Making Muzzleloader Fuel

[RobD]

Long gone are the days when the average USA citizen could purchase black powder at their LGS.  Fed regulations on BP storage, along with added red tape and taxation and limited demand for the holy black have seen that happen.  I get my Swiss BP via mail order, but if the current gun control panacea continues, methinks that mail order BP may end as well, and that will force those who who require that powder (cartridge as well as muzzleloader) to consider making their own, particularly if a flintlock is the weapon to feed.  Notice I didn't say "bootleg their own".

IF done in a "proper safe manner" - and there IS such a method - the results will almost always NOT yield a powder equal to that of the commercial Swiss or Goex, but it is still better than nothing and at least will allow my flintlocks to function as they should.  Current SAFE black powder making processes appear to be 20-25% less "powerful" than the commercial variety and upping a charge by that percentage closes that gap significantly, so I'm told by more than a few prominent sources.  The three black powder making ingredients are readily available to anyone from multiple sources, both online and local to each of us.  The tools and materials to effect the BP making process are elementary.

"Safe" BP manufacture means never mixing all three ingredients together DRY, always WET.

Let's put things in perspective.  Just as with loading a muzzleloader or making metallic cartridges, there is a safety risk that we all are forced to negotiate.  Wet powder of any ilk means safe powder.  Wet black powder will not ignite let alone burn.  That horn of 2F Goex you've got dangling at yer side is about as close to walking around with a pipe bomb or grenade as it can get.  Is that not safe?

For decades there have been EXTENSIVE threads on the CastBoolits forum on making black powder.  Several of those threads are posted on even today.  The matter of the legality of making any gunpowder ends with each of us, with or without local, state, and federal laws.

Without powder, firearms won't work, and their inclusion in a firearms website/forum is almost a given ... or should be.

For those of concern with making muzzleloader fuel ...

Black Powder Safety, the Law, and You

[Ohio Joe]

I have also tinkered with the idea of making BP, but at the end of the day weighing how much I have been actually shooting the holy black, I'll stick with purchasing it for now... (though admittingly the direction our Country seems to be going) - one never knows when a paranoid big-brother government is going to bring the hammer down on even more regulations against all the shooting sports...

There are videos and books out their on how to make BP, and this is good IMHO. It's certainly an alternative, should one want to pursue it... It would be a worthy pursuit... After all, it is what fuels this shooting interest... 

[RobD]

I will chronicle my BP making efforts within this thread, if only for demonstration purposes.

[KDubs]

As I have posted before, I made my attempt at BP making with success.  Well success in that it goes poof when ignited in the open air.
 It's still in mill powder form from last yr. I haven't corned it as I have no press, so thar it sits until I can press it.
 I joined our local club recently and they get a club discount from our local supplier, buffalo arms,  so I'll be getting as much powder , as often as I can , thru the club.
 If and when I get a press I'll resume my experimenting .
 Keep us posted Rob.
Kevin

[RobD]

I like the concept of "self sufficiency" and have always wondered about the BP making process ... for at least the last 6 decades.

My KNO3 (potassium nitrate aka "saltpeter") and sulfur come from Skylighter.  I need to make willow charcoal - that will not be a fun task, methinks.

The BP making process of my choice grinds the charcoal and sulfur together and to speed this up I'll be using a ceramic burr electric coffee bean grinder.  The KNO3 goes into boiling water.  Once it's dissolved, the sifted mix of charcoal and sulfur are added into the pot and stirred.  When the concoction is fully wetted, the pot is removed from heat and placed in a pan of ice water, then chilled isopropyl alcohol is added to the watery mix and stirred until the resulting sludge is cool.  This is an important part of the process as it leeches KNO3 into the charcoal and sulfur particles.  The mix further thickens as the KNO3 precipitates into the other two ingredients, in about 10 minutes time.

A large coffee filter is placed into a common kitchen stainless steel strainer and the sludge is poured into the filter.  Allow all the water in the sludge to filter out.  When most/all of the water is out of the mix, bunch up the filled filter, put it into a new clean filter, and squeeze out any remaining water.  The result is a compact ball of wetted powder.

