135 replies to this topic

[karlfoxman]

For anyone that does not have a ball mill but want fairly decent all round BP then try this.

Charcoal dust is nasty and gets everywhere, do it outside if you can! AWAY FROM SOURCES OF IGNITION OF COURSE!!!!

For 100g

weigh out 75g of KNO3 and grind it down to a powder, then weigh it again to ensure its still 75g. Put it aside in a plastic cup.

Weigh out 10g of sulpur and pass it through a sieve to get rid of any lumps, weigh once again to ensure you still have 10g, add it to the KNO3 in the cup.

Get your willow charcoal (Heffers sell it, 15g appx for 89p in chunky sticks) using a file, file down the willow charcoal into a powder. When you have more than 15g pass it through a sieve to ensure there are no lumps. Most of it will be a nice fine powder, now weigh out 15g and add it to the sulpur and kno3 in the cup.

Carefully pour the un mixed comp into the sieve and catch with a piece of paper, repeat this a good 6 times. Now pour the mixture into the plastic cup and add some hot water, mix it well for 5mins or so and then pour the contents onto grease proof paper or plastic sheeting.

Now is a good time to clean the mess up.

When its dryed overnight pass it once again through the sieve to break up lumps, and there you go!

I have used this in many many things, it does a good job of lifting shells.

The key is that your chemicals are weighed within 0.2g, they are all very fine powder and that they are very well mixed.

Hope this helps

Karl

[LadyKate]

I found some bamboo garden stakes for a good price at our local garden shop. I cut them up into 7" lengths and made bamboo charcoal. Very interesting results. Bamboo charcoal is very light and brittle. I was able to make airfloat out of it by just dumping it into the ball mill and jamming it down with a stick - and letting it run for a couple of hours. It makes much faster BP than the charcoal from Skylighter. Skylighter's airfloat stuff is listed as being made of mixed hardwoods - is that any better than the charcoal we get from the shops - assuming lump charcoal and not briquettes - ?

Edit: changed last sentence after looking up the Skylighter stuff on their web site. I emailed Harry and he said mixed hardwoods was all he could get from the manufacturer - specific kinds of hardwood were never revealed. BTW, he answered me about one minute after I emailed. The guy must sit at the computer all day (like me).

Edited by LadyKate, 17 August 2005 - 06:48 PM.

[broadsword]

The guy must sit at the computer all day (like me).

Skylighter is his buisness

[LadyKate]

Skylighter is his buisness

I like how he does business!

Back to making BP - I was just reading some Pyro-Golf information (about how it is not unusual for hobbyists to make BP that is hotter than commercial brands). They explain that one key is to use lightweight charcoal. Thus, bamboo, willow, hemp, and other softer woods (and even straw) give us hot BP.

[curious aardvark]

Pyro golf

A game played by two or more people with limited interest in life prolongation (see Darwin Awards).

Equipment:
1)lots of golf ball sized stars with different compositions - regulations state that a minimum of 5% must be friction sensitive with flash powder cores. One ball in every thousand should contain Nobles blasting oil. The stars should have a thin nitrocellulose coating. This helps ignition and lets the ball stay together once struck.
2) golf clubs
3) large flame gun/weed burner
4) Golf tees made of nitrocellulose.
5) sundry medical supplies

Rules: Game should be played after sunset. Set up weed burner so that when struck the 'golf' balls pass through the flame (see Approved list of additional equipment for flame lance stands).
The winner is the last man standing on his own legs (if player loses a limb substitution of spare clubs as crutches is allowed for one leg only. If playing as a two player team then a total of three limbs per couple can be substituted)

[LadyKate]

1) What is Pyro-Golf?

2) I heard balsa wood is good? i can get quite a bit from a friend and could make it into charcoal. would this be better/worse than willow charcoal as i am in a running competition with a friend to make a faster burning BP with 75/15/10 formula.

3) Straw?!? Charcoal?!? (Garlic? Bread?) lol. Gotta try that... I'l post my results here.

I want to do some balsa, too. I've done several woods and found a wide range of differences. Willow is not the top of the heap for making fast BP - but it is quite good and if you can get it cheaply, then do so. My hottest charcoal for BP is white pine - it beat willow and maple out by quite a bit. In any case, balsa should make a hot BP and is on my list of things to try. Let me know if you use it.

I tried straw and didn't get a good result - it was ok but it wasn't commercial quality. There are many variables so try it if you can get it - you may have better luck.

[fishy1]

just a point.

i usually use normal sulfur with my bp, but it ran out, and takes a few days to get, so i went along to a garden centre and bought some "green sulphur". i know my normal sulfur is yellow, but this was a beautiful shade of green. i washed it several times to remove and traces of acid, then made some BP with it, the normal way.

