My homemade black powder

[indian joe]

whats really interesting here is that despite the wide diversity of equipment and methods there isnt anybody really unhappy with their results
(no major accidents either)

[mmb617]

I'm still reading and admiring the dedication of those who are always trying to make some part of the process better.

I don't have that kind of desire to perfect my product. After some stumbling around I've found a method that suits my purposes so I don't intend to change anything. I'm more in the camp of I know what works for me, I just need to keep doing it the exact same way.

But it is interesting to hear what some of you are up to in the quest for the ultimate black powder. Nothing wrong with that at all.

[LAGS]

@ Joe.
I am very happy with the BP that I make.
The only reasons I still sometimes play with different methods is to widen my knowledge on a hobby that makes me happy or just to speed up my processes.
I would bet that our Homemade stuff out performed the BP from 150 years ago.

[Trapper-Jack]

I really enjoy reading what you more experienced powder guys have to say. It's like a daily addiction to get on here and see what's been posted. As for my powder, I'm extremely happy with it. I tested three of my homemade powders against Goex out of my flintlock .50 Great Plains rifle. I don't have a chronograph but I measured the drop at 150 yards with a measured 70 grains of my pucked powder. My homemade powders were of Hybrid Willow, Juniper and Quaking Aspen. My Hybrid Willow was the best for Standard Deviation. The Juniper followed with Quaking Aspen at third. Goex came in last. Even if I dropped off the high and low measurements for Goex, my hybrid willow was still ahead of the Goex. With a 50 yard zero on my rifle, most of the shots came in at 10-14 inches low. I don't think my eyes can do any better with open iron sights.
I don't post much but I read what you guys have to say, sometimes several times. Thank you!

[DoubleBuck]

Trapper-Jack;
The report sounds excellent! I'm encouraged with the Juniper. I had read it was dirty. Others have had good reports on Quaking Aspen. Congratulations on your great results!

[LAGS]

Trapper - Jack.
Do you do your comparison firings with volume by weight or just both by matching Volumes

[Trapper-Jack]

Lags,
I did these comparisons just by volume. When I checked my ground 2F powder, the willow and juniper powder they were about 95% of what Goex was. The Quaking Aspen was a little lighter - 90%. This was with a 100 grain measure and then weighed. The Quaking Aspen was a surprise to me. Where it was lighter I thought it would print lower. That was not the case as it hit right in there with the rest, however the standard deviation was not quite as high as the willow and juniper.

[LAGS]

Most of my powders are between 80 to 85% the weight of Goex.
Mainly depending on their grain size.
But by shooting by weight of the charge makes my powder shoot the same as the Goex.
I don't shoot Swiss.
So I do not have that comparison.
My charcoals for my powder go from Soft Maple , TOH
, Willow and even some Balsa charcoal.

[Trapper-Jack]

I'm compressing my powder with a 20 ton jack, all it can do, and using no more than 5% water, usually around 4.5 to 4.8%. If I use more than that, I'll get excessive bleed from under my puck die. I like to see a little moisture, but not enough to run off the base of the die. I don't know the psi I'm applying. I blew apart my pressing cage the other day and had to re-weld it back together. I'm using a brass 2 inch nipple for a die.

[LAGS]

I am pressing my pucks with a 2" die from " Fly"
I use a HF 20 ton press.
I don't measure the water , but they don't squeeze out water when being pressed.
There is just a tiny bit of water or Wet area where the puck was pressed.
I think I need to let the pucks under pressure longer to boost my density.

[almar]

I think that most of us are happy with what we make but we come here and talk about it because we like it and to help if needed. I'm always astonished at those who max out their presses when pucking and it dawned on me that maybe it's because the charcoal I make may be a bit oily and high creosote? I barely use 3 tons I think for a short amount of time and very little water...when I max it out I get ridiculous density powder...I wonder about this tree I get my wood from because I don't remember anyone else reporting about this.

[Trapper-Jack]

I try to eliminate all the variables I can. I weigh my green meal when it comes out of the HF tumbler. Depending on the humidity, I'll add the water at 4.5 to 4.8%. I use plain tap water and meter it with a syringe. I have also noticed that with reprocessed fines, it will take less water than if I started out with the separate KNO3, charcoal and sulfur.

[LAGS]

Sometimes,
Rather than Re Pressing the fines and dust.
I just mix it with 2% binder and very little water and screen it .

[indian joe]

I think that most of us are happy with what we make but we come here and talk about it because we like it and to help if needed. I'm always astonished at those who max out their presses when pucking and it dawned on me that maybe it's because the charcoal I make may be a bit oily and high creosote? I barely use 3 tons I think for a short amount of time and very little water...when I max it out I get ridiculous density powder...I wonder about this tree I get my wood from because I don't remember anyone else reporting about this.

