Super Easy Black Powder from Home Made Charcoal
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 มี.ค. 2022
- We're pumped to make super easy black powder from home made charcoal. Charcoal is an awesome off-grid fuel that you can make yourself. And charcoal can be used for cooking, forging, filtering an my favorite...making black powder!
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If you use a 90 degree bend for the fan it won't get direct heat from the barrel.
Wish I could mate but I'm in England I sooo wanna move off Grid!! Wanted to for 4 or 5 years now! Force of circumstances prevented it so far but still hope one day I can but in my mid 40s now so dunno if it's gonna be possible?? Either small plot or even a off Grid DIY campervan van conversion full off Grid solar etc etc. But having a bit of land be better as able to be self sufficient etc.. so a bit of both would be ideal world! Wish we were allowed to move to America or Australia etc as plenty of space and cheap lane England is extortionate to live anywhere and however you live.. were ALREADY paying over £1.60 per litre for diesel and petrol now! That like over 2usd PER LITRE!! AND GOING UP!! HOUSE Gas and electric doubled in price last month! Over £2000 a year for Gas just to heat house! That's like about 2800usd a year to heat your house! We're screwed mate! Food 4x cost of America and everything else too!! I badly need to go off Grid!!
Anyway cheers from London England 👍💪😎🏴🙏
@@DeUser1337 I second this. Haven't even watched the video yet, but seeing this I know you are right. I've used similar methods to slow the smoke in a test chimney I ran to see if I could make a smoke reburner out of a coil of chimney pipe before leaving the house. (Very dangerous. Do not try at home folks, unless you know what you are attempting in full and how to fix it.) A couple dampers and a bit of extra pipe goes a long way.
Long story short, it works... sort of. I needed to increase the length of chimney pipe to increase the draw just a bit more than I had it at to make it work almost perfectly. My mistake. This mistake ended up with a big build up in the 90 degree bend to the stack. That was NOT fun to clear out. heh.
For those curious: The winding stove pipe acts essentially like a reburner baffle because you have a a damper at one end, and if you want, a damper at the other end. You let the fire side damper be more open than the 2nd wall/roof side damper to allow the smoke in, but not through as easily. This allows your fire to climb that coil of pipe "safely". I put that in quotes because it's arguable. The rest of the chimney after the 2nd damper is your 'normal chimney'. As in no fire ever touches this side, and if ever a fire manages to make it to that side, you can close the dampers entirely on both ends to shut it out.
The amount of heat I got from my failed attempt was amazing. I don't have any proper numbers for the results, but I would wager I basically tripled the heat output of my stove, simply by making the stove pipe about 3 times longer essentially. Sure, the coil of stove pipe looks weird sitting there in empty space between the stove and wall/ceiling... but it also provides one more nicety...
A lot of room to potentially wrap copper tubing around to heat water. A lot of water. Like, way more water than you ever would be able to with a 'normal' chimney. So you're going to end up with a coil wrapped in a coil. And the rest of the chimney's extra heat can be utilized by some thermoelectric pads to produce just enough current to power a fan or two to keep the heat moving around.
P.S. I just realized... you could basically turn your wood stove or whatever is using that stove pipe idea into a water distiller. Just double wrap the copper pipe around it, and put some valves inbetween at certain points for a bleed, a pressure relief, and a couple shut off valves to help dampen the flow or shut off entirely if need be. (Pressure release vales at both ends of each shutoff for safety.) You would essentially just keep your fresh water in the line long enough for it to turn into steam and vapor. Once it's coming out the other end, you just need to capture it and cool it for distilled water. Or you could keep it flowing as just hot water instead.
@@stevenmackay3289 I was talking about the IR heat that the inlet fan gets, with a wend the Light won't travel to the fan it selve an the conductive heat was never the problem in the test.
To your test:
What kind of winding stove pipe did you use?
I know only of the aluminum one, but that can't handle the heat.
Important in a system like yours is a creosote free burn. That way the extender chimney system can't clog it selve and the efficiency will not suffer over time.
Best for a clean burn seem to be real rocked (mass) heaters.
The high temperature part is most important.
@@DeUser1337 Okay I must have misunderstood something in your comment. Sorry bout that.