WHAT a difference.
when lit, it burnt very rapidly(faster than normal bp) and gave off lots of sparks, like i had put iron fillings in it. i made a fountain with this and is was great, sparks 10 ft high with just a small fountain.

something to try.

[sasman]

I am not sure why your BP should be better with this "Garden sulphur" or to where all the Sparks come from.I Know that garden sulphur comes in lots of different forms.. and can contain as little as 83% elemental Sulphur ..

So there are lots of room for contaminants that may produce sparks?..and maybe burn faster?..But from what i have read on Rec.pyro it seems to make little difference..Other than it may wash out colours if used in color comps..

I can say that i have always used gardening sulphur and other than the Colour being green instead of yellow. .. My BP after pressing and corning works pretty good.. It burns with a POOF!! and there are no sparks..


After Spending most of year Looking for cheap chemical suppliers.. i have at last got more or less all the chems i need to start making some PYRO!!..

I got out my Ball mill this morning and gave it a good clean..First time its been used in a year!...
My first Project will be making a nice batch of BP This time round I will be using Real sulphur 99.9% pure. I will be using GrapeVine Charcoal..instead of my Homemade willow..I have read that Grapevine make's a nice fast BP so am looking forward to comparing my new BP with my last years Batch..

Last year i did several test's to compare my willow BP against commercial BP and i found that mine was almost as good if not better than the real stuff.. I cant remember if i posted my results + video clips of my tests from last year..But i wil post my new results..

My tests were dead simple i used a brass U shaped rod about 3 foot long filled it with BP and Videoed the results..Just like Dan williams..

Now my times compared with Dan williams were much slower..initially i was dissapointed until i tried the test again using commercial BP ..Then i was much happier...My Willow BP was just as fast as real BP..

I counted the frames of video and maybe the Real BP was 1/2 Frame faster?..But it was hard to count the frames accuratley..So i was more than satisfied that my Home made BP was pretty good..

Last year i made some very poor sieves.. this year i have got some 8" Diameter Brass endecotte sieves which are stackable so i can grade my powder very accuratley..

I have even got an endecottes sieve shaker..very similair to this 1 on ebaySieveShaker

Using this shaker i will be able to improve my batch to batch consistancy..which should make for more repeatable results..

[completebeginner]

for those who havent tried it i recomend making alder charcoal it is amasingly fast but you have to change the proportions of your bp to 75 20 10 here is a video of how fast my meal is http://media.putfile.com/bp19 the train is about 60 cm long

[LadyKate]

for those who havent tried it i recomend making alder charcoal it is amasingly fast but you have to change the proportions of your bp to 75 20 10 here is a video of how fast my meal is http://media.putfile.com/bp19 the train is about 60 cm long

Very good stuff. Did you get the formula from somewhere or did you arrive at it by testing? I'll have to find some alder and give it a try.

Here is a video comparison of a burn with charcoal briquettes vs balsa. The track is 2.5' (about 75 cm). I include it to give you an idea of the best and the worst that I've tried.

Burn Test - Briquette vs Balsa

BTW: Alder would be preferable over balsa - Balsa is terribly expensive and is almost too sensitve. My favorite is white pine since I can get it so easily and it is also quite fast. I'll see if I can find some Alder and make a burn comparison to the pine - it should be a good match.

[completebeginner]

i would try white pine but here it is protected and was your powder corned or made into pulverone or is it just meal? and i was looking on the fastest bp thing in forum projects and some guy mentioned changing the proportions so i tried it and the speed tripled

Edited by completebeginner, 15 September 2005 - 04:46 AM.

[Pretty green flames]

i would try white pine but here it is protected  and was your powder corned or made into pulverone or is it just meal? and i was looking on the fastest bp thing in forum projects and some guy mentioned changing the proportions so i tried it and the speed tripled

Very good BP indeed, for how long was it milled for.

[LadyKate]

i would try white pine but here it is protected? and was your powder corned or made into pulverone or is it just meal? and i was looking on the fastest bp thing in forum projects and some guy mentioned changing the proportions so i tried it and the speed tripled

White pine is construction lumber so you might be able to go to a lumber store ('yard') and get a 2x4 - 2x4s are most commonly made from soft pines. I've also found firring (sometimes spelled furring) strips that made great charcoal. They are made from pine or spruce and are already about the right size - no need to put your fingers in danger when chopping things up. Always check for the wood type - stores usually carry it in their inventory sheets but they don't always put it on the labels.

Both examples were just pulverone - nothing fancy at all. My stuff was milled for 24 hours in a somewhat inefficient Harbor Freight rock tumbler.

Edited by LadyKate, 15 September 2005 - 01:48 PM.

[Yugen-biki]

I have allways used alder and I can verify that it makes very good BP. Compared to pine it is worse.
I'll try to put up a movie of my BP wich I mill for 60h.