My homemade black powder

[cavalrymedic]

My 16 year old son has been making his own BP for over a year now and he makes some really good stuff. I buy him the Saltpeter from Tractor Supple. It's sold as stump remover, but it's pure SP that needs to be finely ground. That is accomplished in a coffee/spice mill until it has the consistency of confectioner's sugar. Then some hardwood charcoal is ground the same way. We could ude the charcoaling in a can method for making good charcoal, but I just get my charcoal out of the fireplace and that has been working well for small amounts. The sulfur comes from the local drug store. Blend well and use a little bit of water to get granules of BP. Sift through a garden sifter to get nearly uniform sized BP grains. If I want lots of smoke, and who doesn't, I use more sulfur. You can actually make BP without sulfur and it is nearly smokeless. The only problem is that this raises the flashpoint of the BP to the point that you could get a few hangfires. You can't use the sulfurless powder as flashpan powder cause you need a really low flashpoint. Anyway. Making BP is fun and really really easy. Cheap too. For regular smokey BP I use , by volume, 2 parts SP, 1 part charcoal, 1/2 part sulfur.

[Flash]

This has been an interesting thread. I remember as a kid, me and my buddies would go to Drug Fair and buy bottles of Potasium Nitrate and Sulfer flower then, crush up Kingsford Charcoal and even though it was primitive, it was fun. We also learned on Hawaii Five O, how to make fuses out of the magnesium hair in the old camera flash bulbs and the mercury switches in furnace thermostats. I guess the Feds invented video games to stop kids from doing this stuff.

[Hellgate]

cavalrymedic,
Why not measure the ingredients by weight rather than volume? I'm thinking that the grind and fluffiness would make a difference just like using sifted flour vs packed flour, same volume but way different weight.

[cavalrymedic]

the volume seems to work pretty well. Once the stuff is all ground up, we just use a small plastic kitchen measuring cup. No weighing required. It turns out that with BP the exact mixture isn't really crucial. A little more SP, or a little less, very little difference.

[T-Bird]

I'm going to try this. I made some "dextrin" from cornstarch in a skillet last night( amid a hail of questions concerning why I was sauteing cornstarch) from a procedure I got off the net. When should I add this if I choose to try it? Shoot straight T-Bird

[Charlie Sometimes]

I finally got all the bark off the apple wood- lot more of it than what I thought, and a little more time consuming. It didn't strip off as easily as I thought it would, being from a dormant tree. I cut it into shorter pieces that would fit into my retort, and make it easier to set in the house and strip them (raining and snowing over the weekend- perfect weather for this project).

Something I noticed while stripping- there was a light build up of "tar" on my knife that I used in stripping and scraping. I would venture to say that "tar" would help add to the charcoals effectiveness over other types of wood.
Going to go trim the willow now, so I can see if that same condition exists in lesser or greater quantity. Probably the natural sugar factor.

[atom73]

T-bird,
I dont know where in the manufacturing would be the ideal time to add the dextrin. I havent tried it yet so it looks like you are gonna be the one to report on it My guess would be after you have precipitated out the KNO3 and maybe after you have drained off some of the liquid. It does have to be wet otherwise it wont work. Please let us know how it works out.
Charlie,
I have read that the softer woods are better for making BP charcoal but am interested in your efforts with apple wood anyway. So please let us know how it goes, I think I posted about a guy that I read about somewhere that swore by using grass to make his (I bet hay/straw would work).
Mike

[Fly]

Just add 5% dextrin by weight in when you ball mill.I use gum arobic instead, for you only
need 2%.Use boiling hot water when you dampen & it really helps in harder grains.

Fly

[Boz330]

It has been at least 50+ years since I made my last BP but I'm getting kind of interested in trying some in BPCR just for grins and giggles. Been eyeballing for some willow but haven't seen much that is easy to get to.

Bob

[Charlie Sometimes]

I cut some of the willow today, and a few other types for comparison, while pruning the trees along my creek bank today. It was a really nice day to be outside (partly cloudy, mid 50's & breezy), and this project provided incentive to to finish the pruning work I started two weeks or more ago.

The willow seemed to be more pithy under the bark, and lighter wood, but grain is not open, and not much smell; I need bigger pieces for better comparisons, I think.

