Improvised Black Powder
Black powder can be prepared in a simple, safe manner. It may be used as
blasting or gun powder.
Materials
- Potassium nitrate, granulated 3 cups (.75 l) see Sec. I, No. 2)
- Wood charcoal, powdered, 2 cups (.5 l)
- Sulfur, powdered, .5 cup (1/8 l)
- Alcohol, 5 pints (2.5 l) — whiskey, rubbing, etc.
- Water 3 cups, (.75 l)
- Heat source
- Two buckets — each 2-gallon (7.5 l) capacity, one of which must be heat resistant (metal or ceramic)
- Flat window screen, 1-foot square
- Large wooden stick
- Cloth, 2-feet square
Procedure
- Place alcohol in one of the buckets.
- Place potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur in the heat resistant bucket. Add 1 cups water and mix thoroughly with wooden stick until all ingredients are dissolved.
- Add remaining water (2 cups) to mixture. Place bucket on heat source and stir until small bubbles begin to form.
- Note: Do NOT boil mixture. Be sure all mixture stays wet. If any is dry, as on sides of pan, it may ignite.
- Remove bucket from heat and pour mixture into alcohol while stirring vigorously.
- Let alcohol mixture 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.
- 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 and 6.
- Spread granulated powder on flat dry surface so that a layer about .5" (1.25 cm) is formed. Allow to dry. Use a radiator, or direct sunlight. This should be dried as quickly as possible, preferably in one hour. The longer the drying period, the less effective the black powder.
- Note: Remove from here as soon as granules are dry. Black powder is now ready
for use.