I think we talked this before - with hybrid willow charcoal - 20 ton jack and three inch die - I max out the jack and get about 92% of the weight of my comparison Goex sample - the goex is old - like 1992 or so - .....however my density calculation/comparison is with finished powder - settled into a measure then weighed.
from memory your density numbers are calculated from volume of the pressed puck ???? what about a comparison of the ground and screened (fiinshed) powder ?? I am struggling with the idea that you get considerably over commercial density in your finished powder - nobody else seems to be able to do that. ???? have I got my wires crossed here somehow?

[indian joe]

I try to eliminate all the variables I can. I weigh my green meal when it comes out of the HF tumbler. Depending on the humidity, I'll add the water at 4.5 to 4.8%. I use plain tap water and meter it with a syringe. I have also noticed that with reprocessed fines, it will take less water than if I started out with the separate KNO3, charcoal and sulfur.

I do that seat of the pants with a mist sprayer bottle - soon as it will clump together I make it into balls then I grate those back through a window screen mesh and mix it all up again - if I dont do that step I get little spots in the pucks where its more damp from the sprayer spots - i dont get any water coming out when pressing now.

[almar]

When I max out the press I get a finished 3f powder that weighs more that swiss but does not perform as well as what I make now. If I would fill a 45 colt case to the rim and tap it down, fill more etc..and do the same for both samples, it would weigh more than commercial. The dried pucks would be over 2g/cc. If I remember correctly this never happened with other woods I tried or higher temp charcoal.

[Trapper-Jack]

When I was comparing my finished 2F powder against Goex 2F, my 100 grain measure of Goex weighed 97 grains. Using that as a base line of 100% weight, the same 100 grain measure of my willow and juniper weighed 92 grains, 95% of the weighed Goex. My quaking aspen weighed in at 87 grains, a touch under 90%.
When I compared the dried weight of my pucks, the willow weighed an average of 1.76 g/cc. The juniper weighed 1.70 and the quaking aspen was 1.72. The juniper and quaking aspen were small batches so I don't have a lot of confidence in those numbers. These were all with a 75/15/10 blend of the ingredients.
When I was shooting screened powder, I played with adjusting the blend. The screened powder that I liked best had a blend of 72/18/10. When I began compressing my powder, I reprocessed some of this powder and weighed the dried pucks. The average density out of that blend was 1.48. I ran these puck through the tumbler and added more KNO3 and sulfur to bring it up to about the 75/15/10 blend and the dried puck weights were in the high 1.6's and low 1.7's.

[indian joe]

When I max out the press I get a finished 3f powder that weighs more that swiss but does not perform as well as what I make now. If I would fill a 45 colt case to the rim and tap it down, fill more etc..and do the same for both samples, it would weigh more than commercial. The dried pucks would be over 2g/cc. If I remember correctly this never happened with other woods I tried or higher temp charcoal.

thanks - my maxed out obviously not generating as much force as you
1)20 ton jack is OLD
2) 3" die vs 2"
3) I stack several pucks in the die at once

am getting 92% to 95% of Goex in my finished powder --looks like "aint broke dont fix it, has landed me in about the right place "
(there has been a lot of that with this project)

[DoubleBuck]

I agree with Almar on his charcoal. I got a bit carried away on one pressing and though I was shooting for 1.6 density, I leaned a bit hard on the press, and the pucks came out over 1.8 density.
I have no problem at all pressing my preferred 1.6-1.7 density pucks, from brown powder,
I believe that to be as he said, the charcoal being different (moist?). For me, it can clump while milling. Not every time, but some more than others. Since I started grinding my charcoal and then heating it to above 200°F, before milling, I have not had nearly as much clumping. But, I also increased my media and milling speed and times. I have read that charcoal can absorb nearly half it's weight from atmospheric humidity.
I don't know what there is about 'cycling' the press, but my experience says if you want high densities, try that. Hit it for five minutes or so and then release the press for five or so and hit it again. I have my ideas why it works, but no positive proof. The brown charcoal cured my low density blues. Press it for a minute or so and bump it again to take up the slack; and pull it out of the die. A 2" die and 20 ton press probably doesn't require three tons to get 1.6-1.7 G/CC density pucks. Until I found brown Charcoal, I thought it was nearly impossible.

[Dieselhorses]

Are any of you using a force gauge for density? I have a formula I used to construct a puck die that makes 4 or 8 ounce pucks 3” diameter. Density equals right at 1.7g/cc.

https://www.brianredmond.net/dwillia...powderdie.html


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk