Introduction
At some point fairly early in every pyro career we realize we need to be able to make good black powder (BP) from scratch. BP is used in aerial fireworks shells as lift and burst powder. It is also used, in one way or another, in almost every other pyrotechnic device and component–mines, stars, black match, and the list goes on.
Black Powder Used as Aerial-Shell Lift Powder
Sources of commercially manufactured BP are becoming harder and harder to find. Most sporting-goods stores and gun shops have stopped carrying real black powder. Instead they deal in BP substitutes such as Pyrodex® and Hodgdon Triple-Seven®. These products won’t work as shell lift powder. And even when real commercial black powder is available, it is relatively expensive.
So, availability and expense are the primary motivators to develop an ability to make your own high quality black powder. Add to this the desire that lurks in the heart of every pyro to “do it yourself” rather than rely on commercial sources, and it is downright irresistible.
The purpose of this project is to demonstrate a simple technique by which anyone with access to a few tools and the appropriate chemicals can easily produce high-quality granulated black powder. For use as lift and burst in aerial shells, and for many other uses, BP produced by this method is as good as or better than the commercial product.
Quality Black Powder that is Easy to Make
Good quality granulated black powder simply is that powder which suits our needs in our fireworking hobby. The primary requirements are performance (power) and durability (hard enough grains) that compare favorably with commercial granulated black powder.
There are many ways to make black powder, and the project here has an overview of some of them. You’ll also find there a method to test black powder and compare it to certain standards.
But, we’ll be focusing on a simple, easy way to make high-quality BP that is not mentioned in that project…
Click here to learn this simple, easy way to make high-quality black powder.
we always hear about potassium nitrate Black Powder Harry, what’s your opinion on sodium nitrate Black Powder ? i already know about picking water up from the air.
what i’d like to know is you got any special tips on making it right ? also do you or anyone know of a good internet forum to discuss BP?
I’d like to know about this also since I just happen to have 10lbs of Sodium Nitrate granules in a box someplace.
Hey, Bill and Pop,
Sodium N. is not the way to go. There’s a reason that it has not been used in commercial BP–absorbs water.
See our projects pages at http://www.skylighter.com/how_to_make_fireworks.asp for different projects on making BP. And let me know if you have any specific questions. I don’t know of a specific forum on making BP, but feel free to post your questions here. Ned and I regularly monitor this, and can probably address any issues you have.
I did hear that Sodium Nitrate absorbs water and also that it can be used at a 40% mix. If your piece is sealed from moisture would it be a usable oxidizer?
Thanks for all of your attention to this rookie. You folks have been very helpfull.
P.S. During my last 34 years as a Rail Traffic Controller (Train Dispatcher) and visually inspecting every foot of Rail that my trains were going to travel on, there used to be these groups of people called “Rail Fans”. They would gather at certain yards and Junctions to get pics and meet the “Rail Men”…..I used to think once in a while that they were a bit, lets say “Over Enthusiastic” and sometime annoying and look what I am doing now, being a bit of an over enthusiatic……………Pyro Fan
What is the difference between the Black Powder that you make with hot water and Dextrin and the Red Gum with Denatured Alcohol? Is one more potent or faster burning?
In a word, POWER. The red gum BP will be more powerful, all other things being equal.
Thanks, I forgot to ask, when you are testing your 3″ Mortar with the baseballs do you set the baseball on top of a dixie cup with the powder charge?
P.S. I ordered the red gum powder kit and way too many other things this month like: the Red Star Kit, Flying Fish Mine and the 3″ Mortar kit……Mrs PopPop is giving me funny looks….do you have a space in your shed or basement that I can rent for a living quarters?……….my shed leaks
Yep.
Yep, kinda. You can sleep upstairs in the warehouse with Irv Snerd. Also we have pyro-orphan support group meetings here once a month.
“Hello, my name is PopPop, and I am addicted to pyro.”
All chime in: “PopPop, Hello.” (our group are contrarians)
LOL
Can you effectively “wet” mill the chemicals, to lessen the possibility of an explosion?
Or, mill the dry charcaol and sulfur, then add a wetted mixture of potassium nitrate and stir it in by hand, to make a “putty” ready for screening?
I have had some real nasty problems mixing all the chemicals “wetted out”, as the potassium nitrate does form small, (diamonds) then huge crystals, ( like quartz!) that now refuse to dissolve even in very hot water!
I always screen my chemicals first, then I ball mill each ( separately) to a 100 mesh fineness. Regardles of uisng distilled water or even a 91% alcohol “wetting agent” to intimately blend and mix them, the sulfur tries to separate, then the potassium becomes a problem.
William,
The process for milling dry-chemical black powder will work best if your chemicals are dry. And it is dependent on ALL 3 chemicals being as intimately milled as possible. the alternatives you propose will result is lower powered black powder.
If you follow Ned’s instructions for barricading the ball mill, then even if there is an explosion, the damage will be pretty much limited to the ball mill. In my own experience, I simply place the mill on 200 feet of drop cord out in a field behind my house. Altho we cannot guarantee it, if you mill the way in which we recommend, you should not have a problem.
If you are going to wet-mix your black powder, then forget about a ball mill. You can simply use one of the several wet processes described on our project pages and elsewhere. For instance, you could make red gum black powder.
Hope this helps.
Harry
Hello, Why is the Charcoal referred to as “Airfloat”
Thanks,
Airfloat is so fine that when open the 50 lb. bags of it to pack it here at Skylighter, it literally just floats up out of the bag. The walls of the packing room will be covered with it when we finish. “Airfloat” is the finest (smallest particle size) charcoal commercially available for fireworks and black powder making.
Thanks for your reply. I am now in the planning stage of making a ball mill (Since you folks seem to have me in here every day reading) I have a bunch of industrial grade green PVC pipe in 10″ and 12″ diameter. I also have an old motor from a washing machine that I can add a speed control too and some roller skate wheels for the drum to sit on so I suppose I will be ordering a double batch of your lead balls and your black powder kit. This site looks more fun than when I was stuffing match heads into a CO2 cylinder back in 1963 and folding rolls of Bang Caps and piercing the centers with a sewing needle, wrapping with masking tape and tossing them into the Boy Scout camp fires………also did something once (only once) with about 20 fuses’s and a coffee can…..I just got done being grounded
Would adding a small bit of alcohol and then pressing it work? The alcohol would dry much faster than the H20. Would you need the red gum if pressing?
Use a 75%/25% ratio of water and alcohol, 25% is the alcohol. It makes the water wetter, the water helps disolve the nitrate and bonds better. You’ll like the results. When wetting use small amounts and just enough to make the BP damp, to where if you pinch some between your thumb and finger it sticks together. Use 5% red gum. Red gum is not particularly dangerous or toxic. Red gum is soluble in many conventional solvents; alcohols, ethers, and ketones. Ethanol, methanol, acetone, isopropanol and butanone are commonly used in pyrotechnic preperation. It also has use as a binder. Red gum, or accaroid resin, is one of the most widely used organic fuels in modern pyrotechnics and is particularly effective with Potassium perchlorate.
Thanks! I love reading about fireworks and doing experiments with my Dad.
Well is just a simple question. Why are you using just 1% of Dextrin? I saw many formulas and all of them use a 5% Dextrin added to the mix.
1% is all you need. 5% would interfere with the black powder burn. Last thing you want to do is add more of anything which is not actually part of the black powder burn/reaction. Make sense?
I’ve used up to 5% dextrin and haven’t had any problems. Blending in a ball mill for a couple of hours will make it work tremendously well. I have some that contains 7% dextrin and it hardens it real hard, and it too works well also. Depends on the media in the ball mill. Mine has brass ball bearings and used it for years, and it has made all types of BP.
Be aware that… Bronze contains steel. BRONZE, STEEL, AND OR STEEL BEARINGS, is not used in a ball mill when making BP. Steel make sparks, and unless you want the whole neighbor hood pist off at you.
Hi Ned,
I’m a novice trying to make his first catch of BP. I’ve found two common formulas, both on the skylighter site, and I don’t know which to use for my first batch. The formulas I’ve found are 75:15:10 and 60:30:10 KNO3, C, and S respectively. This seems a large difference in that the second formula uses double the amount of C, and loses 20% of its KNO3. Please enlighten me; I’m eager to start milling. Thanks!
Jim
Green Mix, Meal Powder, Slurry are all 75 15 10. They are all Optimal Compositions. Depends on what you want to do with it. The 60 30 10 would be for fountains, or comets. Their are other types of black powder also.
Pyrocraze said it well, Jim. I’ll also add that although 75:15:10 is often said to be the “standard,” there are and have been many black powder formulas over the years, many of which will work. For now, you’ll be better off if you just stick to the formula given in whichever instructions you are following. That formula is likely to have been designed to the optimum for that device or application. For instance 75:15:10 is great for most BP applications. But you would want a slightly “slower” ball milled powder for a fountain or a rocket. If you’re using Skylighter projects to make those devices, we’ll definitely let you know if you have to make any adjustments to your powder mix.
Truly Quality black Powder is the most important thing .Nice post .
