Mad Monk Complete Files Notes
Friends and fellow followers of the Holy Black;
I have been reading the Mad Monk Complete Files off and on for a month. Some of it doesn't pertain to my uses, but I endeavored to read them all, as there is lots of useful information, pertinent or not. I took several notes relative to our use and decided to post them, that they might help someone at some point, and hopefully; answer some questions for those new and old, to the quest.
Thank you again to Brimstone, who posted the link to the Mad Monk Complete Files, in his post #6820, on page 341. There is a trove of info there. Bill Knight has black powder credentials, for sure.
I'll start with Charcoal, then Nitrate, then Sulfur and a couple on procedures.
Bill lists the preferred Sporting charcoal woods in order, as Glossy Buckthorn Alder; Black Alder; and White Willow. I believe GOEX is (was) made with Maple, Some of us may not have any one of the three available; but his parameters are light density, low ash content (at or below 2.5%) and high creosote content. Alder wood tested 6-8%; Willow 4- 5% and Maple 2-3% Creosote content.
I'll leave the creosote to Linstrum or others who have expressed a desire to formulate a simple and viable test of creosote. Although Bill's method is not all that complicated. But seemingly tedious. Meanwhile, I think we have several woods tried, tested and true that have been posted. I'll leave that for another discussion.
Charcoal should be cooked, without bark, at or below 320°C or 608°F.. This retains the most creosote and has a good number on fixed carbon content.
I believe a few others in this forum such as Almar have determined 580°F is a good number to strive for. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Length of char time is not fixed and please correct me if I am wrong there, as well.
Creosote is directly related to softer, wet fouling, which is easily swabbed, and less corrosive.
Care should be taken to assure against moisture weight gain on new charcoal. I believe he quoted a 10% weight gain is possible, in high (92%) humidity.
The charcoal of one company was ground to pass a #40 mesh sieve, before milling. He also says that charcoal in certain of his grain size tests indicated 2 micron to 10 micron sizes in finished milled powder. I don't know if 'airfloat' is fine enough. But, it appears Charcoal can't be ground too small. And again, properly ground charcoal is really prone to moisture attraction. And, low temperature processed charcoal is slightly less prone.
Bill makes a few Nitrate points in his writings.
The main ones I came off with are purity of 99.5+ which he lists as Technical Grade. He says the .5% impurity is not as important as the makeup of that impurity. We want no Sodium Chloride to be in that .5%. It turns to Sodium Nitrate in the burn process. And that promotes moisture corrosion.
He states more than once that the best KNO3 comes from Haifa, in Israel. Not only is the impurity content more inert; it is also overstated; in that 99.5% is the lower limit of Haifa's stated purity. It actually runs at more in the 99.7-99.9% purity.
Also on the purity subject; Bill gives very strong arguments for the use of only distilled water. No treated city water with chlorine in it. No well water with iron. No well water with sulfur. Pretty much, nothing but distilled is acceptable.
I'm pretty sure we can make a hundred pounds of finished powder with a gallon of distilled water. And you can buy it anywhere they sell water.
The purity of water in the process directly relates to finished powder quality and storage longevity. And, grain structure longevity. It can definitely be a make or break in powder quality.
Sulfur is a subject Bill covers in several ways, in it's relation to quality and burn characteristics, but the main points I took were, once again purity of 99.5%+, with, hopefully, the .5% not being acid. I think it goes with the other ingredients that purity and mixture percentage are the important points.
The other main point I got was not to heat your sulfur at any time above 180°F. It starts to gas off and lose it's properties. I, myself have decided I can keep all my heat at or below 150°F and be good to go.
Because his testing that I read, was primarily all on commercially produced powders; our process is not even considered. Bill only states that Chinese fireworks powder was made in ball mills and that a ball mill wasn't capable of making Sporting quality powder.
I think that conclusion has been seriously questioned, from test results of posters on this forum; comparing finished powder results with direct comparisons of commercially produced powder; up to and including Swiss. Everybody wants a 8 ton wheel mill in their shop, right? Given that probably ain't happening; we seem to be doing amazingly well, with a process that ain't supposed to work. We just have to work out the specific loads for accuracy versus velocity. That's the fun part, as far as I'm concerned.
Polishing powder is a subject Bill covers extensively, and reading his results has inspired me to at least give it a good try.
His recommendations are polishing for 4-6 hours utilizing cotton muslin cloth and frequent dust removal. He also states that a basic grain size (2ff) will generally reduce a half size (2.5ff) with proper polishing. So, unless we are doing large batches in volume, it would be good to bear the grain size loss in mind, during initial screening.
Bill says polishing to a 1.02 G/CC to 1.08 G/CC LOADING Density is generally accepted on Sporting Powder. IndianJoe my mind rang a bell, when I realized this was what you were speaking of, a couple months back, that you didn't care as much for puck density as loading density? Now I understand what you were saying.
And final screening for dust removal yielded further positive results.
The addition of Graphite seems to add more of a pouring and grain isolating advantage, in storage. It will not give much additional protection to moisture and actually will hide an underlying moisture problem below the polished outer layer of grain structure from long term storage.
It 'moderates' ignition throughout the burn process, which can help stabilize accuracy. A potential negative of Graphite is added fixed carbon content, which will add a certain amount to dryer fouling characteristics.
There's pretty much the extent of my notes. As VettePilot says, "your mileage may vary". :shock: