From my chair jockey RUclips research (but it was on the London Armouries RUclips channel) the original Gunners were in charge of building gun carriages for sieges and making the powder for the guns on site (1200-1300) It was what they call now "green powder". They adjusted the amount of sulphur to control the speed of ignition. Slow powders for the large guns (up to 30" in bore diameter and larger) and fast powder for the smaller guns. Powder mixed that way would actually separate during shipment. Then they figured out how to wet mix powder just like your method in the mid to late 1600's. The powder was more potent and didn't separate. About that time the French and British were loading 150 to 190 grains of roughly 2f powder in their cartridges, about 10 grains for the pan and the rest for the main charge in their smooth bore muskets with a .64 grain ball in either a .69" bore (French) or a .75" bore (English). When they figured out they could compress the powder in the mid 1700's? they lowered the powder charges to about 110 to 140. The powder was twice as dense from the compression.
Another awesome video, Ben! You should make a booklet (maybe pdf) with screen caps from your series and make it for sale. You could even reference the images to the times in the vids, if you wanted. That way, should the instructional vids disappear due to political reasons or other...well, you know....bad things happen with electronics, people would have the "Hoffman Guide to Making Powder" in a hard copy format. Just a thought. Some of us are trying to always have good paper resources as part of our preparedness plans. God bless!
I cannot express my joy and gratitude for your series on this topic! I never planned on becoming a self-sufficient blackpowder fella but I’m grateful to have become one. Soon we feed the Charleville. ❤️🙏🏻 ps: BOEX 😂 or Noex rollin in silver maple leaves. 🙏🏻😊
@@davefellhoelter1343 Be sure that’ll work for what you do. She’s a real ‘long gun’. 😊 I love mine but should have bought a shorter model musket to hunt small game.
Common window screen is about 16 mesh. You can easily verify this by counting the wires. This will pass 2FG and smaller. To pass 3FG and smaller, retaining only the 2FG grains, you need to use approximately a 25 mesh screen. 20 or 30 mesh will work depending on your individual preferences according to whether you want a smaller or larger range of grain sizes in your 2FG. This size is typically used in .45 cal and larger muzzle loading rifles and shotguns.
@HoffmanReproductions For classifying my powder I use this gold sifting set of sieves called "ASR Outdoor 6pc Gold Panning Mineral Sifting Prospect Pan Classifier Sieve Set", available via newegg or amazon. I also buy a separate #100 mesh. So you will have 7 sieves total, #10, #20, #30, #40, #50, #60 and #100. BP sizing: 1FG 12-20 2FG 16-30 3FG 20-50 ( I usually just use 30-50 or 40-50) 4FG 40-100 5FG +100 Anything else that falls through the #100 can just be readded to your mill dust batch and re-granulated. I don't ever need 5Fg or smaller.
If you go online and look at grain size of BP there are some overlays between every size. On ff and fff there is a grey area size where it can be considered either
1 foot square screens of steel and stainless in whatever mesh count you want is available from McMaster-Carr. Maybe from Grainger's also but I'm not sure.
Great demonstration, Ben! I get a lot of questions about that too, now I can just refer them to this video. Have you tried compressing your powder yet?
Right now, its totally legal here in Ohio to sell the raw chemicals as they are not classified as explosives. I instruct people to check their local and state laws before buying though. Thanks Steven!
People size their black powder and then pack the hell out o it in the rifle. So sizing really doesn't matter. If you take a charge and remove it from your barrel and check how it is powdered and crumbled, you will ask your self why worry about sizing. Take the pellets for example. They are compressed where it doesn't matter what size of grain you have.
I've been screening my powder but the grains are brittle. Put it in a flask and it will break up. And clog the nozzle. If you scoop it to measure it that works ok. Now I'm going to start corning mine.
hi ben new subscriber here thanks for this web site. We have lots of soft maple here in S.E. Iowa, and a type of wild willow. I made some charcoal out of soft maple, will give you a report on the results. I read a article last year in Backwoods man magazine using powdered sugar instead of charcoal, my experience with that was slow burn and lots of fouling.(burnt it on a anvil) More will be reveald. Happy trails
some of the best videos for this topic. But wringing out the wet powder, isn't it that you can loose some of the potassium nitrate, as this stuff is strongly water soluble?