Regards,
Stamthon
(http://www.blackcatfireworks.co.uk/)
Love the instructions, I was using the same ball mill, I bought from Harbor Freight Tools with ceramic media. I had not known the correct rpm, nor did I think it would make much differance. Wow, was I wrong, After increasing the RPM by adding some girth to the powered spindle, the resulting powder doubled in power. I also like to make my own charcoal, however good white pine is difficult to get cheaply in Florida, so I purchased some Balsa sawdust (very corse blend, I am mixing that with cheaper peices of scrap whie pine. The resulting charcoal seems to burn much faster, and is cheaper than commercial air-float. Thanks for all your help Ned.
Ward
Ward,
I would STRONGLY advise you and everyone else to NEVER, EVER, EVER use any ceramic media to ball mill black powder. The liklihood of sparks and an explosion with media that hard is extremely high. Switch to lead or brass, PLEASE, for the sake of yourself and your family.
ned ,
having problems with red gum granulation. grains do not get hard at all. followed direction to the t. 2 4oz batches same result. 4oz meal .04oz red gum dissolved in 40ml deatured alcohol. any ideas ?????
thanks, john
When did you add the dextrin? After taking it out of the ball mill? How did you incorporate it?
use a mixing screen to incorporate it. like a 40 mesh or window screen.
Add the dextrin with the black powder comp and then ball mill as usual
Bill – Black Powder often comes out of the ball mill looking grey. It’s usually because of the high percentage of KNO3 and Sulphur powder which are both light in colour.
no offense but your black powder doesn’t look very BLACK , could you explain why?
Hey Ned
I’ve been producing BP for a numbers of years (well since I was a little boy) and during that time I’ve seen a lot of different processes.
I use a Lortone tumbler I’ve had since 1985. It’s a beast when making BP. It’s a six pound tumbler and makes one pound of BP.
I use brass bearings, along with ¾” diameter cut brass bar stock. It makes some of the best and finest BP I’ve ever seen.
The charcoal I use is willow charcoal. I’ve tried several types of woods to make charcoal with, and willow seems to make the best. Of coarse that’s my opinion.
I have a thunder mug to test my BP with and the results are from disappointing to excellent.
I have different types grades of BP used in all types of fire starters, rocketry, and black powder rifle.
I’m a model rocket enthusiast that has explored the upper atmosphere, and fireworks have always been part of my life.
My wife and I enjoy them and I would like to learn more about making fireworks. I’ve tried with fair results.
Troy White
90% common sense with 10% mistakes.
Red gum/ alcohol or hot water dextrin, which is better? Both seem to be about the same in terms of muss and fuss (minimal). Dextrin is cheaper than alcohol and red gum, but does one give superior results over the other and if it’s the dextrin what do I do with all the denatured alcohol and red gum in my storage locker? By the way, the red gum BP, rubber stars, your bag mines, along with some commercial shells made a 20 minute show for my daughter’s wedding that wowed the crowd. Thanx a bunch for your fine projects. Of course my fingers are still recovering from the string damage from tying dozens of bags. Next time I’ll wear gloves at the start rather than the middle.
We found our best BP when we added 7% water, pressed it in a powder press at around 1K PSI and then granulated it.. In our “golf ball” test , using a 35G golf ball and a 1.4 mortar we lost several because of extended flight times. Using GOEX we get 5 -6 seconds flight time, with our powder we get 10+ if we can ever find the ball.
Most importantly is consistency from batch to batch, not necessarily speed.
BTW we use Cedar wood chips (readily available dog bedding) to make to charcoal as it produces a fast BP
Pete,
Man that’s awsome I never thought to use cedar. I use willow because I have some but the supply will run out one day. On the other hand we have an endless supply of cedar not to mention if one does’nt feel like breaking out the chainsaw we just go buy a bundle of cedar shakes for next to nothing! Makes sense too, seeing how cedar is a soft wood and burns fast and furious.
Thanks Pete!!
Very informative…I hope to make a batch to test soon, and hoping for good results. As Far as safety, I will use an extension cord of about 100 feet! thanks, Jim
Hi great article just wondered whay you put the meal powder through a 4 mesh screen
then end up putting it through a 20 mesh so why not put it through a 20 mesh and skip the 4?
thanks, Jim
Hi Jim,
Putting it through a 4 mesh then a 12 mesh will give a range which falls into the 2Fa class. Putting a separate batch through a 20 mesh screen will yield a finer class of power. If all you want is fine powder, say 4FA, then by all means, skip the 4 mesh step. Sometimes it is nice to have multiple sizes available.
-Kenny
Thanks for the info. I have been looking everywhere for powder with no luck since I bought the project kit (Bass Pro, Gander Mountain, Cabelas and Scheels). I already have the ball miller so the powder kit will make it possible for me to start a winter project.
Check http://www.GrayBeardOutdoors.com once there, go to “Forums”, scroll down to “Black-powder Mortars and Cannons”. Once on the site, check the stickies at the top of the page for “Sponsors”…look for Black Powder Distributors….lots there that will ship you quantities…..