jimrbto
Member
Busyhands ! ! Continue to march.
I made my first batch of BP when I was 14, under the watchful eye of an old "hillbilly", and at 75 I still make it today. Don't make as much cause I don't shoot or hunt as much as I used to- - cant see very well and legs tend to want to take it easy.
This old gent taught me to make LARGE batches of the three ingredients separately and store them separately in airtight jars. I now use vacuum sealed jars. I have two ball mills, one for rough work i.e. grinding everything fine and another with a pumpkin shaped bowl that sits at an incline and is OPEN top for making the BP. My batches are usually only 100-200grams. With pre-ground components the finished product takes very little time to finish. Steel balls in the roughing mill and large lead balls in the BP mill. I grind the BP with a little alcohol mixed with water, seems to carry the salt peter into the charcoal better. I screen my finished product the same as you.
The BP mill is in a sandbagged little area away from the house on a long cord with a switch at this end, being open topped should it decide to go WHOOSH that is all it is going to do because it is not confined. Has never happened yet, and I never heard of anyone else having a problem with BP going BOOM when it was not supposed to.
My powder is not as dense as Swiss but it is just as hot, I check each batch for weight and measure by loads accordingly. (pretty much always the same)
Best charcoal to use is made from Alder or Willow, I prefer Alder.
Urine contains potassium nitrate and a long time ago there was a "Fox Fire" book on making BP that had a lot to say about how to make your own from soil from cattle stalls etc.
Take care
Jim
I made my first batch of BP when I was 14, under the watchful eye of an old "hillbilly", and at 75 I still make it today. Don't make as much cause I don't shoot or hunt as much as I used to- - cant see very well and legs tend to want to take it easy.
This old gent taught me to make LARGE batches of the three ingredients separately and store them separately in airtight jars. I now use vacuum sealed jars. I have two ball mills, one for rough work i.e. grinding everything fine and another with a pumpkin shaped bowl that sits at an incline and is OPEN top for making the BP. My batches are usually only 100-200grams. With pre-ground components the finished product takes very little time to finish. Steel balls in the roughing mill and large lead balls in the BP mill. I grind the BP with a little alcohol mixed with water, seems to carry the salt peter into the charcoal better. I screen my finished product the same as you.
The BP mill is in a sandbagged little area away from the house on a long cord with a switch at this end, being open topped should it decide to go WHOOSH that is all it is going to do because it is not confined. Has never happened yet, and I never heard of anyone else having a problem with BP going BOOM when it was not supposed to.
My powder is not as dense as Swiss but it is just as hot, I check each batch for weight and measure by loads accordingly. (pretty much always the same)
Best charcoal to use is made from Alder or Willow, I prefer Alder.
Urine contains potassium nitrate and a long time ago there was a "Fox Fire" book on making BP that had a lot to say about how to make your own from soil from cattle stalls etc.
Take care
Jim