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Black Powder Basics
and Manufacture

This Page Updated: April 7th,
2003

Black Powder
(Gunpowder) is the backbone of pyrotechnics.
After all, it's Black Powder
that gives fireworks the smell we all love so much.
Black Powder is the main ingredient in
a variety of firework and rocket formulas.
You can easily make your own high
quality Black Powder with just a few chemicals and a Ball Mill.

Black Powder Basics

Black Powder is
also known by a couple of other names. The most common, is Gun Powder. Black
powder is produced in large quantities commercially, and sold in small 1 pound
containers, mainly for use in antique Black Powder guns. It is also normally
sold in different granulations, and they indicate how fine the Black Powder is
granulated by how many "F's" they put on the container. Coarse granulations are
called "FG or FFG" (aka "1Fg" and "2Fg"). Finer granulations are "FFFg and
"FFFFg" (aka 3Fg and 4Fg).
The more "F's", the finer the Black Powder... and
the finer the Black Powder is, the faster it burns.
Small (fine) granulations
burn faster and are used in small bore guns, where larger (coarser)
granulations, are used for larger bore guns & cannons... and for launching
Aerial Shells out of mortars. Using a finer granulation for these jobs puts too
much strain on the gun (or shell or mortar) because the powder burns much faster
and creates a fast pressure increase that could damage whatever you're trying to
launch, or the gun/mortar itself.
Coarser, granulated Black Powder that is
used in mortars to launch shells, or in Roman Candles to shoot out stars, is
sometimes called "Lift Powder".
When Black Powder isn't granulated, and is in
a super fine powder state (similar to that of Talcum Powder) it is called "Meal
Powder".
Just to confuse things even more, any granulated Black Powder is
also sometimes called "Grain Powder".

Smokeless Powder
(Pyrodex, etc.) is not to be confused with Black Powder. It is actually
Nitrocellulose, and cannot be used in place of Black Powder.

Now, why
they needed 5 names to describe one substance is beyond me, but just keep in
mind that Black Powder, Gun Powder, Lift Powder, Grain Powder, and Meal Powder
are really all the same material. 30 years ago (when I was 13), I sat picking
the raisins out of Oatmeal because I thought Meal Powder was just finely
powdered Oatmeal. Needless to say, the rocket engine I was building didn't work,
as Oatmeal doesn't have quite the kick that Black Powder does. On the other
hand, Black Powder makes a terrible breakfast.

Anyway, as far as
fireworks are concerned, Black Powder is used both in its finely powdered form
(Meal Powder) for coating starts and for mixing in other pyrotechnic formulas,
and in its granulated form (Lift Powder) for launching shells out of a mortar,
or stars out of a Roman Candle.

The formula for
Black Powder is 75% Potassium Nitrate, 15% Charcoal, and 10% Sulfur, and like
all formulas, it is measured by weight only.

However, unlike many
pyrotechnic formulas, you just can't mix these chemicals together and expect to
have Black Powder. The mixing process for Black Powder is just as important as
the formula. Black Powder MUST be made in a Ball Mill to work
properly.
A Ball Mill is a rotating drum with dozens of lead balls
inside. The 3 chemicals are loaded into the Ball Mill, along with the lead
balls, sealed shut and allowed to rotate for anywhere between 1 hour and 24
hours. As the Ball Mill rotates, the lead balls will crush the chemicals
together, forcing some of the Potassium Nitrate into the pores of the Charcoal
and Sulfur. At the same time, the entire mass will be reduced to a super fine
powder. The longer the Ball Mill runs, the stronger the Black Powder will be. A
general rule of thumb for all pyrotechnic mixtures is " the finer the powder is,
the faster it will burn ".
ONLY lead balls can be used in a Ball Mill
as they are completely non-sparking. ONLY Black Powder can be mixed in a
Ball Mill. Other pyrotechnic mixtures such as Flash Powder, etc. CAN NOT,
as they are too sensitive and will explode. Individual chemicals however, can
also be Ball Milled into a fine powder, but the mill must be cleaned before this
is done. Ball Mills, complete with hardened lead balls are available from us.
They can be found by Clicking
Here.

Once the mill has
run for a while, it can be opened and the lead balls separated from the fine
Meal Powder.
As we'll show you below, this Meal Powder can now be used to
make all the other forms of Black Powder for use in fireworks.

Black Powder vs.
Flash Powder

A lot of people
ask which is stronger, Black Powder or Flash Powder... or if Black Powder can be
used in Salutes (exploding fireworks).
In short, there is no comparison.
Flash Powder is a high explosive, a shattering explosive. It converts to a gas
so fast, that objects near it, and containers that hold it cannot move out of
they way (or vent) fast enough to release this gas, so they are destroyed into
fragments.
Black Powder is a low explosive, a heaving explosive. It converts
to gas much more slowly than Flash Powder, and generally pushes things as
opposed to fragmenting them. If Black Powder is used in a small Salute like an
M-80, it will just make a loud "pop", and push out the end plugs.
Flash
Powder in an M-80 will make a loud explosion and fragment the tube into small
pieces. Flash Powder burns so much faster than Black Powder that in larger
Salutes, it doesn't even matter if you've got end plugs on the tube at all, it
will still detonate and fragment the Salute, even with 2 open ends.
You can
NEVER substitute Flash Powder for Black Powder or vice-versa. If you were
to use Flash Powder to launch a shell out of a tube, or a bullet out of a gun,
it would barely move the shell or bullet, and completely destroy the mortar or
gun, most probably injuring the operator.

