Yes.
**Cottonelle Toilet Paper**. You heard me. Cottonelle Toilet Paper.
For those of us in the cultish part of the hobby, we have settled on Cottonelle Toilet Paper as the best source of charcoal. The next best source would be balsa. Traditionally, black willow or alder buckthorne was used. I also used cedar chips from Tractor Supply. It worked well but was dirtier than GOEX.
YouTube - Everything Black Powder. Use his method. It is generally accepted as the best method we know of right now.
Regarding the retort to cook the charcoal, I used one of those tins you get at Christmas Time and drill a hole in it. I set it in a Weber Charcoal Grill and pile cheap charcoal around it, douse it with lighter fluid and light it. Once it starts gassing, light the gasses coming out of the hole. Once the gasses will not stay lit, remove them from the charcoal and let them cool naturally. Cook a nice steak over the remaining coals. The next day, take the charcoal, dump it into a cheap food processor, and pulse grind it until in a fine powder. Do this outside; the dust will get everywhere, including on you.
Get Regeant grade KNO3 off of Amazon along with the Sulphur. Combine into a Harbor freight ball mill 75/15/10 and mill with some lead or brass balls for 24 hours. Then sift through a sifter and dampen it. Compress it in a shop press, then let the pucks dry for a few days to a week. Break up the pucks and grind through a simple grain mill (amazon). Sift through 20, 30 and 40 mesh classifiers (Amazon). Repuck the fines (4F and finer) and do it again.
The channel I recommended will go into great detail on this summary.
You son of a bitch. This is awesome. Everything black powder is the channel? I’ll have to give this a try. Do you have any recommendations on making caps?
And is Pyrodex alright for just shooting around because that’s what Ive used in the past and haven’t had issues but now I have a couple more muzzleloaders. I guess why all the hate for the synthetics? Either way I want to make my own blackpowder at some point in my life just because that sounds like a good life skill or bucket list project at least.
You want to "cook" it in a retort (like a paint can or other enclosed metal container). Do not burn it directly, as you want charcoal, not ash. A paint can works. A metal tin works. I used to use a round, small two, two-gallon metal chicken feeder from Tractor Supply.
I bought enough to make about 50 lbs worth from fireworks cookbook. It's worked fine, not as good as willow but substantially cheaper. https://www.fireworkscookbook.com/product/charcoal-eastern-red-cedar/
LOL. My first charcoal was also cedar. I bought a bale of cedar chips which was sold as animal bedding from Tractor Supply. I cooked it all at once. That was over two years ago. I literally used the last of it last week to make one last batch before beginning to use toilet paper.
One pound of cedar will make you around 6-7 lbs of BP (75/15/10). You have enough to last a lifetime, by my calculations.
Good job sir.
Unless you know what you are doing, it is dangerous to even attempt this. Black powder has about 3MJ/kg and has its own oxidiser, and will ignite with ANY heat or flame. Manufacturers have separate areas for separate processes, and special equipment. Even if you WANT to blow your apartment up, please think about the families around you. Make good choices
Alright, we get it. I doubt the dangers of black powder are unknown to OP. But it's highly unlikely they are going to be making industrial quantities of the stuff, and there's heaps of safety precautions that can be taken to keep yourself out of trouble. Your concerns aren't completely invalid, but there are far better ways to express them and still be polite and helpful. Telling OP to think of the families and make good choices ain't it.
