Instead of trying to keep everything super dry, you can actually add water to it while milling it, which also allows you to use more easily accessible steel balls to do it. Then all you need to do is spread it out on a cookie sheet or similar and let it air-dry in the sun or similar. I can't quite remember what this technique is called, but it was one of the great improvements in black powder technology as regular black powder has a tendency to separate into its constituent layers if left for too long, but by wet-mixing and then drying this issue was completely eliminated.
It's called corning. The usual process it to dampen the powder, then compress into large hard chunks. After it dries, it's then ground fairly coarsely and sifted into different grain sizes for different purposes
Yes, corning (name actually comes from a brining method for cured meats like corned beef). Pressing the slurry through different mesh sizes gives different burn rates and your powder rating, eg ffg, fffg etc.
HI, I was making black powder about 50 years ago, my stuff wasn't very reactive until I read that Dupont used willow charcoal and added the mix that you described into wooden barrels with water and round stones and milled for a week (much safer with distilled water or alcohol), alcohol and water will stabilize most oxidizers allowing them to be mixed safely while in suspension. I liked alcohol because it dried faster. then spread the mix on a sheet to dry in the sun. It becomes very reactive then to the point of being percussive. Rember mom says don't blow yourself up! Rich
I believe it is more about getting the KNO properly mixed into the charcoal and sulphur. If it was only about surface area, then you could have done the milling before the mixing.
@@Tjalve70 I’d definitely say that the homogenous nature of the powder after milling would increase reaction rate, but I’d also say that by grinding it down further with the mill (increasing the surface area) the reaction rate is greatly increased as more molecules are exposed to react with.
@@SpasticSpelunker Of course grinding it down further would increase the reaction rate. But as I said, if that was the only (or the main) reason, then the milling could have been done before the mixing, and thus reduce the risk of an explosion while milling the mixture.
When I was a kid about 50 years ago, we used to make it using regular white sugar for carbon and just a match head to supply the sulpher. Never thought of trying to mill it. The reaction appeared to be similar to what you show in the video of the unmilled mixture.
Well done! Never seen a better instruction. I used to mill it by hand, with water added when I was young. I'll try it with a ball mill ( about time, I'm 61 yo. now...)
Standard practice in a traditional gunpowder factory involved adding water during the milling process. It was obviously a very important part of the industrial process, because workers had to add water throughout their shift and were provided with one legged stools so that if they fell asleep they would fall over and wake up.
For charcoal sourcing, you could buy artists' charcoal. It can purchased as sticks or powder and it's often made from Willow Trees (One of the best woods to use in black powder). The biggest issue would be the price, but that's really only a concern if you are looking to make large quantities
Another channel, "Everything Black Powder" made charcoal from toilet paper, minus the cardboard tube. Small fibers of wood, cleaned of impurities.... seems like a good idea...
Slight addition here, the sulphur also acts as an stabalizer as in south africa they used to have a version of it called "biskruit" which was very unstable because they did not have sulphur in it.
I have been trying to find out how to make black power. And while I haven't found any proper recipes, what I have heard is as follows: You dissolve the KNO is as little hot water as is needed to dissolve all of it. And then you mix in the other powders. You then press out as much of the water as possible, and press the "dough" into a cake. This cake is completely dried, and then broken into pieces and milled into grains. And the grains are sifted in order to separate them into grain sizes. Apparently the size of the grains is important depending on what you're going to use it for. If used for cannons, the grains are supposed to be bigger. If used for long guns, the grains are supposed to be medium. And if used for pistols, the grains are supposed to be smaller. I believe this is supposed to correspond to how long time it takes to push the projectile out of the barrel. Since what you want, is for the black powder to keep burning and producing gas until the projectile has left the barrel. So larger grain sizes will burn slower, and smaller grain sizes will burn faster. If the powder burns too fast, you will have too high pressure at first, and too low pressure as the projectile is leaving the barrel. This will either result in danger of the gun exploding, or in reduced power from the gun, depending on how much black powder you use. If the powder burns too slow, you will have the powder still burning after the projectile has left the barrel, which is wasteful. This will either result in you spending a lot more black powder than you need, or in reduced power from the gun, again, depending on how much black powder you use.
the wood makes a difference for the charcoal. using something like willow, which is found in pretty much every place in the US, or perhaps something soft like poplar or cottonwood does it make it burn faster. But I have also gotten away using hardwood charcoal, it just burns a bit slower and requires more time milling to work properly.
