37 replies to this topic

[Potassium chlorate]

I use Krista (the fertilizer) and mill it separately for an hour. The charcoal is coarsely ground in a mincer. The sulfur is hardware store grade, which here in Sweden is very pure.

How much will red iron oxide improve the performance? I'm pretty proud of my BP as it is, but if it can be considerably better by adding some iron oxide, it'll be worth trying. Some leftover antimony trisulfide seemed to improve it too.

[robbstech]

I have let the meal powder mill for 6 hours in total now and it is getting slightly faster but not as fast as you see on youtube and things! Also the powder is still a slightg grey colour

What is going on?

[Potassium chlorate]

I have let the meal powder mill for 6 hours in total now and it is getting slightly faster but not as fast as you see on youtube and things! Also the powder is still a slightg grey colour

What is going on?

Well, it should be a bit grey, although it's called "black" powder.

It might be any ingredient and/or the mill not being efficient enough. And then, like I said before, it should also be wet milled for a while and then pressed and corned and then you should try again.

[robbstech]

When you say wet milled, do you mean i should add eater to it then let it mill again? for how long? what does this do?

Then i pres it through a screen...do i then mill it again? after how long?

Can you provide exact instruction on how you create your black powder statig times and ratios?

Thanks this would be a great help!
Thanks

[maxman]

I tried wet milling once and just ended up with one big BP star Throw it all in a mill dry 75/15/10 and 5 dextrin let it run for 1 hr if your mill is efficent or 3 hours if not. Remove the milling media, spray some water or water alcohol 75/25 until it just starts to stick. Push it through a sieve onto non absorbent paper spread out and leave till dry. If your BP is no good then most likely culprit is poor charcoal. What is your source of charcoal?

Maxman

[Potassium chlorate]

When you say wet milled, do you mean i should add eater to it then let it mill again? for how long? what does this do?

Then i pres it through a screen...do i then mill it again? after how long?

Can you provide exact instruction on how you create your black powder statig times and ratios?

Thanks this would be a great help!
Thanks

You should add about 5% of a water/alcohol mixture. If you are making 1 kilo of BP, for example, you should add 50 grams. It doesn't have to be that precise, but say that you add 50 ml to 1 kilo. You should take about 15 ml of alcohol and 35 ml of water. The water makes part of the potassium nitrate recrystillaze inside the carbon particles. The alcohol makes the water "wetter" by reducing the surface tension.

How I make my black powder:

1. Mill crystalline potassium nitrate on its own for one hour.

2. Mill the charcoal coarsely in a mincer on its own.

3. Mix the potassium nitrate, the coarsely ground charcoal and milled (bought) sulfur in the milling jar.

4. Mill for three hours.

5. Add +5% of the above mentioned alcohol/water solution and mill for about 20-45 minutes more.

6. Press the moist BP in a press with at least a pressure of 250 kg/cm², so it becomes "pucks" of it. The density of the pucks shall be at least 1.6 g/cc. They should be very hard this way, if done correctly.

7. Let the pucks dry for three weeks or more in room temperature and a relatively dry environment, until they don't lose any more weight (alcohol and water evaporating).

8. Crush the pucks with the end of a baseball bat or similar.

9. Screen the crushed pucks through a spaghetti strainer. What doesn't pass the spaghetti strainer is coarse powder for big mortar lifts or powerful BP breaks. What goes through a tea strainer is meal D, suitable for priming stars etc. What goes through the spaghetti strainer but not the tea strainer is lift for 1"-4" shells or maybe even up to 5" or 6".

[robbstech]

5. Add +5% of the above mentioned alcohol/water solution and mill for about 20-45 minutes more.

Do you remove the milling media first?

6. Press the moist BP in a press with at least a pressure of 250 kg/cm², so it becomes "pucks" of it. The density of the pucks shall be at least 1.6 g/cc. They should be very hard this way, if done correctly.

I do not have the tools to press the BP at such high pressure so is it possible just to granulate the BP by pushing through a screen?

[dr thrust]

i dont do any of that just a big mill full of lead media bp made from willow charcoal four to five hours

Edited by chris m, 09 September 2010 - 03:16 PM.

[maxman]

Chris thats exactly what I said! think i'm invisable sometimes

Maxman

[Potassium chlorate]

Do you remove the milling media first?

No, I just make sure that the powder isn't "caked". It should still be loose when pouring in the water/alcohol.

I do not have the tools to press the BP at such high pressure so is it possible just to granulate the BP by pushing through a screen?

Yes. Wet mill it until it is like a big lump of BP an then push it through a spaghetti strainer. Though in that case you might add some dextrin or soluble glutinous rice starch as a binder, 2-5%, not more.

Edited by Pyroswede, 09 September 2010 - 03:47 PM.

[robbstech]

"caked"

????

[Potassium chlorate]

????

Sorry for my bad English. It's when a powder becomes like a hard mass.

[phildunford]

Sorry for my bad English. It's when a powder becomes like a hard mass.

No, good English, bad understanding!

Caked:
1) past participle, past tense of cake (Verb)
2) (of a thick or sticky substance that hardens when dry) Cover and become encrusted on (the surface of an ...

Webster online dictionary

[dr thrust]

cake:
1 can be thick and or sticky
2 best eaten with a cup of tea

[phildunford]

Yum! Some for me please...