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-
- Improvising Black Powder
- By: Mr. Byte-Zap
-
- Black powder can be prepared in a simple, safe manner.
- It may be used as blasting or gun powder.
-
- Material required:
- -----------------
-
- potassium nitrate, granulated, 3 cups
-
- wood charcoal, powdered, 2 cups
-
- sulfur, powdered, 1/2 cup
-
- alcohol, 5 pints (whiskey, rubbing alcohol, etc.)
-
- Water, 3 cups
-
- heat source
-
- 2 buckets -- each 2 gallon capacity, at least one of which is heat
- resistant (metal, ceramic, etc.)
-
- Flat window screening, at least 1 ft. Square
-
- large wooden stick
-
- cloth, at least 2 ft. Square
-
-
- note: the above amounts will yield 2 ounds of black powder. However,
- only the ratios of the amounts of the ingredients are important.
- Thus, for twice as much black powder, double all quantities
- used.
-
- Procedure:
- ---------
-
- 1) place alcohol in one of the buckets
-
- 2) place potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur in the heat resistant
- bucket. Add 1 cup water and mix thoroughly with wooden stick until
- all ingredients are dissolved.
-
- 3) Add remaining water (2 cups) to mixture. Place bucket on heat
- source and stir until small bubbles begin to form.
-
- Caution: do not boil mixture. Be sure all mixture stays wet. If any
- is dry, as on sides of pan, it may ignite.
-
- 4) Remove bucket from heat and pour mixture into alcohol while
- stirring vigorously
-
- 5) let alcohol stand about 5 minutes. Strain mixture through cloth to
- obtain black powder. Discard liquid. Wrap cloth around black
- powder and squeeze to remove all excess liquid.
-
- 6) Place screening over dry bucket. Place workable amount of damp
- powder on screen and granulate by rubbing solid through screen
-
- note: if granulated particles appear to stick together and change
- shape, recombine entire batch of powder and repeat steps 5 & 6.
-
- 7) Spread granulated powder on flat dry surface so that layer about
- 1/2 inch is formed. Allow to dry. Use radiator , or direct
- sunlight. This should be dried as soon as possible, preferably in
- one hour. The longer the drying period, the less effective the
- black powder.
-
- Caution: remove from heat as soon as granules are dry. Black powder
- is now ready for use.