Pirotecnia Posted May 1, 2012 Posted May 1, 2012 Hi, I found this process to make Potassium Nitrate at home.I've read that it was used in past centuries in a larger scale.Procedures below: Hope you like it. Thanks!
NightHawkInLight Posted May 1, 2012 Posted May 1, 2012 I've read a little about this process and how it was preformed way back in the first years of gunpowder. What a miserable way to have to get your nitrate, but it's good knowledge to have. It really gives you something to think about how much dedication and difficulty it must have taken to construct the first fireworks. To figure all of that out without any knowledge of modern chemistry is no small accomplishment.
busspuppy Posted May 3, 2012 Posted May 3, 2012 I wonder what purity level of nitrate that would produce. Good information to know espically in a disaster. It would take forever though, and given I could but 50# of 99+% for $45 I think I will pass but I will definantly get that in mind. Good info. Does anybody happen to know how to get sulfur (without going to YellowStone ) ?
Short5 Posted May 3, 2012 Posted May 3, 2012 Hmmm, my three horses live in a pasture that has been pooped in for the last 100 years or so.
Potassiumchlorate Posted May 3, 2012 Posted May 3, 2012 Hmmm, my three horses live in a pasture that has been pooped in for the last 100 years or so. That would be an excellent source, if you can bother to utilize the old-fashioned process. Especially the soil under the floor should be good to start with.
Short5 Posted May 3, 2012 Posted May 3, 2012 That would be an excellent source, if you can bother to utilize the old-fashioned process. Especially the soil under the floor should be good to start with.Yeah, no, not going through all that but it is nice to iknow it's there should the world end and I have an irresistible urge to make a rocket.
WSM Posted May 4, 2012 Posted May 4, 2012 I wonder what purity level of nitrate that would produce. Good information to know espically in a disaster. It would take forever though, and given I could but 50# of 99+% for $45 I think I will pass but I will definantly get that in mind. Good info. Does anybody happen to know how to get sulfur (without going to YellowStone ) ? If you happen to live reasonably close to oil refineries (as I do), you may be in luck... If it contains sulfur, crude oil is considered "sour" (acidic) and the extra refining step of removing the sulfur is added to the process. Most Western crude oil has lots of sulfur in it (which has to be removed) and it gets dumped in huge piles like the one pictured above before it's sold to sulfur processors. The sulfur can be very pure and useful for our purposes . WSM
busspuppy Posted May 4, 2012 Posted May 4, 2012 Holy Crap. Do they just they you have it for no charge? I can easily get Sulfur I was wondering if there is a DIY method, which Sulfur is elemental so that means there not a process to make it you would have to get it out of the ground. Really no need to do that but I want to fulfil my curiosity. Sulfur is dirt cheap I was just curious on how it is extracted and purified.
WSM Posted May 4, 2012 Posted May 4, 2012 Holy Crap. Do they just they you have it for no charge? I can easily get Sulfur I was wondering if there is a DIY method, which Sulfur is elemental so that means there not a process to make it you would have to get it out of the ground. Really no need to do that but I want to fulfil my curiosity. Sulfur is dirt cheap I was just curious on how it is extracted and purified. Here's one way (though I don't recommend it!)... http://www.boston.co...kawah_ijen.html http://www.boston.co...n_by_night.html There's got to be easier ways to get sulfur. Keep those poor guys in your prayers... WSM
WSM Posted May 4, 2012 Posted May 4, 2012 Holy Crap. Do they just they you have it for no charge? I can easily get Sulfur I was wondering if there is a DIY method, which Sulfur is elemental so that means there not a process to make it you would have to get it out of the ground. Really no need to do that but I want to fulfil my curiosity. Sulfur is dirt cheap I was just curious on how it is extracted and purified. They used to, but there's a fence around the yard now... WSM
frank Posted May 4, 2012 Posted May 4, 2012 Tour of (FSTP) Free Sulphur Theme Park http://www.stormchaser.ca/Volcanoes/Kawah_Ijen/Kawah_Ijen.html
