but in sheet form and crumbly. Soon I will mill it again and give it a try.
My aversion to making real BP was the milling, pucking, & grinding (I don't want to spend hundreds of $ for equipment
to make a few pounds of powder). Glad I read this thread, gave me the push to JUST DO IT!
Also an alternative which still has promise.
PS: Real BP seems so easy. The sulphur I bought was a fine powder, the KNo3 is easy to mill, the toilet paper charcoal
is so fragile it's easy to mill as well. Next batch I'll just throw it all in the mill, see no need to pre-mill each component.