@@thatguychris5654 My guess is that pine would not be great, since it contains a lot of tar. But I guess you could make it work by simply spending more time on carbonizing it, and of course leaving the residue behind. But that being said, I would assume the softer and lighter the wood is, the easier it would be to mix it. So I would assume balsa would be the best choice. However, I'm just guessing.
Pretty cool process. It's like that old show in the 1990's how things work. I don't remember the name. But it would show factory processes and other construction things. 👍👏👏👏
look for fertilizer additives or saltpeter (water softener, meat tenderizer, drain cleaner, etc.)... potassium nitrate is a saltpeter (but not the only nitrate called saltpeter)... Just giving some suggestions to point you in the right direction to finding sufficiently pure potassium nitrate. You may need to experiment to find your purest source. The recipe for black powder is nearly the same as the recipe for "rocket candy" the homeade fuel for toy rockets... if you have a rocketry club or amateur rocket club (those are not the same thing) in New Zealand, they could probably point you in the right direction. Best of luck mate.
just one correction, at 0:10 you call it old fashioned gunpowder, but blackpowder IS gunpowder, modern day "gunpowder" is smokeless powder, which is why we call old gunpowder black powder to tell them apart
Milling massively increases the surface area of material and thus it has far more material to react quickly. You can see the same thing attempting to burn coarse milled flour as opposed to superfine.
I am glad I can buy both sulfur and nitrate 99% pure in my country 😂 Also I have done with my friends gunpowder in mortar and pestle that burns fast as hell... We mixed everything in water, grinded it couple of times and granulated it with pure alkohole 😅
I'm not 100% sure, but I want to say that you can use a gasifier to catch the wood-gas and make the charcoal. I would have to double check my books to make sure.
If I have understood this correctly, a gasifier is something that lets the fuel burn with very little oxygen, in order to produce CO (carbon monoxide). If you want to make charcoal, you want to heat it up with NO access to oxygen. If that is possible to do in a gasifier, then it should work quite well, yes.
Finely powdered (airfloat) charcoal, potassium nitrate, and sulphur is readily available from several sources on the internet. I have no idea why this guy makes it sound so difficult.
I tried making the charcole on on a gas camping stove in a coke can (bad idea), the can melted and dripped onto the stove, burnt through the plastic to the gas canister and it blew up. Me and my friend watched in awe as the fire ball and shrapnel came flying towards us ( we were about 1 meter from it) but we had enough time to hide behind the stairs, then my mum came and asked us wtf just happened in an angry tone, but at least we were wearing our safety glasses.
Yes and yes. Black powder is used as a propellent in many things (fireworks, cannons, muzzleloaders...) but those things have their own regulations. I would consult the ATF website.
@@AydensWorkshop Is the ATF legal in the context of the actual Constitution? Pretty sure that it is not. Why do Americans obey criminal organisations? *checks history around 1861-65* Oh, oh i see.
I wonder, could you also use a ceramic box (assuming it was created and properly shaped for doing that) for the charcoal making process ? Given that ceramics have quite an insane resistance to high temperature as far as I believe ?
@@Tjalve70 Yeah, I knew that already. My point is more about the heat resistance of ceramics, because it's higher than metal from what I recall and it may be a good way to have a reusable charcoal making box instead of busting a paint can each time you would like to make some charcoal.
As long as it is KNO3, with no additives, it should perfectly fine. I'm guessing the only difference is grain size. And as he said, you need to mill it to reduce the grain size. Or dissolve it in water, if you want to go to wet method.
If FBI watching this let me tell u it's a pure youtube recommendation i don't take any responsibilities for watching this video. Long Live America!!! Long Live the President!!! Aliens are real. 👽
Have been kicking myself for many years that I didn't download those cookbooks before the fuss about them. Because now they don't seem to be available anymore. I'm not saying I need them. But they would just be interesting to have.