Peret Posted May 5, 2012 Posted May 5, 2012 The nitrate in the soil doesn't come directly from the urine and other waste, but is created by bacterial action on organic waste, so it takes a long time. Any old organic waste will do - urine, feces, dead dogs and cats, food scraps etc. In medieval times the government demand for saltpeter was so great that laws were passed making it illegal, for example, to put a stone floor in a stable or dovecote. That our realm naturally yields sufficient mines of saltpetre without depending on foreign parts; wherefore, for the future, no dovehouse shall be paved with stones, bricks, nor boards, lime, sand, nor gravel, nor any other thing whereby the growth and increase of the mine and saltpetre may be hindered or impaired; but the proprietors shall suffer the ground floors thereof, as also all stables where horses stand, to lie open with good and mellow earth, apt to breed increase of the said mine. And that none deny or hinder any saltpetre-man, lawfully deputed thereto, from digging, taking, or working any ground which by commission may be taken and wrought for saltpetre. Neither shall any constable, or other officer, neglect to furnish any such saltpetre-man with convenient carriages, that the King's service suffer not. Non shall bribe any saltpetre-man for the sparing or forbearing of any ground fit to be wrought for saltpetre. (Charles 1, 1625) There was a guild of recognized "professionals", saltpeter men, who had a Royal charter to enter private property and dig up any likely looking soil, which they would do regardless of the wishes of the householder, even digging up the soil from under the beds of sick people, as well as weakening walls and foundations. This was against their own rules but they didn't have much choice, since they were set impossible quotas that they could never meet. There is also a Salt-peter-man, whose commission is not to break up any man's house or ground without leave. And not to deale with any house, but such as is unused for any necessarie imployment by the owner. And not to digge in any place without leaving it smooth and levell: in such case as he found it. This Salt-peter-man under shew of his authoritie, though being no more than is specified, will make plaine and simple people beleeve, that hee will without their leave breake up the floore of their dwelling house, unlesse they will compound with him to the contrary. Any such fellow, if you can meete with all, let his misdemenor be presented, that he may be taught better to understand his office: For by their abuse the country is oftentimes troubled. As if that were not bad enough, the saltpeter men were also empowered to take the unfortunate donor's cart to haul the stuff away. Naturally this was very unpopular, and after numerous complaints about the "petermen" the system was eventually changed to one in which organic waste - night soil, dead horses, garden waste etc - was collected in "farms" and raked into rows to rot down for a couple of years. This was a pretty serious public nuisance itself for those living in the neighborhood, and it still didn't produce enough, so the old system was reinstated. It would appear that the saltpetre-man abused his authority, and that the people suffered a good deal of annoyance from the manner in which this absurd system was carried out; for two years afterwards we find that another proclamation was published by the King, notifying, "that the practice of making saltpetre in England by digging up the floors of dwelling-houses, &c. &c., tended too much to the grievance of his loving subjects . . . that not withstanding all the trouble, not one third part of the saltpetre required could be furnished." It proceeds to state that Sir John Brooke and Thomas Russell, Esq., had proposed a new method of manufacturing the article, and that an exclusive patent had been granted to them. The King then commands his subjects in London and Westminster, that after notice given, they "carefully keep in proper vessels all human urine throughout the year, and as much of that of beasts as can be saved." This appeared to fail; for at the end of the same year, the "stable" monarch proclaimed a return to the old method, giving a commission to the Duke of Buckingham, and some others, to ". . . . break open . . . . and work for saltpetre," as might be found requisite; and in 1634 a further proclamation was issued renewing the old ones, but excepting the houses, stables, &c. of persons of quality. During the Commonwealth the nuisance was finally got rid of; for an act was passed in 1656, directing that "none shall dig within the houses, &c. of any person without their leave first obtained.These laws stayed on the books until 1778.
NightHawkInLight Posted May 5, 2012 Posted May 5, 2012 Great find Peret! Those laws are a very cool insight into a corner of history that I had no idea existed.
Pirotecnia Posted May 12, 2012 Author Posted May 12, 2012 These are the first impure crystals of KNO3 that i have collected today, synthetized by the way i described on this topic.
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