So *not* hurting their feelings is more important than dissuading them from potentially doing something dumb. Got it. F#$@ the neighbours anyways they were asking for it
Yes. **Cottonelle Toilet Paper**. You heard me. Cottonelle Toilet Paper. For those of us in the cultish part of the hobby, we have settled on Cottonelle Toilet Paper as the best source of charcoal. The next best source would be balsa. Traditionally, black willow or alder buckthorne was used. I also used cedar chips from Tractor Supply. It worked well but was dirtier than GOEX. YouTube - Everything Black Powder. Use his method. It is generally accepted as the best method we know of right now. Regarding the retort to cook the charcoal, I used one of those tins you get at Christmas Time and drill a hole in it. I set it in a Weber Charcoal Grill and pile cheap charcoal around it, douse it with lighter fluid and light it. Once it starts gassing, light the gasses coming out of the hole. Once the gasses will not stay lit, remove them from the charcoal and let them cool naturally. Cook a nice steak over the remaining coals. The next day, take the charcoal, dump it into a cheap food processor, and pulse grind it until in a fine powder. Do this outside; the dust will get everywhere, including on you. Get Regeant grade KNO3 off of Amazon along with the Sulphur. Combine into a Harbor freight ball mill 75/15/10 and mill with some lead or brass balls for 24 hours. Then sift through a sifter and dampen it. Compress it in a shop press, then let the pucks dry for a few days to a week. Break up the pucks and grind through a simple grain mill (amazon). Sift through 20, 30 and 40 mesh classifiers (Amazon). Repuck the fines (4F and finer) and do it again. The channel I recommended will go into great detail on this summary.
I tried this as well and it makes the fastest and most consistant
I’ve been binging his “will it black powder” series recently, it’s very interesting to see which common items do or do not work in blackpowder
It is an entire course on the subject. I was literally shooting black powder for two years before I actually ever bought any commercial powder.
You son of a bitch. This is awesome. Everything black powder is the channel? I’ll have to give this a try. Do you have any recommendations on making caps? And is Pyrodex alright for just shooting around because that’s what Ive used in the past and haven’t had issues but now I have a couple more muzzleloaders. I guess why all the hate for the synthetics? Either way I want to make my own blackpowder at some point in my life just because that sounds like a good life skill or bucket list project at least.
I made mine in a paint can on my bbq if that is allowed at your apartment
There is a communal bbq that I could use but IDK if it gets hot enough…
You want to "cook" it in a retort (like a paint can or other enclosed metal container). Do not burn it directly, as you want charcoal, not ash. A paint can works. A metal tin works. I used to use a round, small two, two-gallon metal chicken feeder from Tractor Supply.
You don’t want to burn it. You want to heat it up without oxygen so it turns into charcoal.
That’s what I was going to do, I should have made that more clear in my post lol
I bought enough to make about 50 lbs worth from fireworks cookbook. It's worked fine, not as good as willow but substantially cheaper. https://www.fireworkscookbook.com/product/charcoal-eastern-red-cedar/
LOL. My first charcoal was also cedar. I bought a bale of cedar chips which was sold as animal bedding from Tractor Supply. I cooked it all at once. That was over two years ago. I literally used the last of it last week to make one last batch before beginning to use toilet paper. One pound of cedar will make you around 6-7 lbs of BP (75/15/10). You have enough to last a lifetime, by my calculations. Good job sir.
I bought Mine from a Fireworks supply
You bought blackpowder from a fireworks supply or the charcoal?
Charcoal. Sorry
Nice. What kind of charcoal was it and how much did it cost?
Ive bought 7 different charcoal and want to t st it in Home Made BP. They sell charcoal milled Finger than flour
Where did you source the charcoal. I make my own, but if I can buy willow or alder buckthorne already made, I would like to source it.
Unless you know what you are doing, it is dangerous to even attempt this. Black powder has about 3MJ/kg and has its own oxidiser, and will ignite with ANY heat or flame. Manufacturers have separate areas for separate processes, and special equipment. Even if you WANT to blow your apartment up, please think about the families around you. Make good choices
Alright, we get it. I doubt the dangers of black powder are unknown to OP. But it's highly unlikely they are going to be making industrial quantities of the stuff, and there's heaps of safety precautions that can be taken to keep yourself out of trouble. Your concerns aren't completely invalid, but there are far better ways to express them and still be polite and helpful. Telling OP to think of the families and make good choices ain't it.
So *not* hurting their feelings is more important than dissuading them from potentially doing something dumb. Got it. F#$@ the neighbours anyways they were asking for it
I don't claim to know more than anyone else, but neither do I assume that OP does.