I know you can use sodium nitrate. But that is more hydroscopic. And it burns slower. My guess is that ammonium nitrate will also burn slower. So it would be less useful for firearms, but could possibly work well for fireworks.
First, UA-cam recommended me "How to Make a Fuse." Next, "Detonator." Now, it's recommending me "How to Make Blackpowder."
Me too! Weird. All I do is watch drawing and StarWars videos.
The algorithm has spoken.
💣
It’s a sign
You know your calling
Link i need it fast give me link i give you link to make battery bombs in exchange want ?
WE GETTING RAIDED WITH THIS ONE 🗣️🗣️🗣️🔥🔥🔥
Fellow rust player
yum yum beancan grenade
Real chads hammer down the doors while the opposing team is online
next video how to make rocket
Forill
God damn it I'm in a watchlist now
LMAO
Instead of trying to keep everything super dry, you can actually add water to it while milling it, which also allows you to use more easily accessible steel balls to do it. Then all you need to do is spread it out on a cookie sheet or similar and let it air-dry in the sun or similar. I can't quite remember what this technique is called, but it was one of the great improvements in black powder technology as regular black powder has a tendency to separate into its constituent layers if left for too long, but by wet-mixing and then drying this issue was completely eliminated.
That's an interesting idea. I will try that.
@@AydensWorkshopthat's what I do when making BP, mix it wet then let it dry in the sun (though I use rubbing alcohol rather than water)
It's called corning.
The usual process it to dampen the powder, then compress into large hard chunks. After it dries, it's then ground fairly coarsely and sifted into different grain sizes for different purposes
@@johncochran8497 Yeah, that. Good stuff.
Yes, corning (name actually comes from a brining method for cured meats like corned beef). Pressing the slurry through different mesh sizes gives different burn rates and your powder rating, eg ffg, fffg etc.
HI, I was making black powder about 50 years ago, my stuff wasn't very reactive until I read that Dupont used willow charcoal and added the mix that you described into wooden barrels with water and round stones and milled for a week (much safer with distilled water or alcohol), alcohol and water will stabilize most oxidizers allowing them to be mixed safely while in suspension. I liked alcohol because it dried faster. then spread the mix on a sheet to dry in the sun. It becomes very reactive then to the point of being percussive.
Rember mom says don't blow yourself up!
Rich
Yeah! Nice comment, I did something like that when I was young
The milled vs non milled black powder is a great example of greater surface area = a greater reaction rate.
I believe it is more about getting the KNO properly mixed into the charcoal and sulphur. If it was only about surface area, then you could have done the milling before the mixing.
@@Tjalve70 I’d definitely say that the homogenous nature of the powder after milling would increase reaction rate, but I’d also say that by grinding it down further with the mill (increasing the surface area) the reaction rate is greatly increased as more molecules are exposed to react with.
@@SpasticSpelunker Of course grinding it down further would increase the reaction rate. But as I said, if that was the only (or the main) reason, then the milling could have been done before the mixing, and thus reduce the risk of an explosion while milling the mixture.
When I was a kid about 50 years ago, we used to make it using regular white sugar for carbon and just a match head to supply the sulpher. Never thought of trying to mill it. The reaction appeared to be similar to what you show in the video of the unmilled mixture.
Only 618 subscribers? This dudes about to blow up (like black powder) 😂
And bro did in fact blow up
Atleast now I know how to survive an apocalypse with a musket, I'll just name it Guts and Black Powder
Well done! Never seen a better instruction.
I used to mill it by hand, with water added when I was young.
I'll try it with a ball mill ( about time, I'm 61 yo. now...)
Standard practice in a traditional gunpowder factory involved adding water during the milling process. It was obviously a very important part of the industrial process, because workers had to add water throughout their shift and were provided with one legged stools so that if they fell asleep they would fall over and wake up.
7:27 if possible use copper balls... The lead balls will shed lead into the powder, which you can inhale when burning the powder
Copper jacketed bullets also work if you can't find copper balls.