Manufacture

You will need 3
chemicals to make Black Powder, they are: Potassium Nitrate, Sulfur and
Charcoal. Stay away from very low grade materials like "Dusting Sulfur" and
Bar-B-Que Charcoal Briquettes. The Charcoal you use in a BBQ is not pure
Charcoal. It contains other materials and chemicals that are designed to keep
the material burning evenly and for a long time, but it will make lousy Black
Powder. If you use low quality chemicals, you will undoubtedly get low quality
Black Powder.
All chemicals necessary to make Black Powder can be found on
our Chemical & Metals
supply page. The following is the standard formula for Black Powder:

Black
Powder

Potassium
Nitrate

75
%

Charcoal
Powder

15
%

Sulfur

10
%

If you are not
familiar with measuring & percentages, see our Basic Techniques section
first.

Open the lid to your
Ball Mill and add the following:  150 grams of Potassium Nitrate, 30 grams
of Charcoal Powder, and 20 grams of Sulfur ( if your lead balls are not already
in the tumbling barrel, go ahead and put them in now ). Remember that
ONLY lead balls can be used because they
are completely non-sparking.
When complete, this will make 200 grams of Black
Powder ( a little under 1/2 pound ). You can make larger or smaller batches,
just keep the percentages of all the chemicals the same. You MUST use an accurate scale to weigh your chemicals, preferably
one that is accurate to 1/10th of a gram. If you do not have access to an
accurate scale, you can find some for sale on our site here.

With all 3 chemicals and the
lead balls inside, put the lid on the tumbling barrel and seal it, then set it
in the Mill.
Turn on your Ball Mill and let it rotate for 2 to 4 hours. As
the Ball Mill rotates, the lead balls will crush the chemicals together and
reduce them into a super fine powder. The longer you let it grind, the stronger
your Black Powder will be. Let the Ball Mill do its grinding in an uninhabited
area, not in a place like your bedroom. Although the chance of accidental
ignition is very remote, it is wise to put your mill in the garage, or better
yet, outside to do its work.

At the end of a couple of hours
stop the mill. Lay out a sheet of paper ( newspaper will work fine ). Open the
lid to the barrel, and dump the entire contents ( lead balls and all ) into a
spaghetti strainer over your sheet of paper. The strainer will catch the lead
balls and with a little shaking, all the Black Powder will filter through onto
your paper sheet. When Black Powder is in a fine "dust-like" state like this, it
is called "Meal Powder". The Meal Powder you just made can now be used as-is in
a variety of formulas and projects. By adding a little water and Dextrin to it,
you can easily make Black Match Fuse or Quickmatch. See our section on making Black Match Fuse &
Quickmatch.

Lifting
Powder

There are some
applications where very fine Black Powder ( Meal Powder ) will not work well. If
you're going to use your Black Powder to launch shells out of a mortar, or for
small cannons, it will have to be granulated first. Black Powder that is
granulated and used for launching shells and salutes is called "Lifting
Powder".
The procedure for making lifting powder is easy, but it sometimes
takes a few tries to get it perfect.
Basically all we're going to do is to
add a little of a water soluble glue ( Dextrin ) to the Meal Powder, mix it
well, get it a little damp, and push it through the spaghetti strainer again.
This will produce small granules of Black Powder perfect for launching shells or
anything else.
The whole trick to this is not to get the mixture too wet, or
it will become gooey and just turn into a big mess.

To convert your
Meal Powder into Lifting Powder, take 100 grams of Meal Powder and mix in 10
grams of dextrin. A good way to mix them is to put the mixture in a plastic
container with a snap-on lid and shake well. Pour the powder through the
spaghetti strainer again, this will break up any lumps in the dextrin.
Now
place the Meal Powder/Dextrin mix back in your plastic container and add just a
little water. This is where experience really pays off. The idea here it to get
the mixture damp and not wet. What can be deceiving is that you're adding water
to a very fine powder, so it's going to take several minutes of mixing just to
get the powder to begin to absorb any water at all. Add just a little water at a
time, mixing thoroughly. As the powder begins to take in water, it will turn a
bit darker in color.
You want the mixture to be damp enough to where if
you take a handful of it and squeeze it tightly, it will just begin stick
together. You do not want to get it too wet. If you do, it will not go through
the spaghetti strainer and will just clump up on the bottom, or not go through
the holes at all. If disaster strikes and you have added too much water, you can
always just add some plain Meal Powder to the mix to dry it out.

Just
FYI, adding the water also increases the strength of the Black Powder by
allowing some of the Potassium Nitrate to dissolve and be absorbed into the
pores of the charcoal particles.

Once the mixture
is damp, lay out another sheet of newspaper and dump the mixture into the
spaghetti strainer. Using a wooden or plastic spoon ( or your hands if you don't
mind getting messy ), rub the mixture through the screen allowing the granules
to fall onto the newspaper below. The Lift Powder you're making will have to dry
for a few days before it can be used, so make sure to spread it around on the
newspaper so it will dry more quickly.

If your mixture
isn't all going through the screen, or is sticking on the bottom, chances are
it's too wet. Take the mixture out of the strainer and mix in some plain dry
Meal Powder and try again. If the mixture is going through easily, but isn't
really making granules, it might be a bit too dry. Take the mixture out of the
strainer and add a small amount of water, mix well and try
again.

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