I just saw your series of videos, I almost understood everything (Dutch or French spoken) and I'm really surprised by the quality of your explanations! If you post a PDF that would be great! Best wishes!
That is one of the secrets to success. Mill it good and long. When a test batch flashes nearly instantaneously with no white or yellow fouling left behind, you know its done and ready for the next step.
From my experience I have seen that it is not easy to obtain a good black powder. My procedure is based on three steps. Part One For this mixture the following composition was used: - 75 g potassium nitrate; - 10 g sulfur; - 15 g willow, poplar or alder buckthorn charcoal (below 80 μm fine particles). Sulfur and charcoal are milled into a 3 lb ball mill with 10 mm high density 90 tungsten spheres for about 6 hours. Subsequently, potassium nitrate (agricultural grade), with particles of about 0.5 mm was added, mixing the ingredients manually with a spoon. Part Two The previous powder is put in a kitchen blender, wetting it with 90° denatured ethyl alcohol. After 30-40 seconds of blending, the material is dried in a glass bowl and at a temperature not exceeding 220 °C. After drying, sieving and milling, a more flammable powder is obtained. Part Three This powder is fed into a mini ball mill (3 lbs) containing 100 brass balls of 10mm diameter and 50 brass balls of 15mm diameter. The final grinding of the powder takes 13 hours. Now the black powder is ready to be used.
If it will go more than 3 days without raining I'll start making. I have everything I need. Is it completely necessary to screen out the 4 or 5F you make? Would it adversely effect your powder if you left with the 2 and 3f or have you tried that?
@@briansherrillruralliving9708 2 years later, but I would like to add that this very very fine bp is kind of a danger too, it ignites way more easily, may cause a spark to go boom.
Ben is temperature an issue when ball milling outside? I’m in the upper north east and it is getting into the low 30’s overnight. Should I wait til spring and warmer wheather? Rob
Are you ever concerned about a static electricity discharge causing detonation? Would a wrist grounding strap and/or an ESD mat used for electronics repair be a good idea or no need?
A wise choice, 777 is very good as is Pyrodex, unfortunately the smokeaholics whined so much that the orriginal offerings didn't smoke like blackpowder thus depriving shooters of smoklesspowder for percussion revolvers.
Have you ever considered the type of water your using when mixed with the alcohol ? Got to figure when they first started. They were using well water, which usually has more iron content and no additives like fluoride and what ever else they do to tap water now days.
Your 2F and 3F combo mix. Would you be comfortable with hunting with that? Also in your part 2 section you told of the power of the powder be pre-1812. So if I was to do a load of 100grain I would go all the way up to 140grain with the pre-1812 mix?
Yes indeed, I would have no reserves about hunting with this powder. Also, yes to your question on powder charges however, I would recommend testing any homemade powder with a chronograph since all home stuff is going to vary from maker to maker. I find upping the charge 10-20 grains generally does the trick when using this type of powder.
@@HoffmanReproductions gotcha gotcha. So get a chronograph haha. Also your powder series has been fantastic. Definitely inspired me to get into my own powder.
I'm looking for a "home-made" emulsifier that can be used as a substitute for the bark powder you use in your BP recipe. Anyone have any ideas/suggestions on something that's more or less easily found around the woods that can be used in the same way? Particularly something I could find in my area? I live in the eastern United States.
I did hear Corn Starch, but made my powdsrs Hard! At the time I though this a bad thing, yes a bit more of fouling, but only one try, so not much knowlege.