I believe that brass is the common material to use with explosives. Since it doesn't spark.
My question is, will it create sparks like he said?
Underrated channel
Lots more exciting things coming up!
This is good for my science project ☺️
Well im definitely on a list now
You were always on a list, there's just another addendum now.
@@genericalfishtycoon3853 well I'm trying to be on all of them
Amazing! I loved the clarity of your explanation
this guy deserved a follow
i'm definitely being put on the list for this one
realest
Welcome to the list y'all! enjoy your stay and be careful with TSA in airports of the world! 🌎🌍 👍
this is common information that can be found anywhere on the internet
I love how this got Brandon Herrera a channel strike, and 2 years later, they recommend this. Make sense 😬
For charcoal sourcing, you could buy artists' charcoal. It can purchased as sticks or powder and it's often made from Willow Trees (One of the best woods to use in black powder). The biggest issue would be the price, but that's really only a concern if you are looking to make large quantities
Another channel, "Everything Black Powder" made charcoal from toilet paper, minus the cardboard tube. Small fibers of wood, cleaned of impurities.... seems like a good idea...
Slight addition here, the sulphur also acts as an stabalizer as in south africa they used to have a version of it called "biskruit" which was very unstable because they did not have sulphur in it.
really nice editing
🔥🔥💥💥💥 WE ARE GETTING OLD GUARD WITH THIS ONE 🗣️🗣️🗣️🔥🔥🔥
gee and beerers when there is grass in a video (san sebastian also has grass!!!)
Now i seen a guts & black powder user about to ruin this comment section
WHY ARE YOU ON MY RECCOMENDED IM NOT FIGHTING 100 SHAMBLERS
I have been trying to find out how to make black power. And while I haven't found any proper recipes, what I have heard is as follows:
You dissolve the KNO is as little hot water as is needed to dissolve all of it. And then you mix in the other powders. You then press out as much of the water as possible, and press the "dough" into a cake. This cake is completely dried, and then broken into pieces and milled into grains. And the grains are sifted in order to separate them into grain sizes.
Apparently the size of the grains is important depending on what you're going to use it for. If used for cannons, the grains are supposed to be bigger. If used for long guns, the grains are supposed to be medium. And if used for pistols, the grains are supposed to be smaller. I believe this is supposed to correspond to how long time it takes to push the projectile out of the barrel. Since what you want, is for the black powder to keep burning and producing gas until the projectile has left the barrel. So larger grain sizes will burn slower, and smaller grain sizes will burn faster.
If the powder burns too fast, you will have too high pressure at first, and too low pressure as the projectile is leaving the barrel. This will either result in danger of the gun exploding, or in reduced power from the gun, depending on how much black powder you use.
If the powder burns too slow, you will have the powder still burning after the projectile has left the barrel, which is wasteful. This will either result in you spending a lot more black powder than you need, or in reduced power from the gun, again, depending on how much black powder you use.
Guts when blackpowder: 🧟👹
Holy guacamole. This editing is insane
Great video mate!
Now make a cannon with a metal pi-
My lawyer advised me to not finish it, as the ATF may bonk me with batons
Thanks for the knowledge. Now it's time for me to make the other things that u mentioned
the wood makes a difference for the charcoal. using something like willow, which is found in pretty much every place in the US, or perhaps something soft like poplar or cottonwood does it make it burn faster. But I have also gotten away using hardwood charcoal, it just burns a bit slower and requires more time milling to work properly.
Would yellow pine work for this?
@@thatguychris5654 My guess is that pine would not be great, since it contains a lot of tar. But I guess you could make it work by simply spending more time on carbonizing it, and of course leaving the residue behind.
But that being said, I would assume the softer and lighter the wood is, the easier it would be to mix it. So I would assume balsa would be the best choice.
However, I'm just guessing.
Pretty cool process.
It's like that old show in the 1990's how things work. I don't remember the name. But it would show factory processes and other construction things. 👍👏👏👏
How it's made, modern marvels, and how do they do it are some of my favorites.
next on the chart:
How to Make a Musket (DIY)
Interesting, saving this for later
Very interested and well made
Great video!
