Black Powder Thread #1

[LGM]

Well, I thought I should update on the buckthorn BP. I used garden grade sulfur, stump remover KNO3 at 95% purity, and mixed the whole thing in a mortar and pestle for about five minutes, and a sample made a very nice poof. I will test some pulverone in a salute later to see how well it works.

[hashashan]

Hey guys, a few days ago i finished building my ball mill

Now i have this small problem, I load the ball mill, add about 8% water start milling and after a short time all the powder just sticks to some part of the vessel and doesn't really get milled.

What can i do so it wont stick to the vessel?

[Pretty green flame]

Emm...don't use water?

[pudidotdk]

If milling, you do not want to add that much water. You first have to add the 8% AFTER you mill it.

When milling BP only a tiny amount should be used, like if you use a spray bottle to spray OVER the BP, and the water landing on the BP is the amount.

Weird explanation, but I'm rather tired.

[hashashan]

That thought did cross my mind .. however its kinda spooky dealing with air floating BP around an engine and stuff.

I do tape the jar whith mascing tape. no risk in milling dry?

Anyone mills dry here?

[Pretty green flame]

Anyone mills dry here?

Yes, i mill dry. I have tried damp milling and to be honest it was total crap. The BP clumped together ina massive ball of BP. Not worth it, dry milling produces much better results for me.

[Bonny]

I also do my BP milling dry. I add the water (almost 10% personally) before pressing. I found the same result as Pretty green flame when milling wet...a massive ball as well as BP stuck to milling media and the container.

[hashashan]

Any one heard of any accidents involving dry milling?

[Mumbles]

Never from dry milling itself with proper media. I've heard of accidents resulting from contaminants, like nails and staples getting in there though, or morons using marbles or steel balls.

[moonshot]

I mill my BP chems dry. If your concerned about accidental ignition I would keep the mill outside any burnable structures (ie. house, garage etc..) Also open your jars and sift the meal powder outside away from ignition sources. If you have an extension cord long enough to supply power you can dig a pit and put your mill in the ground so if it does ignite you won't set the neighborhood on fire .

[bmarley5780]

I mill dry.

 

The massive ball did happen to me last mill. I am guessing the reason was that the charcoal took in some water from the air NC is very humid in August.

[hashashan]

Ok if so many of you guys are milling dry then i will do so also. Its just that i read in a lot of places that it is better to add a little bit of water.

[rocket]

Its just that i read in a lot of places that it is better to add a little bit of water.

 

I’ve also read about that, but people seem to be a bit paranoid about the whole ball mill thing. If done right it’s very safe but do it wrong and the results are not exactly pleasant. I like many people here mill dry.

[Mumbles]

A little bit of water, and 8% are totally different though. I actually do add a tiny bit of water to my mill, just to keep dust down in some applications, like spider stars where a lot of charcoal is present. I think it gives me better results too, but whatever. I add half of one spray from my spray bottle. The bottle has an approximate spray volume of 1/2 mL per stroke. So that is 1/4mL for 200g of BP at a time. That works out to .125%

[hashashan]

Dry milled some of the BP, very weired results. It actually became much slower then it was before the dry milling. before the milling it just went out with a woof and now its just burning (it is very fine though) any ideas what happened?

[Jason]

BP can get so fine it acts as a fire retardant, or so I've heard. Someone correct me if i'm wrong.

[LGM]

Yes, it can do that. Try corning some or making pulverone and see if that helps.

[hashashan]

Whats pulverone?

and I can't corn the BP, I don't have a press. Just wetting the BP with 1% dextrin and sieving it will do the trick?

[Jason]

Pulverone is wetting then grating through a screen.

[Mumbles]

To me pulverone is granulated green meal.

 

You should be using 4 or 5% dextrin, and yes you can granulate it through a screen, preferably 12 or 16 mesh or so.

 

I don't know about getting so fine it can act as a fire retardant. It can certainly be so fine it acts as a liquid or solid lump, and is difficult to set fire to though.

[hashashan]

mumbles you never had your black powder burn slower after milling it too much?

[Mumbles]

Nope. It can become harder to light, but it always burns faster. After milling, mine always burns in a poof. If it's burning slower after milling you might have messed something up. Like was said before, it may be so fine it is acting as a fire block, but I've never had this happen to me personally.

[Jason]

On Kates site they did some tests with charcoal, and the effect of 66 hour milling made the BP burn slower than 18 hour milling.

 

http://www.wichitabuggywhip.com/fireworks/...coal_tests.html

 

Scroll down until you hit "Series Four". I don't know how good this information is, but I like the fact they have so many different charcoals and I personally use this as a rough guide.

[Mumbles]

If they had tested on the same day I'd be more apt to believe it was a real effect.

 

The guy here didn't mill it 4x too long either.

[hashashan]

Added a bit of water and milled for 2 more hours, it helped a lot. Ill mill some more tomorrow and make some pulverone out of it.