But yeah, Black stove pipe. The normal kind you see on real wood stoves and not those 'energy efficient' amalgamations they build today while saying they work better. (They don't. I've tried them vs my own method. Mines better.)
I'm basically taking a bunch of elbow joints and the adjustable corner pieces and creating a spiral out of the stove pipe. Putting two dampers on either end, and finding the sweet spot.
Yeah, Creosote build up was my issue at the last bend. The rest of the unit was just fine for the most part. Creosote was still building up in my small spiral, but that's because I wasn't quite getting a good enough burn by not having the second damper to help complete the baffle. This lead to the creosote build up in the last bend on the outside-side of the wall.
That said, it really doesn't help at all that I was burning a fast growing bush we have here called Karagana. (Spelling is wrong, sorry)
It grows like a weed, but it's a thick bush with wrist sized sticks in thickness. So it's great for getting a fire started as kindling, etc. Or with bigger pieces, just burning in general. But the creosote it releases is just amazing. Wow is there a lot in that plant.
It would probably be a perfect fuel for perfectly efficient wood stoves due to how fast it grows. You can pretty much harvest it all in one year, and see it return to full size in 3 years or less. So you could easily turn this into some sort of crop you rotate and harvest in a manner to allow for there to always be dried karagana read to burn.
And no, drying it doesn't really help the creosote build up for that plant. It's just absolutely full of it even when dried.
The next time I have a chance to attempt this method, I will be going all in. 3 dampers instead of 1 or even 2. The spiral will probably be a double spiral of one spiral twisted around the outside of the other to create a 'bubble of heat' in that area of space; and of course all the copper and fans I spoke of earlier to make it a perfect unit for a self reliant person.
A dad who makes Black Powder with the kids is the coolest dad!
Would be more awesome if they can make gun powder 😉
Agreed!
@@bhekidlamini4386 they're the same, gun powder is just granulated to a specific size.
@@philipm3173 u can do a lot with a ole smoke pole I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end I have put the smack down on a few varmits
Roger that
When I was a kid, the guy at Buckerfield's would always give me the side-eye when I'd come in and buy sulfur and potassium nitrate. The fact that I got my carbon by smashing charcoal briquettes with a hammer probably saved my life. If I would have used a grinder and sieve, I could have done some serious damage. I did end up a chemist though, so it wasn't a total loss. :)
I produced my very crude black powder with charcoal briquettes too.
I had a fine powder but what saved my life is that while I knew the ingredients I didn't know the ratio, all my info came from a dictionary lol. I made many cannons out of pipe that shot gravel very satisfyingly, thank God the powder burned so slow.
@@newfization lol, my knowledge came from my friend’s older brother. Good thing we didn’t have the internet.
That's a great success story!
Briquettes don’t work. There basically crap. Maybe back in the day it was actually wood but now a days it’s like powdered cardboard lol.
This is the type of dad all daughters need; one that teaches her _to value her own_ knowledge, skills, work-ethic, and moral compass. They get enough of the wrong message from media and entertainment.
Be sure to use balance. You overbear she's going to go off the deep end.
Oh you know that family is for certain not democrat
@@muddirt8040 I'd bet my next paycheck the dad isn't a democrat. Can't speak for the rest, but they definitely have a good influence in their lives.
I choose high functional human being over politics any time. There is always respect for knowing how to make anything, and work hard.
Arguing who is lib and repub is a pointless agrument, it only divides, thats literally why its called a 2 party system.
I am proud to be on a watch list with all the rest of you
Yeah , anyways , don't know if this stuff should be posted on this platform where kids and people that ain't so bright can watch and maybe try something new out and get hurt or hurt others by mistake. I know , I know it is an American / Canadian birth right to do such things and wicked cool but people have lost that Love your neighbor and common sense thing , I don't know man . Hopefully no one gets injured or worse !
😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@TheChristonline yeah that stuff is all true but we cannot adapt our freedom to the idiots, we have to try and adapt the idiots to our freedom, or whatever is left of it won't be for very long.
