flamingsquirrel

I live in the city. Also, we burn hard wood, we get it from other people. Stuff like Oak, maple, cherry, ash.

Now, I DO have a nice supply of pine...

we break this stuff at my karate school
It's pine, but that's not good for heating, as it burns fast, and the sap clogs up your chimney. I do have quite a few broken boards just sitting around, I could burn them at a bonfire or something, and collect the charcoal.




EDIT: BrightStar:
Alright, I can do that. A few questions as to how things work and why you're doing them:

If everything is already ground up very fine, why do you need to grind it up again when it's fully mixed? I assume the water is to reduce the chance of ignition while grinding everything mixed, why the rubbing alcohol? And why does it need to be ground up for so long?

Wouldn't you want the BP to be as fine as possible? I'm just thinking after getting it wet, and clumping it up, even when run through a very small sieve (mesh strainer kind, right?) it wouldn't be as fine as it would be simply dry mixed... Or would having it in larger "clumps" (though they would be very small granules as you put it) increase the surface area making it more explosive, where as if it was very fine, it would burn more as fuel, like a model rocket?

ok, don't call me an idoit, don't say I'm going to blow myself up, but:

I heard of another method to make BP, where you put each ingriedient seperatley into a coffe grinder, then grind with motar and pestle, then dry mix them.
Actualy, the guy who made the tutorial was a bit stupid, and ground the KNO3 by itself, then the charcoal, then added the sulfer to the charcoal and ground it again. then, he put the KNO3 and charcoal/sulfer into a GLASS JAR and added little peices of LED and SHOOK the jar to mix >_<

I was wondering if I could adapt that, grind each ingriedient seperatley in the coffee grinder (cleaning it out after each one) then seperatley in a motar and pestle (cleaning it out after each one), then dry mix them on paper (the diaper method). I want to check with you guys if this a completely retarded idea, or if it could work, as long as I'm not concered about making very very high quality powder.


also: my family heats during the winter with a woodstove. I'm not sure exactly WHAT kind of wood we burn, as it changes with every person we buy it from, but it is a possibility I could gather charcoal from that. At least it would be something to compare against the willow charcoal art sticks.

hey, thanks for the replies guys.

I'd like to make this clear:

I relize the internet is mine field of crap information, which is why I looked for as many sources as possible, what I linked to etc seemed the most correct information,i read a lot ofthe TOTSE backyard ballistics forum, and they generaly seemed to know what they were doing, and those guides were recomened by them. I also know TOTSE is full of shit, so I decided instead of jumping on a pile of chemicals and dismembering myself, I would check a few other sources, this being one of them. I'm glad I did, as it seems Flash isnt a good idea at all. Also, even if I was going to make flash, I shouldn't skimp out and go the cheaper/easier method (KNO3 and Al) when dealing with something that is by nature, an explosive.

I think I'll stick to BP, just make a basic small batch with the supplies listed before. Test out unconfined burning speeds with different charcoals etc etc etc.

after I get a nice powder, or am done with testing burning speeds, I will probably eventualy expiriment with a few different "bangs" just small time stuff like triangle crackers etc.

the anarchist cook book is shit, I have known that for a very long time.

Again: I was not planning to act on any of this information untill i had several sources confirm it was a viable and safe, which is exactly why I came here, to find out if it was really a good idea.

Just to clarify: those stupid little "bangs" i made with model rocket engine powder were just small expiriments, I know that stuff is relatively safe, so decided to see if I could make anything with it.

actualy I will probably do a lot of expirimenting with KNO3 (smoke devices, fuses (i know KNO3 fuses aren't the best, but it's worth trying out) etc) before trying to make BP.

BTW my motar and pestle are both marble, so no risk of sparks...

Is this an ok guide for CIA black powder? LINK


Asteroid: air cannons could be another project, I do have an air compressor...

Um.. so yeah, I hope I cleared that up. I'm not some dumb ass who went "I WANT TO MAKE BOOM!" I heard that flash powder was easy to make, with easily aquireable materials, I looked into it a bit, didnt seem that hard, order a few chemicals, mix them on a peice of paper. But instead of just ording the stuff and blowing myself up, I deicded to look into it further, do some more research, ask around, seek advice of people older and wiser than me, that can hopefully help me too keep all my fingers

EDIT: Brightstar:
I read that, and most everything on that site already, it was very informative and helpfull.

Hahahaha. Those stupid film canister things were just experiments to see if that kind of casing was a viable option, I wouldn't have tested anything powerful in them.

After doing more reading, it does seem that black powder would be a better choice. I DO NOT plan on making something dangerous, and blowing myself up. I was told that KNO3 and Al was a very weak and stable form of flash powder, and it sounded easier than making BP, so I decided to look into it. I HAVEN'T ordered anything, or done anything. As of now it's still ideas floating around in my head. But I agree, the more I read, the less I like the idea of making flash, it seems unstable and dangerous. I'll start looking into making BP. Anyone have any guides they'd like to recommend?


EDIT: ok, so looks like the common formula is

70:15:10

so for insance:
7 grams of KNO3
1.5 grams of charcoal
1 gram of sulfer

correct? Another place says "71 % sodium nitrate, 17 % soft-wood charcoal and 12 % sulfur." what do you guys suggest?

take each ingridient seperatly and grind in mortal and pestle, then combine in a plastic bag or something. One video said to put the KNO3 in a coffe grinder, grind, put it in a bag, then put charcoal in the coffe grinder, grind, then add the sulfer in with it and grind, then add to the bag with KNO3 and mix.

Would these supplies work?

charcoal

sulfer, 90% pure

KNO3 (same as before)