Black Powder

by Agent Boris_KGB

Black Powder is a substance you cannot do without. It is used in mortars to launch Aerial Shells ,in Aerial Shells to ignite and disperse stars and so on, the list is endless. There is also an awful lot of different compositions for Bp.The most common being Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) 75% ,Sulphur 10% ,Charcoal 15% , all parts are by weight (If you do not yet know this get it into your head now ,all parts are by weight). Just mixing the ingredients, potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulphur, does not result in real black powder. That mixture is commonly called "green powder". It burns relatively slowly. "Real" Bp however burns very quickly, leaving almost no residue. Its properties are very different from "green powder". Making black powder at home is possible, although it probably will require the use of a ball mill. The black powder produced by either of the two methods described below is suitable for most common purposes.

How To

The two main methods to make BP: The ball mill method and the precipitation (or CIA) method. A ball mill will be an advantage in any case, the CIA method does not demand a mill, however a mill will greatly improve the Bp's quality. The main disadvantage of the ball mill method is that it is essential that you have a safe place to let your mill do it's work. You need a place with no buildings, people or animals in the area and you need to be able to turn it on and off remotely it is also safer to have a "bunker" of some sort or another to shield explosions. The advantage of the ball mill method is that it is very much less laborous. You can simply put your ingredients in the "mill jar" , turn it on, come back a few hours later and your done. The CIA Method is much more work I'm told (I never tried it), but I found out how to do it and boy does it look hard.

The ball mill method

1. Take your charcoal and crush it with a hammer between two sheets of paper. This is very messy (Wear a dust mask). Sieve the charcoal through a coarse sieve (about 30 mesh).

2. Weigh the charcoal. To every 100 grams of charcoal, add 67 grams of sulphur, and put some in your ball mill. Put the media(balls) in and let the mill run for 1 hour (Time varies depending on the Motors Rpm).

3. When you open your mill, you should find a fine black/greyish powder. Sieve this to get the media of the mill out, and weigh it. In a separate container, place 75 grams of potassium nitrate for every 25 grams of charcoal/sulphur powder you have. Put the potassium nitrate in your ball mill, and mill it for 1 hour (Time varies depending on the Motors Rpm). You should have a very fine white/greyish powder.

4. Now mix the charcoal/sulphur mix with the potassium nitrate. Don't bother to mix it very thoroughly, since that will happen in the mill soon enough. To this mixture, add 6% of water. I spray it over the powder that I spread out on a sheet of paper to make sure all of it becomes wet. Put the wet powder in your mill and let it run for 2-3 hours (Time varies depending on the Motors Rpm). Every hour or so, check to see if the powder is still wet. If it dries out the risk of ignition greatly increases.

5. Sieve the powder to get the media out, spread it out on a large sheet of paper and let it dry. If possible in the sun. Needless to say you shouldn't heat it in order to dry it more quickly, just be patient.

6. When dry, sieve the black powder through a few sieves to get several fractions for different purposes.

The precipitation method

1. Take your charcoal and crush it with a hammer between two sheets of paper. This is very messy (Wear a dust mask). Sieve the charcoal through a coarse sieve (about 30 mesh).

2. Weigh the charcoal. To every 100 grams of charcoal, add 67 grams of sulphur, and put some in your ball mill. Put the media in and let the mill run for 3 hours (Time varies depending on the Motors Rpm).

3. While the mill is running, place 600 ml isopropyl alcohol in a large container for every 100 grams of charcoal/sulphur mix you have, and place it in the fridge.

3. When you open your mill, you should find a fine black/greyish powder. Sieve this to get the media of the mill out, and weigh it. In a separate container, place 75 grams of potassium nitrate for every 25 grams of charcoal/sulphur powder you have. Put the potassium nitrate in an old pan, and add 40 ml tap water for every 100 grams of potassium nitrate.

5. Place the pan on the stove and bring it to a boil while continuously stirring. When the solution starts boiling, start adding small amounts of water while stirring all the time until all the potassium nitrate has dissolved.

6. Add an extra 10 ml tap water and the charcoal/sulfur mixture to the boiling potassium nitrate solution. Stir the charcoal/sulfur mixture in the solution. Make sure there are no dry clumps left.

7. By now, your isopropyl alcohol should have cooled to at least 0 deg C or colder. Take the isopropyl alcohol outside, and pour the potassium nitrate solution/charcoal/sulfur into the cold isopropyl alcohol. Make sure there are no sources of ignition nearby! Stir for a few seconds.

8. Cool the mixture again to 0 deg C at the fastest rate you can. The faster the better.

9. Filter the mixture through an old cloth, and squeeze to get all the liquid out. Discard the black liquid.

10. Spread the black mush out on a sheet of paper, and dry it in the sun. Don't try to dry it inside since it will produce a lot of flammable vapors from the isopropyl alcohol. When it is still slightly wet to the touch, press it through a sieve to corn it. Then dry it further.

11. When dry, sieve the black powder through a few sieves to get several fractions for different purposes.