Yes sir 😅
@@TheChristonline
It's a good thing none of those people or children you described know how to use Google because the info is there as well. 🤷🏻♂️
Buddy, the fact that you did this with your two teenage daughters and they enjoyed it, that was the best part! Family is the most important thing!
For your fan problem, radiant energy travels a straight line. Put a 90deg elbow in the pipe so the radiant energy will just heat the elbow. Close to the fire would probably be better but you can try it either way.
Yes good idea, but it also seems like they placed the fan in the wrong direction. The fan should be facing the outside, but instead it's inside where the heat can hit the plastic directly.
The internal reflectivity of that pipe might also be playing a large part in transfering that radiant heat to the fan, kinda like fiber optics, the laser just bounces down the fiber due to internal reflectivity. Maybe spray the inside of the tube with black high temp BBQ paint and see if that helps.
at the old black powder mill in northern Zealand in Denmark they back in the day had a poster warning any one against taking the Lords name in vain, fining them two Danish shillings for every bad word, as you would want the good Lord on your side when mixing the black powder....
Ahahahaha Ahahahaha Ahahahaha Ahahahaha
Amen😊
@@12b_engineeris no
We been off grid since 1969. I'm 80 and da ole lady is 70. Been in da mountains most my life and off grid to bush rats in da Alaskan bush is just routine.
Watching you and your family with smiles on your faces learning and experimenting together is what I enjoy most and gives me hope for future generations. Keep your dad on his toes, ladies.
A tip to make your process a but safer, use lead round balls such as large sinkers or get some 12 ga round balls (.72 cal). The agate runs the risk of getting a spark in the mix, even a remote one, whereas lead is non sparking no matter what it hits.
They make non sparking ceramics for that purpose. Lead can contaminate. Better still ball mill each material seperately and then mill together without balls. If you want true black powder you have to add a ratio of Urea saturated water to make a ball then you use screen to grate the ball which will form a pile of true black powder.
It makes a difference.
@@joeyl.rowland4153 can DEF be used for urea, do you know?
@@shanincoffer6455 yes it can. Just heat it (not boil only simmer) until you get crystals beginning to drop out. You must watch carefully it is not easy to see the crystals dropping out. Your solution will then be saturated and you can use it as soon as it is cool enough to do so.
@@joeyl.rowland4153 wait what are we talkin about? You might have to beat around the bush a little bit because apparently the comment you were replying to got deleted
@@Hayden734 Shanin Coffer asked if DEF could be used as a source for urea. I had explained that proper gunpowder is made with carbon, kno3, sulfur and at that point it is wetted with water saturated in urea and then grated across various gauges of screen for proper sizing. Large screen similar to 1/4 builders cloth for coarse gunpowder as would be used in cannons. Smaller finer screens would be used to create a finer grade powder for rifles pistols and shotguns.
That is how gunpowder was made traditionally.
For better BP use willow if you can get it up there or barring that use grape vine for your charcoal. Your powder will be better and less sparks. Adding some red gum as a binder will help as well. And if you granulated it (water and rubbing alcohol added to make a clay consistency and rubbed through a screen) will make it faster burning
True
What is it about the willow or grape vine? Seem like very high moisture woods.
The pores in different wood. Pine is excellent. I use old peices of cut off 2x4s. Old pallets. Pine is my second choice but works fine. Pee in a jar and use stale urine. Alcohol will let it dry faster. Rice gluten is the old chinese way. Put the wet mixture on wax paper and place a brick on it. Compacting it makes it better.
For sheer easy fun your way is fine. Works in my pistol and rifle.
A little hemp string saltpeter and powdered sugar and you have homemade fuses
how much red gum by weight do you recommend? Edit: Could you add graphite at the very end, after the BP is granulated?
BP is one of those crazy recipes you learn as a kid, that has such importance to history, you almost _have_ to make and try it, at least once.
I agree!
That giggle at 14:11 defines this guy entirely. Love to see how happy he is!
Nice to see ya this week
Love the schoolgirl giggles!
Great family! I appreciate how everyone pitches in to maintain the homestead.
