How to Make Black Powder

Introduction

Black Powder, also known as Gunpowder, is an explosive that has been around, literally,
for centuries. The exact origins of the formula are lost in time, but it is known that the
Chinese used Black Powder in weaponry at least 1,000 years ago.

Technically, Black Powder burns by a process known as deflagration. This differs from
detonation in that Black Powder produces subsonic shock waves, as opposed to the
supersonic shock waves produced by explosives such as Dynamite, C-4 or TNT. This
means that Black Powder is better suited as a propellant (such as in fireworks, bullets and
cannons) than blasting (such as in construction or demolition).

This is not to say that Black Powder is any less dangerous. The powder burns at a very
high temperature, and is easily ignited. (High grade powder doesn’t even need a flame to
ignite – it can be set off by percussion, such as the firing pin of a pistol.) Basically, what I
am saying is that if you are not careful, you could land up with very severe burns, or
worse. You have been warned!

Ingredients

Black Powder has traditionally consisted of three ingredients: Potassium Nitrate (KNO

3

,

also known as Salt Peter), Sulfur and Charcoal. The Sulfur and Charcoal provide fuel for
the reaction, while the Potassium Nitrate provides Oxygen. By themselves, Charcoal and
Sulfur will burn, albeit very slowly. The addition of an oxidizer (such as KNO

3

) greatly

speeds up the burn rate of the fuel, resulting in an explosive reaction.

The traditional ratio of the ingredients is 15:3:2 of KNO

3

, Charcoal and Sulfur by weight.

However, simply mixing the dry ingredients together will not give you black powder. At
best, you will get a green powder that will do little more than produce vast quantities of
smoke, and annoy your neighbors. In order to make high-grade powder, a little work is
needed.

Preparing the Ingredients

The quality of the resulting powder depends on a number of factors. The most important
of these is binding, which refers to how tightly the KNO

3

is mixed in with the

Charcoal/Sulfur mixture. This is why a loose binding, such as a dry mix, produces a very
low-grade powder.

The quality of the powder is defined by its burn rate, usually expressed in cm

3

/s. A burn

rate of about 14 cm

3

/s or higher is required to use the powder as a propellant. (Also,

possession and manufacture of powder with a burn rate of 14 cm

3

/s or higher constitutes

a weapons violation under US law, unless you are also in possession of an ATF license.)

The method presented here will get you a burn rate of about 14 cm

3

/s, depending on how

much patience you have, and the quality of your ingredients.

The Charcoal/Sulfur mixture must be ground as finely as possible. Simply whacking
away at your barbeque charcoal with a hammer is not going to cut it. The charcoal must
be ground into a very fine powder. Commercial manufacturers use large machines known
as ball mills to crush the charcoal and sulfur. A ball mill is basically a large rotating drum
filled with charcoal, sulfur and a crushing agent, such as lead balls or heavy stones. The
mill is rotated at high speed for up to 48 hours or longer. The result is a very finely
powdered charcoal/sulfur mixture. (Note: for reasons which should be very obvious, the
Potassium Nitrate is not mixed in with the fuel during the milling stage, unless you want
to be picking bits of your ball mill out of the walls of your factory.)

Ball Mills are very expensive, and it is unlikely that the average hobbyist will be able to
afford one. There are alternatives, however. One is to simply buy the charcoal in a
powdered form. There are several mail order companies that will provide powdered
charcoal. (See the list of suppliers at the end of this article). The other alternative is to
fashion a ball mill of your own, if you happen to be a handyman. Or, you could simply
buy a cheap gem-polishing toy mill from your local Wal-Mart, and use kids marbles, or
heavy decorative stones as a crushing agent. You will have to run the mill continuously
for at least 72 hours with this method, however.

Assuming that you have a powdered charcoal/sulfur mixture in the right quantities, how
do you get the KNO

3

to bind to the mixture? The solution is to employ a useful property

of Potassium Nitrate – it is soluble in water.

Charcoal and sulfur, on the other hand, are not soluble in water. They will, however,
absorb KNO

3

from water under suitable circumstances. The addition of cold alcohol to

the mix will have the effect of suddenly leaching the water out of the mixture, leaving
just the salt behind, hopefully tightly bound to the fuel.

The recipe for producing black powder using this method is as follows (adjust quantities
as desired, but remember to stick to the ratio). Before you start, have a 750 ml bottle of
rubbing alcohol chilled in a freezer for at least 24 hours. (You can purchase rubbing
alcohol, also known as Isopropyl Alcohol, from most any drugstore or supermarket).

1) Mix 300 grams of powdered charcoal with 200 grams of powdered sulfur, as

described above.

2) Using a deep skillet, bring about three or four cups of water to boil. Stir in 150

grams of KNO

3

. Keep stirring until the Potassium Nitrate is completely dissolved.

Add water as necessary, but try not to over-water the mixture.

3) Slowly sift in the charcoal/sulfur mixture. The mixture will tend to float on top of

the water, so you will have to agitate the slush with a spoon or a whisk. Keep
stirring until you get a wet, grayish sludge. This could take a while, so take your
time and be careful. Don’t let any of the mixture slop out of the skillet onto the
hot stove-top, or you will most likely start a fire.

4) Once the sludge is uniformly mixed, remove the skillet from the stove. Pour in the

chilled alcohol, and stir. Keep pouring and stirring until the sludge is cool enough
to touch.

5) Pour the sludge into a piece of cheese-cloth (also available from your local

supermarket). Wrap up the sludge in the cloth and squeeze hard, removing the
remaining water and alcohol from the mixture. You should be left with a slightly
damp sludge.

6) Using a fine sieve, press the sludge through the mesh onto a large piece of

cardboard or blotting paper. This should produce fine granules of powder. Take
your time, evenly spreading the granules onto the paper or cardboard.

7) Allow the granules to dry in direct sunlight for at least 24 hours. When

completely dry, crush the granules to a fine powder with a rolling pin.

You should now have real, honest-to-goodness Black Powder. Congrats.

Testing Your Powder

In order to test the burn rate of your powder, all you need is a stopwatch and a soda can.
Thanks to the magic of the metric system, it turns out that 1 ml = 1 cm

3

. Soda cans are

usually marked with the volume in ml (the average can is 340 ml). You may not want to
use an entire can, however, as that would be a waste. Most supermarkets sell soda in half-
size cans (such as you usually get on airplanes). Or, you could simply cut a full sized can
using a pair of metal shears, and calculate the volume of the can. (For those of you who
slept through math at high school, the formula is v = h*pi*r

2

. Remember to use metric

units. In other words, measure the height and diameter of the can in centimeters, not
inches, miles or furlongs.)

Now, fill the can to the brim with powder. Insert a fuse (you can usually buy so-called
‘safety fuses’ from a supermarket around the 4

th

of July, or New Years. Also, fireworks

retailers almost always carry lengths of safety fuse. If you are desperate, simply insert a
match into the can, with the match-head just under the surface of the powder.) Light the
fuse, wait for the powder to start burning, and time the burn with the stopwatch. Divide
the volume of powder by the time it takes to burn completely, and you have your burn
rate.

Suppliers

www.skylighter.com

www.pyrosupplies.com

www.skyhighfx.com