Improvised Black Powder

Black powder can be prepared in a simple, safe manner. It may be used as blasting or gun powder.

Materials

Procedure

  1. Place alcohol in one of the buckets.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. Remove bucket from heat and pour mixture into alcohol while stirring vigorously.

  5. 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.

  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 and 6.

  7. 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.

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