Hello Ben: thank you for an excellent presentation. Sometime in my youth -while wanting to make firecrackers- I came across the hint to "grind" the ingredients separately and then mix the ingredients using moisture. According to that author, I forgot his name, the recommended "moisture" which was supposed to provide more power than using plain water... was Monday morning urine collected off the clergy who partook of ceremonial wine during Sunday religious sevices! It seems that "matured" urine (also used in tanning hides) was even better. Chemically, there would be some minerals traces like, phosphor?, ammonia? etc. Perhaps that way the "big boys" make their powder a bit stronger. I wonder if there isn't some record of this somewhere in the Ozarks? 3Foxfire Books? Anyone care to share? By the way: using a compressor unit from an old refrigerator to "pull vacuum" could be a faster and safe way to "dehydrate", to dry, any and all ingredients. This is a technique to dry welding rods. Just a thought. Success with your projects.
"I came across the hint to "grind" the ingredients separately and then mix the ingredients using moisture." + Several ways to do this for sure, the general idea is that you have the ingredients as homogeneous as possible in the end result. -- CIA method (combining ingredients in a pan over heat to just before a boil, then removing and cooling with 0* alcohol; strain excess moisture via cheese cloth > granulate or mill some more and then granulate). -- Milling nitrate separately from the Sulfur/Charcoal, then combining and milling for a bit longer. -- Milling all ingredients together in a wet slurry; this lessens the possibility of ignition; this is actually how some countries did it back in the musket era. Then separate from the media and let dry in the sun, or desiccator. Then continue with granulation steps. -- Mill all the ingredients together with non-sparking media (lead balls hardened with antimony). "According to that author, I forgot his name, the recommended "moisture" which was supposed to provide more power than using plain water... was Monday morning urine collected off the clergy who partook of ceremonial wine during Sunday religious services! It seems that "matured" urine (also used in tanning hides) was even better. Chemically, there would be some minerals traces like, phosphor?, ammonia? etc. Perhaps that way the "big boys" make their powder a bit stronger." -- Can't say for using urine, but I know it's a way to make potassium nitrate the old fashion way with dirt/compost and let sit for months. And then you can use water( or maybe it was ethanol) and wood ash to extract nitrate from that. Maybe more nitrate? lol -- I know in my experience I make corned powder with a 20 ton shop press. I've used alcohol and water. Water does work better in my opinion. Probably has to do with the nitrate doesn't like dissolving in water (unless heated). When a water is added it is probably creating a micro crystalline structure for more effective burning. That's my guess. " By the way: using a compressor unit from an old refrigerator to "pull vacuum" could be a faster and safe way to "dehydrate", to dry, any and all ingredients." -- I have thought about this and do have a food grade Freeze Dryer. Which pulls a vacuum and then heat's the material and sublimates the water out of it. Although, not sure that'd be the best thing with BP and heating in a vacuum. I'd probably do some experimentation.
but but. I’ve never seen musket grain 1.5 or 1F and cannot obtain any locally. I know the firework guys have numbers per square inch of screening. I’m not too fancy so I reckon if it’s not 2F it’ll be musket size.
Yep! Just a bit larger than 2 F and your at musket size. You can even gently break up the 1 f grains if they are not wanted with a hammer, turning into smaller sizes.
From my chair jockey RUclips research (but it was on the London Armouries RUclips channel) the original Gunners were in charge of building gun carriages for sieges and making the powder for the guns on site (1200-1300) It was what they call now "green powder". They adjusted the amount of sulphur to control the speed of ignition. Slow powders for the large guns (up to 30" in bore diameter and larger) and fast powder for the smaller guns. Powder mixed that way would actually separate during shipment.
Then they figured out how to wet mix powder just like your method in the mid to late 1600's. The powder was more potent and didn't separate. About that time the French and British were loading 150 to 190 grains of roughly 2f powder in their cartridges, about 10 grains for the pan and the rest for the main charge in their smooth bore muskets with a .64 grain ball in either a .69" bore (French) or a .75" bore (English). When they figured out they could compress the powder in the mid 1700's? they lowered the powder charges to about 110 to 140. The powder was twice as dense from the compression.
Very interesting! Thank you for sharing!
I was a Pyrotecnician for many years. and milled powder does not seperate, his paper explains the false information
@@dennisdanich7190 they didn't mill the powder back then (1200 until 1600), they mixed it dry.