Ive found that getting stump remover is nigh on impossible now in NZ.
look for fertilizer additives or saltpeter (water softener, meat tenderizer, drain cleaner, etc.)... potassium nitrate is a saltpeter (but not the only nitrate called saltpeter)...
Just giving some suggestions to point you in the right direction to finding sufficiently pure potassium nitrate. You may need to experiment to find your purest source.
The recipe for black powder is nearly the same as the recipe for "rocket candy" the homeade fuel for toy rockets... if you have a rocketry club or amateur rocket club (those are not the same thing) in New Zealand, they could probably point you in the right direction. Best of luck mate.
I can buy 99.8% technical grade KNO3 for $8 for a 800 gram jar at my local hydroponic store.
you can mix it with a couple sand blocks to make a tnt block
just one correction, at 0:10 you call it old fashioned gunpowder, but blackpowder IS gunpowder, modern day "gunpowder" is smokeless powder, which is why we call old gunpowder black powder to tell them apart
LETS GO GUYS WE BE MAKIN OUT SAN SEBASTIAN WITH THIS ONE OORAHHH
Milling massively increases the surface area of material and thus it has far more material to react quickly. You can see the same thing attempting to burn coarse milled flour as opposed to superfine.
Very good information
It is often better that the powder do not flash. Gunpowder is made in different grain sizes do control the burn speed.
Useful during apocalypse
This is a really flashbang
I am glad I can buy both sulfur and nitrate 99% pure in my country 😂
Also I have done with my friends gunpowder in mortar and pestle that burns fast as hell... We mixed everything in water, grinded it couple of times and granulated it with pure alkohole 😅
i'm on a list 100%
Welp, you did the black.
Next time the white one! :3
Do one with zinc powder and charcoal. 50/50 mix. We used to call it, Blackjack powder.
Here in Brazil it's super hard to get pure potassium nitrate. It's usually some fertilizer mixture with 43% potassium + a bunch of other crap...
I'm not 100% sure, but I want to say that you can use a gasifier to catch the wood-gas and make the charcoal. I would have to double check my books to make sure.
If I have understood this correctly, a gasifier is something that lets the fuel burn with very little oxygen, in order to produce CO (carbon monoxide). If you want to make charcoal, you want to heat it up with NO access to oxygen.
If that is possible to do in a gasifier, then it should work quite well, yes.
Tucking this away for when I need to produce a means of defense
who else thinkin this could be the best homemade flashbang
Great video but Instead of using stump remover could i just use pure pottasium nitrate?
One thing i discovered when i tried to make birch pitch i filled it with roles of birch bark wich transformed to Graphite because we where 300C to hot
Wher can i buy a mill macine like yours?
Great for my homemade flintlock pistol thx bro👍🗣️🔥🔥
Finely powdered (airfloat) charcoal, potassium nitrate, and sulphur is readily available from several sources on the internet.
I have no idea why this guy makes it sound so difficult.
1:11 ah yes, charcoal, sugar, and glowstone dust
Use a mortar and pestle, not an electric coffee grinder
What if...
A broken blender?
blackpowder and gut:)
You need to use Willow wood. Other woods work. But willow is the way to go.
I tried making the charcole on on a gas camping stove in a coke can (bad idea), the can melted and dripped onto the stove, burnt through the plastic to the gas canister and it blew up. Me and my friend watched in awe as the fire ball and shrapnel came flying towards us ( we were about 1 meter from it) but we had enough time to hide behind the stairs, then my mum came and asked us wtf just happened in an angry tone, but at least we were wearing our safety glasses.
Can you use aluminum balls except for lead ones? Lead is actually really hard to get in poland and especially balls.
Can you mill the 3 ingredients separately and then combine at the end? Instead of milling something this unstable when mixed.
You would see a reaction speed decrease if they are milled separately. But it is actually quite stable when milling in the vessel.
I'm guessing the milling is BOTH to reduce the grain size, but ALSO to get it properly mixed and beaten into each other.
Where did you buy the lead balls, and are there any different metal balls you wish you would have gotten?
Can this be used to make a DIY cannon or does that have potential legal complications?