Ever since I got into blacksmithing..I also use a box bellows like dave!... I've been making my own charcoal in a 55 gallon drum.. just get a good fire going in it so you have a good bed of coals then load it up with your charcoal material..let it burn until fire is catching the gases on fire and put a lid on with a Crack like a grill..when smoke turns metallic blue it's done plug all 4 holes in the bottom of the barrel and seal the lid.. usually get about 30 gallons of pretty nice charcoal!
i appreciate you putting this up... i might have to try something similar...
@@vidard9863 works good but keep your wood small..branches and such are perfect
I just love it when you and your kids get together and do all kind of amazing things you're an awesome dad and you have a bunch of awesome girls teaching them all kind of ways to live in the wild God bless Sandra from Mississippi
Hott for teacher ! Brahahaha!!! Please disregard :) Class dismissed
Y’all r awesome! Having FAMILY FUN…off grid. Blessings
I'm from Indonesia here for all of you, especially for July🙏😊
You are just a big ten year old. Remid me of my dad. Loved him so much. Keep it light.
This shows, what people are the brains behind everything shown. Not the fast talker. Good 👍 video. God bless you all 💕.
Charcoal has many uses and being able to make it and know how gives a person the knowledge to make anything if they put their mind to it.
Thank you for a wonderfully fun time. My son used to make me participate in his “scientific Sundays” this brought back fond memories
I am from Nova Scotia your videos are the greatest it is awesome to see you showing you girls all the great inventions and how to live off the land and to try different stuff and not to be scared to mess up great videos
Thanks Jeff!
Hey, i feel pretty lucky just to watch!! 👍🏻😁
As a 10-year-old boy in the 1950's we would make our own black power with Salt Peter, Sulfur, and charcoal. It was a lot of fun, and no one ever got hurt. We would buy the sulfur and Salt peter from different drug stores so not to alarm the druggist. Or at least we thought they would not know what we were doing, but they did. The neighbors would call my dad after a few bangs, he would come home and chase everyone away until the next time.
Those were the days. Now, it would be Karens going crazy and multiple felony charges.
Jeff and Rose y’all have done in amazing job raising your beautiful girls! When you two get into your golden years, y’all will be well taken care of. God bless y’all and take care.😇
I made a pipe cannon with a 20” piece of 1 1/2” black iron pipe, threaded on one end. I screwed a plug into a threaded coupling that usually comes with a 20’ stick of pipe, drilled a hole just big enough for green fuse to slide in. For a projectile I used a 5/8” bolt 3” long with a 1” hex head. I set up my cannon against a tree base and would put a few heavy branches over it so it wouldn’t fly away. “ make sure to have some big trees to hide behind “ after cannon went off with a very loud boom, the bolt stuck into a tree 60’ away hex first 2” deep. I set cannon off multiple times, only better noise was a full size civil war cannon me and a friend lit off once. Fun times.
lot of fun, highly recommend, but black iron tends to fracture in my experience, examine it carefully before loading it and i highly recommend any one else who reads this to hide from the cannon when using a similar setup. it will catastrophically fail at some point.
when you aim, make sure it goes straight to the ANTIFA AND THE BLM homeless camp. the rats and cockroaches will scatter like flies.
@@rtchow3000 that's not nice. Why bring politics into this thread?
Lol crazy kid man that's great same stuff I did while growing up.... And we survived
Joe Biden says you are not permitted to own a cannon.
I made charcoal in a steel box I made put in a firepit. Had a few successful runs, then one time I put it in a cloth bag as it was cool enough to grab it with my welding hands. Really wasn't hot to the touch. Put it in the bag and set it by my old ladies rear bumper. About 30 minutes later it was fully ingulfed in flames and rear bumper and hatch were burned very well. Got the fire put out due to quick action and fire extinguisher, but I will now store all my charcoal in a sealed 55 gallon drum so this doesn't happen again.
Great Video!
Good point, thanks.
Hello ma'am rose and sir jeff. i am from the philippines, and i'm really really like watching your video. God bless to your family
What a genuine smile and laugh you shared, it’s a nice change of pace from all the negative in the world lately. 🤘👍 appreciate it much brother!
All of you are DEFINITELY GUILTY of having tooooo muuuuccch FUN!
PS: I spent a week at Tsacha Lake BC eons ago,
So wonderful the time spent with the girls.
