HWooldridge;
The Waltham Abbey book also talks about their 76-14-10 powder. And it mentions someone, I think, in France, who was making a sporting powder of 78-14-8. Almar tested 76-14-10 Brown Black Willow powder and had excellent results with it. And, I think we both tested some 78-14-8, and speaking for myself, and I think him as well, haha; we neither one had that great of results from it.
On your note keeping comment, I was going to do it from the start and thought I would just go back and skim through it and pick up the parts I wanted to note. So, now I'm on the 40 page pernambuco file, and haven't wrote down a single note and already am regretting it. I've got the pen at the ready now and will take a minute or two hours researching all I've already read. haha
TrapperJack;
I think the reason for the 10% water in the powder you mention, was because of the friction of the shearing action, of their 8 ton? wheel mills. They also said in dry times, they sometimes added more, but milled it to a uniform moisture content, on the finished 'cake'. Depending on relative humidity, I think their cake was dried to about 4%.
In my opinion, if you get more than a slight 'haze' of moisture on your press backing plate, it's too much. At a very low moisture percentage, the nitrate begins to crystalize instead of staying incorporated, leaving hot spots and cold spots in the powder.
More moisture percentage tends to soften grains in the drying process, reducing some density which was pressed into the pucks. Their incorporation methods with the wheel mills still added some density to their meal, compared to ours being dry ball milled. That is why, I believe, they could compress it to a 35-40% reduction in volume and get their target density. VettePilot and I have discussed a couple of times, of putting fresh pressed pucks into a vacuum chamber and dry them, to reduce the effect of drying, on finished density.