Its possible to make a high quality BP with a Mortar and Pestle?

[Pirotecnia]

What type of mortars are the best to use? Wood, Bronze, Porcelain....?

 

 

Thanks!

Edited February 23, 2012 by Pirotecnia

[Potassiumchlorate]

Not wood.

 

Small portions could work fine. One of the methods of making BP back when there were no ballmills was actually to use an enormous mortar and an enormous pestle with four men working on it around the clock. The Brittish had one in Calcutta, if I remember corectly.

[oldguy]

Brass, bronze or porcelain is best.

 

Mark my words, the bigger the better.

 

Small ones don't hold much, are laborious & uncomfortable to use.

 

You can buy a small single drum ball mill from harbor freight for about the same price a good sized M/P costs.

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/3-lb-rotary-rock-tumbler-67631.html

Edited February 23, 2012 by oldguy

[AdmiralDonSnider]

Not worth the hazzle...

[dan999ification]

i have, you can, you do need a biggun, mines about 4 inches dia cost £10.....too small really.

expect to work for it, i can make ten grams in half an hour in mine but have seen better quality bp from the mill and it takes less time and effort to make 100g in the mill.

it depends how much you want it and how much effort you're prepared to put in.

if its not 100% you could always use slightly more or put it back in the mortar for another grind.

 

dan.

 

edit: mine is granite , very heavy very rough, kills your joints after a few minutes.

Edited February 24, 2012 by dan999ification

[Algenco]

decent yes, high quality, I don't think so unless your willing to put a tremendous amount of effort into it.

As others have already said, even the smallest ball mill will produce a higher quality product with very little effort.

[usapyro]

Mortar and pestles are good for fine tuning exotic compositions like senko-habani sparklers.

[jimbo]

be prepared for sore arms,I had no dedicated mill jar for potassium chlorate so I had to buy a m&p to get some fine potassium chlorate,I basicaly had to grind it up 5gram batches otherwise I got nowhere,I would hate to think of the poor guy who put that much effort in for a measly amount of b.p,but nevertheless try it,if anything it will frustrate you into buying or making a ballmill.

[dagabu]

What type of mortars are the best to use? Wood, Bronze, Porcelain....?

 

 

Thanks!

 

Why bother? Using boiling water (no more then 23% the weight of the chems) to make a firm ball of BP and then screening will make serviceable pulverone. It can be used as break or lift or used to make rockets.

 

-dag