Another awesome video, Ben! You should make a booklet (maybe pdf) with screen caps from your series and make it for sale. You could even reference the images to the times in the vids, if you wanted. That way, should the instructional vids disappear due to political reasons or other...well, you know....bad things happen with electronics, people would have the "Hoffman Guide to Making Powder" in a hard copy format. Just a thought. Some of us are trying to always have good paper resources as part of our preparedness plans. God bless!
Thanks Dan! May do that at some point. I have all the videos saved to files on my computer if YT ever decides to remove them.
@@HoffmanReproductions what about long term grid down or constant black ours? We need a hard copy version.
@@talisikid1618 May do something in the future along those lines.
@@HoffmanReproductions Soon?
I cannot express my joy and gratitude for your series on this topic! I never planned on becoming a self-sufficient blackpowder fella but I’m grateful to have become one. Soon we feed the Charleville. ❤️🙏🏻
ps: BOEX 😂 or Noex rollin in silver maple leaves. 🙏🏻😊
Your most welcome and thank you!
Love this Whole channel and All the info. I have my eye on a Charlelle Kit!
Ready to pull the trigger!
@@davefellhoelter1343 Be sure that’ll work for what you do. She’s a real ‘long gun’. 😊 I love mine but should have bought a shorter model musket to hunt small game.
Thanks for a fun and informative series. I'll be gathering up what I need to do this.
Thank you! Have fun!
It’s a good reason to set a little bit aside. So if you do get it to wet you can some of the dry.
Common window screen is about 16 mesh. You can easily verify this by counting the wires. This will pass 2FG and smaller.
To pass 3FG and smaller, retaining only the 2FG grains, you need to use approximately a 25 mesh screen. 20 or 30 mesh will work depending on your individual preferences according to whether you want a smaller or larger range of grain sizes in your 2FG. This size is typically used in .45 cal and larger muzzle loading rifles and shotguns.
Thanks Ben God Bless you and your family . Reg
Thank you! God bless you as well!
Another great helpful video, thanks Brother.
Thank you!
Another great video
Excellent video as usual. I enjoy the verse at the end as well.
Thank you!
@HoffmanReproductions For classifying my powder I use this gold sifting set of sieves called "ASR Outdoor 6pc Gold Panning Mineral Sifting Prospect Pan Classifier Sieve Set", available via newegg or amazon. I also buy a separate #100 mesh.
So you will have 7 sieves total, #10, #20, #30, #40, #50, #60 and #100.
BP sizing:
1FG 12-20
2FG 16-30
3FG 20-50 ( I usually just use 30-50 or 40-50)
4FG 40-100
5FG +100
Anything else that falls through the #100 can just be readded to your mill dust batch and re-granulated. I don't ever need 5Fg or smaller.
Thank you for sharing!
Get a cheese grater to make the initial granules, then use a stack of pre-mounted sieve meshes from the gold mining industry to sieve into mesh cuts.
If you go online and look at grain size of BP there are some overlays between every size. On ff and fff there is a grey area size where it can be considered either
Thanks for keeping an old skill current. I do not want to argue with a bear over berries while holding a sharp stick.
1 foot square screens of steel and stainless in whatever mesh count you want is available from McMaster-Carr. Maybe from Grainger's also but I'm not sure.
I have both the upper and lower mesh for fffg. The small mesh removes the dust.
Thanks Dean! Great resource! Thank you for sharing!
Another great video . Nice demo with very entertaining .
Thank you Sir!
Great demonstration, Ben! I get a lot of questions about that too, now I can just refer them to this video. Have you tried compressing your powder yet?
Thanks Jake! Yes Sir tried compressed powder. Your right! Makes strong stuff! I'm just to lazy to do it lol!
@@HoffmanReproductions I know exactly what you mean! It’s definitely the most tedious part of the process.
Good video series 1,2,3,4. 👍
Glad you like them!
You stole my thunder, Ben. I was going to say, "Goex who? We shoot Hoffman's!" LOL
Thanks James! Oh my, I don't think I could fill those shoes lol!
The way the atf is right now, I'd be careful about selling kits.
Right now, its totally legal here in Ohio to sell the raw chemicals as they are not classified as explosives. I instruct people to check their local and state laws before buying though. Thanks Steven!
