Black Powder from Literally Nothing. Part 3

Now that we have our ingredients, we can actually make the powder.

I know, some are going to say that I am missing an ingredient. That is true, but a simple 70/30 mix of charcoal and saltpeter will make a much less smokey, if slightly less powerful black powder.

Aside, this is being written in the assumption that you are in a SHTF scenario, and sulphur may not be readily available, and is difficult to make.

SAFETY NOTE: WHEN MAKING BLACK POWDER, WEAR SAFETY GLASSES, AND DO NOT USE METAL INSTRUMENTS. USE STATIC FREE TOOLS. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.

So, to begin, you will need a mortar and pestle. These are easy enough to find or make, a rock and a stone bowl is all it really is.

Now, take your charcoal, and grind it on the pestle to get a fine powder. Powder should be as fine as possible.

You can make a ball mill out of a rotary rock tumbler and heavy decorative rocks. This will result in very fine powder, but will take 72 hours to do.

Now, your black powder should be around 70% saltpeter, and 30% charcoal. The burn rate can be increased by increasing charcoal, and is maxed at approximately 33%, whereas the burn heat can be increased by reducing the charcoal, and is maxed at about 23% charcoal.

Obviously, burn rate will be more important for our application.

Now, take your measured saltpeter(measured by weight, NOT volume) and add to boiling water and stir, until all of the saltpeter has dissolved into the water. Try to get saturation, as too much water can be detrimental.

Once you have your solution, sift in your charcoal, and mix. You will get a wet greyish sludge.

Be careful not to slosh onto heat, it may ignite.

Now remove the mix from heat and pour into another container full of rubbing alchohol. Stir the mix, this will help the saltpeter bind to the charcoal.

NOTE: KEEP THE ALCOHOL AWAY FROM HEAT SOURCE!

Once it is thoroughly mixed and cool, pour the mixture through a paper filter. Coffee filters work well.

Allow to drain until an impression can be made in the mixture with your finger.

Place the mix into a sieve and rub through onto cardboard, this will cause the mixture to seperate into granules. Very important.

Allow mixture to dry in the sun, or wherever it may dry properly. Dry for at least 24 hours.

Once dry, pour the powder through a sieve of finer mesh than the one previously used, doing this will remove any ultra fine powder, which can later be used for fuses.

You now have black powder. But what is the burn rate? You may want to know this.

In order to measure the burn rate of black powder, you will need a stop watch, and a 12 oz pop can cut in half. Calculate the volume of the half can using the formula

v = h*pi*r2 V=Volume h=height r=radius Use Metric measurements.

Fill the half can to the top with powder, UNCOVERED, and ignite with a fuse. Once the powder starts burning, time how long it takes to burn.

Take the volume of the powder and divide by how many seconds it takes to burn, and you have your burn rate.

Remember to use smaller loads until you test the powder you have made. It will tend to be less powerful than commercial black powder, but you never can tell until you have tested it.

Also, this mixture has a higher ignition point than traditional black powder. This is fine in caplocks, but may not work so well with flintlocks.

If you are working with a flinter or a matchlock, using the same procedures as above with the addition of grinding the sulphur, mix 100 parts saltpeter, 18 parts charcoal, and 16 parts sulfur.

BE CAREFUL, AND FOLLOW ALL PRECAUTIONS. THIS IS A FLAMMABLE SUBSTANCE.
ALSO, CHECK THE LEGALITY OF MANUFACTURING BLACK POWDER IN YOUR AREA.