Check the wetness of the balled powder in the filters and squeeze further to remove as much water as possible.  t needs to be like the consistency of damp clay - not slurry sludge wet, and absolutely not dry.

Next up is "corning" the powder ball.  All this is is rubbing the damp ball over a stainless steel screen in order to grate/create granules of powder.  I'll be using 20 mesh stainless steel screen that will produce my mainstay black powder size, 3F, that I use for both tube and pan. 

After the corning, the damp powder is spread out and  left to dry - away from flame or direct heat - sunshine is best but not necessary.  After drying, the resulting dry powder is sifted over a 40 mesh stainless steel screen to remove any fines.  What's left on top of that 40 mesh screen is the working 3F powder.

[rollingb]

Sounds like an interesting project. 

[Nessmuk]

I'm curious, Rob,  how much does final product cost per pound? Minus your valuable labor, of course!

[LongWalker]

I need to make willow charcoal - that will not be a fun task, methinks.

Having read much of what Bill Knight wrote about powder making--the problems with sulpher-eating bacteria, sourcing just the right charcoal, etc, and the regularity in which powder mills blew up back in the day, I've never been inclined to make it. 

But I've made charcoal.  I played with that off-and-on for about 15 years whilst doing some experimental archaeology that started with refining bog iron and went up to making crucible steel.  (And later, we made mesquite charcoal for barbecue. . . .)

Depending on the quantity you need, it shouldn't be too hard--like making charcloth outta sticks. My first charcoal-making experiments were exactly that: I scaled up the charcloth-making process, using a coco tin with a nail hole in the lid.  Pack the can with sticks, throw it in a hot wood fire, fish it out when the can stops venting gasses from the hole in the lid.  Let it cool overnight.  Charcoal. 

In the coco-can-scale experiments, I got best results when the sticks were all about the same size--roughly 5/16"-3/8" diameter.  Pack them in the can with as little air room as possible. 

[RobD]

I need to make willow charcoal - that will not be a fun task, methinks.

Having read much of what Bill Knight wrote about powder making--the problems with sulpher-eating bacteria, sourcing just the right charcoal, etc, and the regularity in which powder mills blew up back in the day, I've never been inclined to make it. 

But I've made charcoal.  I played with that off-and-on for about 15 years whilst doing some experimental archaeology that started with refining bog iron and went up to making crucible steel.  (And later, we made mesquite charcoal for barbecue. . . .)

Depending on the quantity you need, it shouldn't be too hard--like making charcloth outta sticks. My first charcoal-making experiments were exactly that: I scaled up the charcloth-making process, using a coco tin with a nail hole in the lid.  Pack the can with sticks, throw it in a hot wood fire, fish it out when the can stops venting gasses from the hole in the lid.  Let it cool overnight.  Charcoal. 

In the coco-can-scale experiments, I got best results when the sticks were all about the same size--roughly 5/16"-3/8" diameter.  Pack them in the can with as little air room as possible.

The problem I have is not in the making, per se, it's the amount of smoke it'll create, particularly if the wood is green with a lot of moisture.

As to the unsafe nature of making black powder and its efficacy: it is only as safe as you make it, no different than loading a muzzleloader and shooting one.  There are extremely safe and unsafe ways of producing black powder, the ONLY question is what will be the results in terms of Power.

[RobD]

I'm curious, Rob,  how much does final product cost per pound? Minus your valuable labor, of course!

Not much, currently I figured it out to maybe about $5 a pound.  With the method I'll be using, it will require the purchase of KNO3 and sulfur and IPA (isopropyl alcohol, not IPA ale ), the rest is in "tooling" such as the screens, coffee filters, a quart cooking pot, a can for the charcoal retort, and sundry other incidentals that can be rounded up around the ranch.

Like buying most stuff, it will depend on the volume of the purchase.  Quality KNO3 can be $9/lb or as low as $6.29/lb (all plus shipping) from Skylighter, and sulfur is $5.39/lb.

The BP formula is still 75-15-10.

[Winter Hawk]

Fascinating!  I will surely be following this thread.  Thank you for posting it.

Many moons ago, when I was in Junior High, a friend and I mixed up some black powder in the science lab.  Not much, but it burned with a satisfying WHOOSH.  I know we weren't nearly as precise as you are!
 