People size their black powder and then pack the hell out o it in the rifle. So sizing really doesn't matter. If you take a charge and remove it from your barrel and check how it is powdered and crumbled, you will ask your self why worry about sizing. Take the pellets for example. They are compressed where it doesn't matter what size of grain you have.
I've been screening my powder but the grains are brittle. Put it in a flask and it will break up. And clog the nozzle. If you scoop it to measure it that works ok. Now I'm going to start corning mine.
Do they still make brass screen and if I can procure that would that be better than a steel or aluminum as for preventing static?
Not sure. Have not had any issues using aluminum.
I'm thinking grain size (within reasonable limits) is probably not as important as consistency. Great series of videos. Thanks
Very true. Thank you!
hi ben new subscriber here thanks for this web site. We have lots of soft maple here in S.E. Iowa, and a type of wild willow. I made some charcoal out of soft maple, will give you a report on the results. I read a article last year in Backwoods man magazine using powdered sugar instead of charcoal, my experience with that was slow burn and lots of fouling.(burnt it on a anvil) More will be reveald. Happy trails
Thanks for the sub! Would love to hear how it works for you! Thanks again!
I can NOT WAIT to get your ingredients, mine is No Way as fast as yours!
Keep those smoke trains SMOKING!
Hi Dave, sent you another email. Yes Sir, check your spam or junk folder. Might be going there.
some of the best videos for this topic.
But wringing out the wet powder, isn't it that you can loose some of the potassium nitrate, as this stuff is strongly water soluble?
Thanks! Have not notice any trouble with it after wringing it out.
I just saw your series of videos, I almost understood everything (Dutch or French spoken) and I'm really surprised by the quality of your explanations! If you post a PDF that would be great! Best wishes!
Happy to hear that! Thank you!
Powder Grade Mesh Size Average Size in mm.
Whaling 4 mesh 4.750 mm. (0.187 in.)
Cannon 6 mesh 3.35 mm. (0.132 in.)
Saluting (A-1) 10 mesh 2.0 mm. (0.079 in.)
Fg 12 mesh 1.7 mm. (0.0661 in.)
FFg 16 mesh 1.18 mm. (0.0469 in.)
FFFg 20 mesh 0.85 mm. (0.0331 in.)
FFFFg 40 mesh 0.47 mm.
FFFFFg 75 mesh 0.149 mm.
got mine in the mill right now. been running 18 hours, I wanna run it a full 24 JUST to be sure
That is one of the secrets to success. Mill it good and long. When a test batch flashes nearly instantaneously with no white or yellow fouling left behind, you know its done and ready for the next step.
Excellent video…
Thank you!
Have you tried how the black powder performs if you don’t strain it into 1/2/3/4f?
Yes Lee, I did not care for the way it preformed since each grain size will produce different pressures.
From my experience I have seen that it is not easy to obtain a good black powder. My procedure is based on three steps.
Part One
For this mixture the following composition was used:
- 75 g potassium nitrate;
- 10 g sulfur;
- 15 g willow, poplar or alder buckthorn charcoal (below 80 μm fine particles).
Sulfur and charcoal are milled into a 3 lb ball mill with 10 mm high density 90 tungsten spheres for about 6 hours.
Subsequently, potassium nitrate (agricultural grade), with particles of about 0.5 mm was added, mixing the ingredients manually with a spoon.
Part Two
The previous powder is put in a kitchen blender, wetting it with 90° denatured ethyl alcohol.
After 30-40 seconds of blending, the material is dried in a glass bowl and at a temperature not exceeding 220 °C.
After drying, sieving and milling, a more flammable powder is obtained.
Part Three
This powder is fed into a mini ball mill (3 lbs) containing 100 brass balls of 10mm diameter and 50 brass balls of 15mm diameter. The final grinding of the powder takes 13 hours.
Now the black powder is ready to be used.
Thanks for sharing!
Can the powder be used without wetting and screening/graining? If you want 4Fg/5Fg fine grains for flash pan ignition?
