Gunpowder

Step 5 Store for future use

Pour the gunpowder from the newspaper into a tupperware container. Seal the container tightly and store for future use. Make sure the container is airtight so the gunpowder will not absorb moisture from the air.

Comments

[Demascus]

have made gun powder years ago, on technique I used was wetting all the ingredients as you mix them. Yes it looks like black mud. However the potassium nitrate will dissolve in the water. Gives everything else a great coating in that form. Will allow for more aggressive forms of grinding to put them all together. Once you have it right. You can use window screen to spread the mud out on and some form of roller or dowel rod (I used a rolling pin) Let it dry and then flex the screen and the little pieces fall out. It worked for me. Other thought is you could use your coffee bean grinder on your charcoal to powder it first. In other words you powder each component separately then mix.

[skywalk21]

just a note: You have to stir the gunpowder every once in a while or else it become useless... and since it takes all the work and money, you might use 5 minutes every week or two to save like $20

[dasta]

thanks for the info , i'm kinda on a low budget, and motors are expensive here, even from the scrap yard. although sulphur is relatively cheap and easy to obtain from hardware or gardening shop (called rubbing sulphur or flowers of sulphur. just say ur a coin collector and they'll understand). i found a different way of making the powder using 2 buckets and a cloth, but i'm still gathering the money for 2 and a half litres of whiskey to test it... in the other recipe it says you should use wood charcoal. btw, completely off topic, where or how can i get aluminium powder????

[KEYBOARDISBROKEN]

grind down aluminium drinks can

[godhanger]

lol i love the smell of thermite in the morning

[lil jon168]

unitednuclear.com

[osmonde]

eBay!

[agitate]

www.northstarpyro.com or www.unitednuclear.com both have it, I think northstarpyro has a better selection though

[ThreeFifty]

Dasta I'm also from SA, here's the deal if you don't have the time/energy/inclination to make a ball mill. Take a empty baked beans can or some such container, put your material in, chuck in a few balls or weights or whatever, close it with one of those can seal plastic lid jobbies, tape it up so it don' fall of, and roll it around under your feet while you on the net or whatever. Takes time but hey it's easy! (Of vat jy net jou spice blixem en donder die vokken goed deurmekaar;)

[BOXHARD]

NO!!!! don't use metal to make a ball mill.... I work in the trade and I had a buddy litteraly lose a hand over it. He was stupid enough to put glass marbles in a metal can with flash powder because it was caked up.... you know the rest, and yes, glass on glass does spark. You a plastic paint can or bucket, and use either ceramic ball bearings or aluminum, it has a much lesser chance of sparking.

[osmonde]

Actually ceramic has a risk of sparking, lead is apparently the only metal ball that will not spark.

[jj.inc]

not only, just cheapest and most abundant.

[d.hatchell15]

could i use fishing weights as the balls because they are made out of led right?

[The Fallen]

hmm, yes thatt would work, but i think it would take a ridiculous amount of time in order to get better gunpowder, and i'd be worried about static buildup. In most cases, i would be glad for a cheap alternative, but with higher level projects involving danger, i'd prefer to use a device designed for that specific purpose

[James (pseudo-geek)]

ah, aluminum powder. this can be bought at a paint store as tint, or, use a coffee grinder and some pop cans. its soft enough that it wont ruin your coffee grinder. good luck making that thermite :)

[cupebill]

aluminum foil in a coffee grinder...cheap and always available

[QwakHed]

You can also use an aluminum core and a metal lathe.

[knobep]

iv been making this for years and i always use a 14$ hand cranked grain mill to both powder the ingredients and mix it. its like a meat grinder but has 2 ribbed plates that turn agenst each other. the only down side is that you must mix the ingredients with a good amount of water so it cant lite. (should b done no mater how you make it because it allows the charcoal to absorb some KNO3 making it burn FASTER!!) ps. i have made bp with icing sugar in place of charcoal and it worked fine, this is because of the basic chemistry of black powder: oxidizer (KNO3), stabilizer (sulfur) , and fuel (charcoal). the sulfur allows the kno3 to relies its oxygen faster and more efficiently, this lets the coal burn with its own oxygen supply. theoretically any solid fuel can be put in place of charcoal.

[lighterkid19]

I've heard you can use a coffee grinder to mix it, but not really sure. also, could u substitute sugar for the charcoal powder?

[boomystuffisfun]

No sugar could take the place of sulfur.

[pyrofyro]

dude no sulphur is added to make the potassium nitrate act like potassium sulphate. which burns quickly as opposed to very slowly. in gunpowder sugar is indispensable.

[duct tape]

Why not? I mean, sugar is just a complex version of carbon.

[JamesRPatrick]

Yeah. I think I'll make mine with diamonds.

[hintss]

which actually are flammable, BTW

[JamesRPatrick]

Very flammable, once lit.

[hintss]

great, now I want to order united nuclear's death ray :(

[boomystuffisfun]

No i read his comment wrong (don't know how tho) yes i know you can use sugar in place of sulphur.

[Crysthala]

Possibly, but I prefer sulphur for emotional reasons. It just smells so much more like danger and fun. Sugar, IMNSHO, is better suited to things like smoke bombs.

[iseedumpeople]

What type of powder is this. What would it compare to. Do you know the burn rate, or any thing that would help to reload.

[dasta]

uh, i live in south africa(yes, those languages u hear on tv are real), and i can't get get such things as ballmills or stuff like that(without a permit). so i want to know if i can use a spice blixem(not the real name. i can't spell the real thing)? (it's a small, deep wooden cup with a rounded bottom and a small dildo-like stick that u use to roll around in the cup to crush seeds and spices and stuff. works on sunflower seeds very well) thanks in advanced

[Sylkhr]

what your talking about is called a pestle & morter

[pyrotechnical]

whatt your thinking of is a morter and pestle (i think thats how you spell it) and i think theres a posibility that the powder would explode. you can try making a ball mill search ball mill on youtube to get some insperation...or you could try mixing it in a bowl (not metal) with a stick but then again theres the chance that it would explode from impact.

[yallrfags]

http://www.fortliberty.org/military-library/how-to-make-black-powder-and-other-explosives.shtmlacually i dont think there is a possibility that it could explode because it is not very powerful... if you want something that powerful you would have to go with a 7:3 ratio of potassium perchlorate and Al powder making flash powder

it is alot easier to make too because all you have to do is mix and go but it is VERY dangerous if made right

also a way to make this particular powder more powderful is to boil the potassium nitrate and then stir in a sulfur/charcoal/alcohol mixture into the water KNO3 solution then all you have to do is separate the water from the black powder

try it out
www.fortliberty.org/military-library/how-to-make-black-powder-and-other-explosives.shtml

[scozzahisee]

 Where can potassium perchlorate be bought from then? All the websites I have seen have banned sales of it :(

[hey_chief]

Camel KA-BOOM!

[ThreeFifty]

Heres to you dude! People are whack with their ideas of black powder. I STRUGGLE to light mine, and I always use a M&P, theres no way in hell it'll ignite standard 75:15:10 BP.

[pyrotechnical]

My moms friend had a friend that made black powder and one day it ignighted when he was mixing it and hurt his hand, but i'm not sure if its true, he might have been scaring me into not doing it

[yallrfags]

sorry the link is at the top

[King bean]

just have one question well maybe two i bought the potasium nitrate but im not sure where to buy the sulfur or wat kinda of charcoal i should use. and is there anyother way i can grind all it without buying a ballmill?

[dellboy]

i can get sulphur and i live in australia. it's in the gardening section of any home and hardware store