16 replies to this topic

[sinnie92]

ive decided to make a saltpetre pile to save having to buy kno3 at savage prices, so i have some cows p*** and s*** together with some grass and ash, souring away in the garden. has anyone done this before? how long until i can expect to see some lovely chunks of saltpetre

[rocketpro]

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Edited by rocketpro, 06 August 2010 - 09:09 AM.

[sinnie92]

i dont get it?

[Mumbles]

What he's saying is that it takes a very long time to be able to generate potassium nitrate. If you want to see "chunks", you're looking at 50-100 years, and it better be near a barn or other wall the nitrate can seep through. To get the nitrate out of it, you have to take the nitrate rich earth and extract it with water and filtration and repeated crystallizations.

[dr thrust]

i found this link on the subject, you can still have your pile, i believe from a clip i watched a while back , beer drinkers urine is a good substitute for cow urine! i mean how would one get a bucket of cow piss?

[cooperman435]

I can imagine chris but dont really want to lol!

Im sure it can be a lot faster than the time suggested above though guys, salt peter "factories" were set up when demand rose and these were anually if not more frequently "turned over" for harvest.

[maxman]

Chris, It might of been this clip that I uploaded to youtube some time ago

Maxman

[Potassium chlorate]

They used to make saltpetre that way hundreds of years ago. It wasn't a very popular job. In Sweden people tended to enlist in the army before considering working with trampling piss and shit with ashes for a living.

[dr thrust]

Chris, It might of been this clip that I uploaded to youtube some time ago

Maxman

spot on! yep it was the clip you found, i couldn't find it for the life of me.
i must admit making a saltpetre pile was in my mind as well, i wanted to make a firework from scratch, abiet the sulphur!, homemade saltpetre, charcoal, tube, iron filings ect.

Edited by chris m, 02 August 2010 - 10:35 PM.

[sinnie92]

http://www.fryingcol.../saltpeter.html 3 to 4 months? and got some shitty farm land so plenty of waste product everywhere....

[Rip Rap]

before considering working with trampling piss and shit with ashes for a living.

Exquisitely put Pyroswede

[sinnie92]

alternatively to the aims of this thread, what if cameron and clegg the tea bitch loosened the noose around purchasing chems and the storage and usage e.c.t...... one can dream of that day

Edited by sinnie92, 03 August 2010 - 04:03 PM.

[seymour]

alternatively to the aims of this thread, what if cameron and clegg the tea bitch loosened the noose around purchasing chems and the storage and usage e.c.t...... one can dream of that day

You do understand that Potassium nitrate is incredibly easily available and affordable, and almost all other firework chemicals are not much harder to get?

Whilst it is true that everyone's lives are adversely affected by bad legislation, I certainly don't see that as being the cause of Potassium nitrate not being as available as you might want. Ideally it would be sold at a reasonable price in the bulk bins at the local shops (we can fantasize), but it's not simply because the market for that is not large enough.

As for making a nitrate pile... I don't think ANYONE would be determined enough to make it that way for a sustained period (I cannot see anyone making a second batch), however for a fun, historical experiment, it's a fantastic idea if you can handle the mess (which I do not think would be as bad as many might think).

[digger]

You do understand that Potassium nitrate is incredibly easily available and affordable, and almost all other firework chemicals are not much harder to get?

Just to add to that comment. It is legal to buy pretty much any chemical. The legislation applies to the sellers to ensure that it is packaged correctly etc. Even poisons like barium nitrate are available, however the legislation regarding sale to the public is onerous so most suppliers don't bother complying and hence won't sell schedule I poisons to the public.

Yes there are some watched chemicals, but you are unlikely to want those unless your intention is to do some pretty illegal activities (drug making etc).

So why bother making it, unless it is to see if you can from an experimental point of view. Hey it is only a couple of pounds per kilo.

[dr thrust]

i think its worth doing as an exercise, especially if you document it with photos over a time scale, as a reference, as ive read about it but not seen it