Have never tried it myself. It does tend to be faster after wetting & graining though.
@@HoffmanReproductions I bought one of your kits to make 1/2lb of powder, so I'll test it.
Look into a set of gold prospecting classifier screens....they come in 10 mesh, 20 mesh etc all the way to 100+meah
Just to add, the screens can be bought individually for around $10 each....
If it will go more than 3 days without raining I'll start making. I have everything I need. Is it completely necessary to screen out the 4 or 5F you make? Would it adversely effect your powder if you left with the 2 and 3f or have you tried that?
I would recommend sifting out the 4 f. Priming in the main charge can mess up breech pressure, cause accuracy problems, exedra.
@@HoffmanReproductions thank you. I picked up a very fine seive today that should let it fall thru
@@briansherrillruralliving9708 2 years later, but I would like to add that this very very fine bp is kind of a danger too, it ignites way more easily, may cause a spark to go boom.
Ben is temperature an issue when ball milling outside? I’m in the upper north east and it is getting into the low 30’s overnight. Should I wait til spring and warmer wheather?
Rob
I just made a batch the other night with temps in the 20's here. Seemed to turn out just fine. Thanks Rob!
Thank you
Are you ever concerned about a static electricity discharge causing detonation? Would a wrist grounding strap and/or an ESD mat used for electronics repair be a good idea or no need?
Might not be a bad idea. Possible detonation is why I only make small batches at a time just in case anything should go astray.
Think I might try some, but I honestly preferred triple 7 over goex.
Blasphemy! 😊
A wise choice, 777 is very good
as is Pyrodex, unfortunately the
smokeaholics whined so much
that the orriginal offerings didn't smoke like blackpowder thus depriving shooters of smoklesspowder for percussion revolvers.
Have you ever considered the type of water your using when mixed with the alcohol ? Got to figure when they first started. They were using well water, which usually has more iron content and no additives like fluoride and what ever else they do to tap water now days.
Very true. We have well water so never thought about it till you mentioned that.
Your 2F and 3F combo mix. Would you be comfortable with hunting with that?
Also in your part 2 section you told of the power of the powder be pre-1812.
So if I was to do a load of 100grain I would go all the way up to 140grain with the pre-1812 mix?
Yes indeed, I would have no reserves about hunting with this powder. Also, yes to your question on powder charges however, I would recommend testing any homemade powder with a chronograph since all home stuff is going to vary from maker to maker. I find upping the charge 10-20 grains generally does the trick when using this type of powder.
@@HoffmanReproductions gotcha gotcha. So get a chronograph haha. Also your powder series has been fantastic. Definitely inspired me to get into my own powder.
I'm looking for a "home-made" emulsifier that can be used as a substitute for the bark powder you use in your BP recipe. Anyone have any ideas/suggestions on something that's more or less easily found around the woods that can be used in the same way? Particularly something I could find in my area? I live in the eastern United States.
Some Folks say dextrin works the same. Others say, it makes terrible fowling. I've never tried it myself.
I did hear Corn Starch, but made my powdsrs Hard! At the time I though this a bad thing, yes a bit more of fouling, but only one try, so not much knowlege.
Hello Ben: thank you for an excellent presentation. Sometime in my youth -while wanting to make firecrackers- I came across the hint to "grind" the ingredients separately and then mix the ingredients using moisture. According to that author, I forgot his name, the recommended "moisture" which was supposed to provide more power than using plain water... was Monday morning urine collected off the clergy who partook of ceremonial wine during Sunday religious sevices! It seems that "matured" urine (also used in tanning hides) was even better. Chemically, there would be some minerals traces like, phosphor?, ammonia? etc. Perhaps that way the "big boys" make their powder a bit stronger.
I wonder if there isn't some record of this somewhere in the Ozarks? 3Foxfire Books? Anyone care to share? By the way: using a compressor unit from an old refrigerator to "pull vacuum" could be a faster and safe way to "dehydrate", to dry, any and all ingredients. This is a technique to dry welding rods. Just a thought. Success with your projects.
Thanks for sharing, and thank you for watching!
