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Gunpowder

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Author	Topic: Gunpowder
hunkydunc Frequent Poster	posted February 26, 2000 04:19 PM Suposing I recently managed to aobtain 100g of saltpetre from a friend of mine - where can I get the purest forms of carbon and sulphur from and what is the best/safest possible way to mix them. Oh, and could you confirm that I would use the following ratios: 75% saltpetre 15% carbon 10% sulphur I would be really happy if someone could help me with this as I am new at the game and when I this person I know tried to make it before he was unsuccessful at it.
VeHeMT Frequent Poster	posted February 26, 2000 07:33 PM http://www.ctel.net/~dwilliams/blackpowder/blackpowder.html I have provided this link here aswell now. Getting pure KNO3 and sulphur is easy enough to do, the charcoal (NOT CARBON) is the hard part. In the webpage provided, the author describes how to make GOOD charcoal intended for use in black powder manufacture.
HMTD Factory Frequent Poster	posted February 27, 2000 06:00 AM To use pure carbon in BP, here's how to do. Get a heat source, sugar, small metal tray, small gas torch. 1.Add sugar into metal tray, add some water. 2.Heat till it becomes a boiling syrup. 3.Use torch to ignite the syrup. 4.Keep heating under the tray. 5.Wait for the fire in the metal tray to go out, but keep heating after for about 10secs. 6.Collect the black, flaky substance, it's pure carbon. 7.Grind for use. The carbon starts to "bubble" up like hell once ignited, but won't hurt anything.
Raze Frequent Poster	posted February 27, 2000 08:55 PM For some reason I can't find kno3 anywhere. I live in Arizona, but that shouldn't make much of a difference should it? I could extract it from blackpowder, but what would be the point of doing that if I am trying to make blackpowder in the first place.
hunkydunc Frequent Poster	posted February 28, 2000 02:26 PM Why not try looking at the following website: http://www.skylighter.com They are chemical ordering company and I am going to attempt to order pottasium nitrate through them. You could do the same. Are you new at the game of explosives? What is your email address?
Nunchaku Frequent Poster	posted February 29, 2000 09:38 PM the post from HMTD factory was very informative and useful. i have another idea about making charcoal the only problem is the wood. one of the best charcoal is made from Filao wood. this tree is a coniferous tree which could be found at seasides. take a can (food can) fill the can with pieces of filao wood mixed with a mixture of sand and soil (1:1 ratio). the ratio of wood to the ratio of soil and sand mixture is 50% to 50%. tap it well, then crip the open end of the can. now you have a closed container. start a small fire in a backyard and disposed the can in the fire, turn it every 15 minutes. it may take 1.5 hours to have charcoal. remember is you used a small fire exposed to a longer time you will get better quality charcoal but 1-2 hours is enough. i have known charcoal makers which used to cook the wood for more than 10 hours. but obviously they used a different method. the method i have invented with the can uses the same principle and it is good to produce small amount of charcoal. Now if you don't have access to a backyard, you can also put the can over a gas burner over a small flame. the main problem is that it's very messy. probably u can used other woods but coniferous wood and hard wood is better. (excluding balsa wood which is a hardwood!)
VeHeMT Frequent Poster	posted February 29, 2000 09:56 PM Certain woods are better then others for the purposes of making charcoal for blackpowder. However, unless you desire a slow burning useless pile of crap, go ahead and do what you want. Other wise go with the tried and true method of using willow etc... Most hardwoods make for some pretty pathetic charcoal for fast burning bp.
Ho ju Moderator	posted February 29, 2000 10:11 PM VeHeMT is right on the money. the basic rule is the harder the wood used for making the charcoal the worse off the wood will be in the BP process. i would suggest things as Willow or Balsa wood used in the process above. one question on the process though, is the whole point of it to not have the wood ignite, or have it ignite and just burn inside the can? ------------------ -Knowledge is power, power leads to corruption, corruption is a crime, crime doesn't pay. So if you know to much you will go broke!!! http://members.xoom.com/Splynncryth [This message has been edited by Ho ju (edited February 29, 2000).]
catch22 Frequent Poster	posted February 29, 2000 10:59 PM For a number of reasons it pure carbon is not as suitable for blackpowder as charcoal. The main reason is that charcoal still contains about 5-15% hydrogen and oxygen. The best wood is willow, use only debarked limbs less than 2" in diameter. Catch 22 ------------------ "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" -Appocolypse Now
nbk2000 Moderator	posted March 01, 2000 12:06 AM The idea is to heat the wood to distill off the volatile organics like methanol and acetic acid to leave behind the carbonized wood charcoal. ------------------ "The knowledge that they fear is a weapon to be used against them." [This message has been edited by nbk2000 (edited March 01, 2000).]
Zanx Frequent Poster	posted March 01, 2000 07:57 AM This site has an easy method for making charcoal that I have used: http://users.foxvalley.net/~chemengr/
qaswed A New Voice	posted March 02, 2000 06:09 AM raze, if you can't find KNO3 or don't want to buy it, you can make it youreself. It's very easy. Mix the same quantities and same Molair concentration KOH and HNO3(nitric acid) together. The temp will raise, so mix them slowly. The OH- and H+ will form water and as it is a solution there's already water. The K+ and the NO3- will form the desired KNO3. The only thing left to do is to boil away all the water, and dry the crystals.
Nunchaku Frequent Poster	posted March 03, 2000 09:19 PM ho ju, sorry but u must agree with me that BALSA wood is a HARDWOOD. it is classified in the hardwood category but it is soft. what i was meaning by hard wood was "family of hardwood" not a hard wood. let give an example, PARANA PINE the wood is classified as a softwood! but the wood ain't soft at all. it is strong. note also that most coniferous tree are calssified as softwoods! the wood inside must not burn inside the can. it must be cooked slowly, the sand and the soil will help to maintain a steady high temperature and will deliver the right temperature to the wood. the wood must not burn, many people think that the wood must burn. no, the wood when retieve out of the can after cooking must be hard and brittle. it is like you are breaking a peice of harden clay. now if you used balsa it will burn out. it will be like the black thing you get after burning a peice of bood. i don't know if willow will poduced a rapid burning powder but all i can say is that i have tried with filao wood and it provide a quicker burning powder tahn using imported charcoal.
Raze Frequent Poster	posted March 03, 2000 11:32 PM Thanks Qaswed, but I don't have any "local" source of KOH or nitric acid. I think I'll just have to stick with AP for now, but your help and advice is greatly appreciated.
nbk2000 Moderator	posted March 04, 2000 04:06 AM My book says that "softwood" comes from conifer trees, which have needle shaped leaves that stay green all year. "Hardwoods" come from deciduous trees which have broad leaves that fall off in the cold months. So once you know what kind of tree balsa wood comes from you'll know what kind of wood it is. ------------------ "The knowledge that they fear is a weapon to be used against them."
HMTD Factory Frequent Poster	posted March 04, 2000 03:14 PM Since there are two people saying the samething, they are probably true. Coniferous -> softwood Broadleaf -> Hardwood It is funny the nomenclature contradicts to the wood quality. Coniferous trees growing in colder places are growing slow, thus their wood is dense. Opposite to coniferous trees, broadleaf trees grow faster and the wood is soft. Balsa wood is very brittle and lightweight, very soft too.

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