Yes and yes. Black powder is used as a propellent in many things (fireworks, cannons, muzzleloaders...) but those things have their own regulations. I would consult the ATF website.
Cannon are legal, Black Powder is legal.
But yeah, ask around, do some research, cause the AFT might Malinowski you.
I know what im gonna do when vacation ends >:)
You can do whatever you want as long as you don’t get caught.
@@AydensWorkshop Is the ATF legal in the context of the actual Constitution? Pretty sure that it is not. Why do Americans obey criminal organisations? *checks history around 1861-65* Oh, oh i see.
I remember the first time I accidentally made a tea spoon of the thing and burn my handmade paper gun when I was only 9 , good memories btw😊😊😊
Explain the perfect ratio in the language of science
This is great. Now we can arm our drones for the revolution…who needs a gun?😮😊
now how to make guts
That is just milled, not granulated?
Correct. I have not found it necessary to granulate it, since it already works great in fireworks.
Wait how do you make a hammer that creates a spark to ignite the blackpowder? Just asking
I wonder, could you also use a ceramic box (assuming it was created and properly shaped for doing that) for the charcoal making process ? Given that ceramics have quite an insane resistance to high temperature as far as I believe ?
You can make charcoal however you want.
The important part is that it needs to be pyrolyzed. Which means heated up without access to oxygen.
@@Tjalve70 Yeah, I knew that already. My point is more about the heat resistance of ceramics, because it's higher than metal from what I recall and it may be a good way to have a reusable charcoal making box instead of busting a paint can each time you would like to make some charcoal.
How much gram sulfur/ nitraat /charcoale if I want 100g powder ?
Fireworks are illegal in ireland so thank you for this
Can you make a pellets form from this powder? 🎉
I bought kno3 or it was called saltpeter but it looks like sugar. Does that make a differense
You need to mill it until it's a flour like consistency.
As long as it is KNO3, with no additives, it should perfectly fine.
I'm guessing the only difference is grain size. And as he said, you need to mill it to reduce the grain size. Or dissolve it in water, if you want to go to wet method.
Is there any good place to get a ball mill that’s not too expensive, all the ones I see online are thousands or hundreds of dollars
Can I use a rock tumbler instead of buying a ball mill?
Ooooo idk man
Yes they are the same thing. Rock tumblers are easier to purchase than ball mills.
Could the charcoal you use be from the aftermath of a fire? I had a fire the other night and I wondered if I can make anything with the charcoal.
Odds are charcoal lumps after a fire aren't carbonized all the way through, you could try though with small pieces.
If FBI watching this let me tell u it's a pure youtube recommendation i don't take any responsibilities for watching this video. Long Live America!!! Long Live the President!!! Aliens are real. 👽
yeah but how does a guy make some for rifle bullets or armor piercing rounds ?
Love the minecraft ingredients lol
so non milled black powder is like a thermite?
Anarchists Cookbook: Explosive Cooking Edition
Have been kicking myself for many years that I didn't download those cookbooks before the fuss about them. Because now they don't seem to be available anymore.
I'm not saying I need them. But they would just be interesting to have.
What about natural coal instead of charcoal?
Thats was a nice intro tho
ATF watchlist ass video
Isn't the unmilled powder's burn speed actually akin to smokeless powder?
Yes, but it would not work as well when forced to expand under pressure. The components are only loosely combined before milling.
blackpowder musket tutorial next plese
Looks like im gonna be in the FBI watch list😅
"Is it legal?"
ATF says it's ok.
leehk23 hopes his country will listen to that argument in court.
Huh... So minecraft's gunpowder texture is accurate, Who would've thought?
Now I know why I failed to make it in childhood using burned wood, fertilizer, and match heads (while proportions were correct).
Thanks
Just need a metal tube and a metal ball now.
is there a large difference between black powder and rocket candy?
Lol e-yup sure is
What would happen if you added ammonium nitrate?
I know you can use sodium nitrate. But that is more hydroscopic. And it burns slower.
My guess is that ammonium nitrate will also burn slower. So it would be less useful for firearms, but could possibly work well for fireworks.