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Black Powder Thread #1


Givat

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4:1 or 5:1 for smaller shells and a hard break and 2:1 or even 52:48 for bigger shells (all are in BP: Carrier ratios)
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Actually $1 a pound is around average, but in the long run a bit expensive. Look at it this way, you're paying $1 a pound for the equivalent of potatoe peels of the rice industry. Yes, they are very cheap.

 

I use 5:1 with BP, and 7:1 with KP. I think 4:1 for whistle and H3. With those larger shells, I don't think Shimizu was talking about ricehulls anymore PGF. 2:1 or 1:1 would barely be anything on those hulls. Even 5:1 BP has white spots on mine. The part I was reading the other day was talking about cottonseeds when using ratios like that, where that amount of BP would actually relatively cover them. It's around where he introduces KP, and break no. 44 and no 46 (I think). Page 214.

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Maybe just maybe I just found this out but you might be able to find a brewery may have some b/c rice hulls are also used as filter. Says this place.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9URQAnvqVuo

This is a 2 gram pile of my meal powder. After milling I moistened it with 50/50 water/alc and let dry to help increase performance. After I finally get to the hardware store and buy some stuff I'm going to press it to make it into lift, and use the left over fines to coat crispies for burst. The charcoal I use for my lift/burst powder is a mixture of willow and balsa in a 50/50 ratio.

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Heres a random question that has to do with black powder:

 

Can I use sulfur that has a 90% purity for use in black powder?

 

heres a picture of what i bought:

 

sorry its so big i have no idea how to minimize it :mellow:

post-4-1184973545_thumb.jpg

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Heres a random question that has to do with black powder:

 

Can I use sulfur that has a 90% purity for use in black powder?

 

heres a picture of what i bought:

 

sorry its so big i have no idea how to minimize it :mellow:

Yes you can use it in Black Powder, and in KNO3/charcoal based star and rocket fuel comps. You shouldn't use it anywhere near KClO3. I would not even trust it in most color comps with KClO4, since you don't know what the other 10% is. For just BP though, I think you are OK. Maybe you could check the pH of it and let us know how acidic it is ?

 

Better off to get some more pure product. I usually pay the Skylighter or Firefox prices, but I think rubber maker's sulfur is supposed to be quite pure, and much cheaper (but you have to buy a large bag). Mumbles would know, I think he has a s**tload of it ?

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from the look of the bag on the back it say 10% calcium carbonate, is that ok?

i also tried filtering it with some worm water and a bit of white/gray particles came up and when filtered and dried it with a hair dryer it looks bright yellow

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hmm 10% calcium carbonate. I don't know it might actually be acceptable for usage with perchlorates as is. If you want to remove the 10% Calcium carbonate I recommend dumping some of your sulfur into water and then adding CO2 gas to the water. The calcium carbonate should dissolve(forms calcium bicarbonate) and you can filter your sulfur.
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  • 2 weeks later...
i just finished making some balsa wood charcoal and it is increadably light. im gonna make some bp tomarrow and i think it will realy speed up my bp. :) anyone done anything like this?
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Here is a test burn of my BP that I make with grapevine charcoal. I recently pressed a couple of small pucks in my vise using a piece of 2" ABS pipe and a couple of metal end plugs. Yeah I know it's crude but it works. I added just enough moisture so the meal just started to cling together. The pucks came out very hard. I crushed them with a large piece of brass and screened it through a 15 mesh strainer to get fairly uniform grain.

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m314/dickwad_07/Picture129.jpg

http://s107.photobucket.com/albums/m314/di...=Picture130.flv

Pressing does seem to speed up the burn.

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Hey, I'm new here and I was wondering if buckthorn could be used as a charcoal wood in BP. I have read that it is or used to be favored in the BP industry. I am asking because I have a couple hundred pounds of shredded/chipped buckthorn lying around.
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Hey, I'm new here and I was wondering if buckthorn could be used as a charcoal wood in BP. I have read that it is or used to be favored in the BP industry. I am asking because I have a couple hundred pounds of shredded/chipped buckthorn lying around.

Sounds like it might be good then. You could try to contact LadyKate or Dan Creagan on rec.pyrotechnics newsgroup or directly via their website:

 

http://www.creagan.net/fireworks/

 

Perhaps if you send a sample, they could test it and add the results to their excellent data on various pyro charcoals.

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I just carbonized some earlier, and it seems very good. It is quite light and I was able to get it to a fine consistency in a few minutes with a mortar and pestle. Can't wait to get some sulfur so I can try this out.
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Buckthorn should make excellent BP. To add a little bit to what you said before, it is rumored to be the charcoal used by the British Military. It's quality is discussed in both Black Powder: Manufacturing, Testing, and Optimization by Ian von Malitz and briefly in Pyrotechnics by Hardt.
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Well here is my black powder!!!!

Finally I think its decent... ball mill 4 hours and balsa charcoal...

Do you think its good enough??

Could i lift anything with it?

Its meal, now i need to corn it.

Thanks

Pucar

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Well here is my black powder!!!!

Finally I think its decent... ball mill 4 hours and balsa charcoal...

Do you think its good enough??

Could i lift anything with it?

Its meal, now i need to corn  it.

Thanks

Pucar

Yes thats fast for home made BP. It should work great for lifting shells, making black match fuse and meal coated burst. (Thats my next project)

Now that you have a decent BP you can start thinking about building some pyro devices like small cannister shells or rockets. BP is the basis for many useful pyrotechnic projects. Your on your way to a good start but remember to BE SAFE.

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I would recommend making your own black powder for lift.

 

Unfortunately, I don't know much about store bought powders. Hopefully someone else can answer your question.

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Commercial ffg will work for lift, but is going to be much more expensive than homemade BP that can work just as well.
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Used the standared comp. for BP.

-Cowboy brand hardwood charcoal. Crushed it with hammer and then into the blender.

-Garden sulfer was crushed with hammer & into the blender.

-Potassium nitrate stump remover already had a consistantcy of table salt. I did nothing to this.

 

Milled for 3hrs. My milling jar is a tad under charged.

 

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