"I came across the hint to "grind" the ingredients separately and then mix the ingredients using moisture."
+ Several ways to do this for sure, the general idea is that you have the ingredients as homogeneous as possible in the end result.
-- CIA method (combining ingredients in a pan over heat to just before a boil, then removing and cooling with 0* alcohol; strain excess moisture via cheese cloth > granulate or mill some more and then granulate).
-- Milling nitrate separately from the Sulfur/Charcoal, then combining and milling for a bit longer.
-- Milling all ingredients together in a wet slurry; this lessens the possibility of ignition; this is actually how some countries did it back in the musket era. Then separate from the media and let dry in the sun, or desiccator. Then continue with granulation steps.
-- Mill all the ingredients together with non-sparking media (lead balls hardened with antimony).
"According to that author, I forgot his name, the recommended "moisture" which was supposed to provide more power than using plain water... was Monday morning urine collected off the clergy who partook of ceremonial wine during Sunday religious services! It seems that "matured" urine (also used in tanning hides) was even better. Chemically, there would be some minerals traces like, phosphor?, ammonia? etc. Perhaps that way the "big boys" make their powder a bit stronger."
-- Can't say for using urine, but I know it's a way to make potassium nitrate the old fashion way with dirt/compost and let sit for months. And then you can use water( or maybe it was ethanol) and wood ash to extract nitrate from that. Maybe more nitrate? lol
-- I know in my experience I make corned powder with a 20 ton shop press. I've used alcohol and water. Water does work better in my opinion. Probably has to do with the nitrate doesn't like dissolving in water (unless heated). When a water is added it is probably creating a micro crystalline structure for more effective burning. That's my guess.
" By the way: using a compressor unit from an old refrigerator to "pull vacuum" could be a faster and safe way to "dehydrate", to dry, any and all ingredients."
-- I have thought about this and do have a food grade Freeze Dryer. Which pulls a vacuum and then heat's the material and sublimates the water out of it. Although, not sure that'd be the best thing with BP and heating in a vacuum. I'd probably do some experimentation.
Would you hunt medium game with this recipe (up to black bear)?
You could hunt anything that moves with this type of powder.
Love your videos. What happens if you don’t and the tree bark
Thank you! You can still make good gunpowder without it. I just find it makes better powder.
salt shotgun (C + NaClO3) is more readily available, just electrolysis of salt water at 100C
why dont you make it a sugar candy by melting it into one
When you're making the grains from the wet powder have you considered using a hand cranked flour sifter?
Have never tried one. Would love to know if it works?
Does some of the dissolved Potassium Nitrate come out with the water?
I've not noticed a difference in power.
@@HoffmanReproductions OK, thank you.
Darn, I left that last step out. Forgot to roll in the wet leaves. Still shoots well though…
Makes a world of difference!
Bet that rag would make a great fire starter in a wet condition, once dried.
For sure!
Nice but at 18.00 1/2 lb might as well buy it.
but but. I’ve never seen musket grain 1.5 or 1F and cannot obtain any locally. I know the firework guys have numbers per square inch of screening. I’m not too fancy so I reckon if it’s not 2F it’ll be musket size.
Yep! Just a bit larger than 2 F and your at musket size. You can even gently break up the 1 f grains if they are not wanted with a hammer, turning into smaller sizes.
@@HoffmanReproductions and my Chemistry teacher said I’d never amount to nothing! 😂🙏🏻
Your website does not seem to work. Opens but does not seem to be active.
www.hoffmanreproductions.com just checked it, working fine. Thanks!
You should always make time to stop and roll in the leaves.
For sure! Nothing beats it!
Its actually 5F
can acetone be used instead of alchohol/,water?
Not sure. Never tried it.
Please get a new piece of screen lol
LOL! For sure!
Love your videos, your presentation and your faith! Bless you
@@MrVoltar1 Thank you on both accounts!
Do you still have or do your kits sir.
Yes We do. On the website at www.hoffmanreproductions.com Thanks!
Nice but at 18.00 1/2 lb might as well buy it.
True Peter, only thing is, with what I'm selling, there is no hazmat fee's.