Some of the other tree sample had little to no pith under the bark and are heavier, and even smell green. Sap is starting to run in some of the trees now, too. Cut some low thumb size limbs off a couple of trees and water just poured for a little while; the higher ones didn't.

I have some sumac and large grape vines nearby- they are my next target! Looks like I am going to have several small batches whenever I get around to making test charcoal.

I think I am going to try to locate a coffee grinder to grind my charcoal, or a used bullet chopper or similar appliance to make it like flour, I hope.

[T-Bird]

I am going to add the dextrin in with the sulfur/charcoal, will mix it well, then add it to the KNO3 solution. I am the family cook and I thicken alot of sauces with cornstarch(mostly asian), so I know cornstarch/water mixtures change alot at the boiling point. Didn't know how this impacted the "project" Not going to be tomorrow, but when I get some "alone time". Will report back. Shoot Straight, T-Bird

[Fly]

T-Bird you MUST ball mill your powder or it won't perform well at all.Your meal powder must
be as fine as baby powder, before you granulate it.
Fly

[perotter]

T-bird,

.... I read about somewhere that swore by using grass to make his (I bet hay/straw would work).
Mike

When it is made with grass or straw it is call brown powder or cocoa powder. Rye straw was the preferred base. The max amount of sulfur was 5%. Some had no sulfur in them. For example - Germany 80% KNO3 & 20% rye charcoal & France 78% KNO3, 19% rye charcoal & 3% sulfur. The powder was denser than normal black powder & burned slower.

Many of the modern military's back in the day used them for their rifled artillery. Including the US Navy. They weren't grained like black powder, but formed into perforated shapes. Hexagon, Octagon, etc.

The above is based on what is in Tenny Davis's book.

It is reported to be more sensitive to friction than BP. There were some deadly accidents with it during the Spanish American War.

[T-Bird]

Fly, Atom73 isn't ball milling his powder. He says his works well T-Bird

[Charlie Sometimes]

What is the name of the Tenny Davis book? Sounds like one reference I need to have and read.

Seems odd that the lighter wood is the prefered, but grass/straw is too light. Works, but must not have enough carbon in it for the process. Reversing that, you would think denser wood would be more optimal.

Grass/straw sure would be easier to make charcoal out of- no bark stripping or grinding would remove a lot of time. That stuff would go to powder probably just by shaking the retort after being fired.

[waksupi]

Fly, Atom73 isn't ball milling his powder. He says his works well T-Bird

I'm not sure that "working well" has been established, as I don't think accuracy testing has been done with the powder. There is a difference between powder that goes bang, and powder that is good quality.

[Charlie Sometimes]

YES, I neglected that aspect in my commentary.
We have not seen any results from that side of the equation, yet.
It is my intention to make and use mine for shooting, so eventually I will get there. :

But since we are starting from somewhere in the 1700's technology (maybe), how long will it take to get up to late 1800's quality?

[EOD3]

This has been an interesting thread. I remember as a kid, me and my buddies would go to Drug Fair and buy bottles of Potasium Nitrate and Sulfer flower then, crush up Kingsford Charcoal and even though it was primitive, it was fun. We also learned on Hawaii Five O, how to make fuses out of the magnesium hair in the old camera flash bulbs and the mercury switches in furnace thermostats. I guess the Feds invented video games to stop kids from doing this stuff.

Video games? We had super-fun activities like hauling hay or clearing dead-wood from the orchards...

Long ago we occasionally made our own fireworks but, when I was a kid, it was easier to just go down to the hardware store and buy dynamite and electric caps.

[Fly]

Fly, Atom73 isn't ball milling his powder. He says his works well T-Bird

Well he is using what is called the CIA method to making BP.I have never made
it that way.None of the manufactures make it that way.

I'm not saying it is bad, for I never made mind like that, as most people don't.
But if you may, try & see what you think.Report back, for I would like to know
from another making powder with the CIA method.

Fly

[T-Bird]

Well, I was going by what he said in his 1st post it "performed really well" when he used it in his gun. Since he is a muzzleloader shooter I assumed that "really well" would mean something more than it just went BANG. And fly-I''ll play-what does CIA stand for? I know you're dying to tell me. Shoot Straight T-Bird