~Kees~

[KDubs]

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Doug fir charcoal.  Small paint can , small garbage can fire.
  so Rob, no pressing into pucks?  I info I've watched all talk about pressing as being necessary.
 Cool if I dont have to. Saves $$.
 Kevin

[RobD]

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Doug fir charcoal.  Small paint can , small garbage can fire.
  so Rob, no pressing into pucks?  I info I've watched all talk about pressing as being necessary.
 Cool if I dont have to. Saves $$.
 Kevin

The materials and process are easy, the wood I have - 40 year old well seasoned BALSA! - the problem is .... SMOKE.   

No pressing, no pucks.  It's the "CIA" method of making the holy black where IPA is used to leech KNO3 into the mix of charcoal and sulfur, then the resulting damp ball of black powder is screened ("corned") into granules that are left to dry.

The sole advantage of pressing the damp powder into pucks - this is a step done after the black powder is mixed and wet/damp, and before corning - is that it will increase the weight of the the resulting corned BP granules.  I hear this step is necessary to create a faster burning powder, but not necessary to create a good, viable batch of muzzleloader powder.  I shall see.

[RobD]

Change of plans.  Instead of the CIA method I've begun to invest in the ball mill corning method.  This will provide more potent powder that will pretty much equal the commercial stuff, but will cost a big bunch more to gear up for making it. 

Basically, the three main ingredients - KNO3, willow charcoal, sulfur - are ball milled for many hours, 8 to 12.  Prior to ball milling, the KNO3 is refined to AF (air float) quality using an electric bean grinder with ceramic burrs.  The sulfur and willow charcoal are already of AF quality.

After the milling, the results are "meal powder" that go into a bowl that gets water and/or 70% IPA (isopropyl alcohol) sparingly dribbled in and mixed up with rubber gloved hands to the point where the mix will "clump", meaning it's between moist and damp, NOT wet.

A few scaled (for weight) tablespoons of the mix are put into a pucking die.  The one I have is from Woody's and will make 3" BP pucks that are about 3/16" to 1/4" in thickness.

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The filled pucking die sits on a Woody's pressure gauge that goes to 6000psi.

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Between the weight of the meal powder and the amount of pressure used to "corn" out the pucks, that's all for some measure of consistency of the resulting powder.

The pressure gauge and pucking die go into a 20 ton press that will press down the powder, fusing it together at around 3500psi.  The sulfur will "plasticize" and fuse the three ingredients together, and that's the essential key to making really GOOD black powder, as done commercially.

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The resulting BP pucks are hard and initially shiny (due to residual water content) and are allowed to fully dry to a dull look in a day or so.

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Then the pucks are broken up and go into a hand grinder that will grind down to granules that are between 1F and 4F in size.

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The resulting powder is sifted through 2 or 3 screens for size.  Any sizes too large or too small are kept for making more pucks.

NOW, how dangerous is all this??

Well, from my perspective, after spending weeks reviewing all the processes for making Good BP, not as much as one would think.  Mixing the three key ingredients dry is of some concern, but if a proper ball mill is used - internally rubber lined, and lead balls are used for the grinders - there is pretty much no chance of an explosion happening.  It takes a heckuva LOT of heat to touch off black powder.  I'll be milling outside and far away from anything important to get blown up.  Once the milling is over, the meal powder is handled just as we now handle black powder for our firesticks - carefully. 

The corning process starts with wetting down the powder (so no chance of ignition), compressing the damp powder, and then allowing the resulting pucks to dry out. 

The next big concern is breaking up the pucks (literally with a hammer over the cloth covered pucks) and then taking one puck at a time to the hand grinder.  Again, the bugaboo for igniting black powder is heat, not static electricity.  Can the grinder created a spark of heat to kick off the powder in the grinder's hopper?  I don't see how that could happen as there is nothing in or about a grain grinder that would be capable of creating the kind of spark that a flint on a frizzen will create, nor has any such incident been recorded.

Are we havin' fun .... yet?    

[RobD]

After milling the 3 ingredients into "meal powder", the corning begins ...