You need a bend in your intake duct so the fan isn't exposed directly to the radiant (IR) heat.
You can’t bend the laws of thermodynamics, but you can have a kink it and job done ha ha 👍
i think the best option would be to not have the fan touching the metal tube at all. Even a half inch gap would break the thermal bridge.
@@kevinhardy8930 nope. 3 types of heat transfer. It’s the radiant variety which is causing the issue
You guys are awesome, I love this smart family.
You were like a big kid with a new toy, but what you did was fun and awesome. Great way to enjoy time with your kids! 😄😄
Huh. That's essentially like a larger scale version of making char cloth for lighting flint & steel. Just with wood instead of cloth. Never even thought of that. Cool.
That would be a cool video makin char cloth. In them there woods it would be nice to have in your sack with your flint 👍
Alchemy at its finest. 💥 As a youth I recall my Father getting really peeved at my gun powder making in the furnace room at home with my little chemistry set 💥💥🤕 burned off some of my hair, eyebrows and never saw the cat again... kidding we didn't have a cat...and I never saw that chemistry set again. My Science Career stifled at such a young age. 😏 Ha. Best
Cat or no cat.. that line cracked me up😄
😄👍
Good fun with your family. Thanks for sharing
Good to see you guys again
Great memories made. My son used the exact same process whe he was in high school. Then he started making fuses and blowing stuff up, etc. etc. etc.
Thank you so much for putting a new vid out I was waiting for a new vid . I love you guys
Ive watched a few of your other videos, Glad to see your whole family involved.
New favorite channel. We just watched your about us video from like a year go and it’s my exact story. Some days I hate going to work. So glad there’s an end and you’ve proven it. Binge watching y’all for sure.
Loved it. You guys are those rare people this world needs more of. You would certainly fit in down south here in Montana. Radios in remote regions would be, not only good to have, but necessary in some situations. We often find ourselves in the deep woods and outside of cell service, but it could be good not to depend upon smart phones, especially if neighbors are within 16 kilometers. If you need help with that, let me know. A cheap Boafeng (transceiver) on a good antenna, such as a j-pole from KB9VBR, can have a useful range and cost less than $200 Canadian installed. It is not necessary to obtain a license to operate on some radio services. Loggers, and truckers in general, know how important radios are. Most today do not appreciate their importance.
👍
The giddy giggling from everyone makes it better.
Very educational experience for any person. Good that you involved your children.
Never would have thought to try this and now there is no way I'm not going to. Thanks.
Black powder is fun! I used to mix it all in water in the youth, then dry it off on the stove :)
What a fun dad! I would have loved my dad to do things like that with me!!! Blessed kids!! Keep teaching dad!! ❤
Great for all people to learn the basics. Kids need this most of all. Just look at the smiles
That was AWESOME!!!
Morning from the land of Blaze King. Thanks for the video again. Have been a follower/user of "Lord Black" since I walked into a big shop in Calgary in 1980 with a pocket full of cash and bought "that old looking rifle on the end with the fancy wood"..:). Stay well and God bless.
Yes! I’m very excited to make “proper” muzzle loading powder.
@@Gridlessness You likely know this but.. It's the size of the grains/granules that effects the burn rate - usually. I liked FFF in lighter loads in a .50, but FF worked "okay" too, though it fouled more and seemed more inconsistent. Dunno - it's a different thing from IMR4350 out of the can for sure!
@@bc30cal99 I use fff as well in.my 50!! It does better with it! Deer don't go far when it hits them! The most I've had them go is 10 yards!
Everyone loves a bang huh…cheers enjoying your exploits.
Brilliant!! Best video I've seen in ages! And VERY useful!! Especially the charcoal!! Cheers from London England 👍💪😎🏴
Your channel is entertaining and definitely a learning experience!
Just dont drink the pig water runoff with bleach that is a cancer causing DIOXIN from an earlier episode.
Don’t worry, I have a Berkey water filter and the only way I would do that is if my life depended on it and I would probably die anyway lol!
Started making my own charcoal to use in my forge and foundry. Never thought about using it for black powder. Believe me, I will. Thanks for the spark. Just found your channel, good stuff, you have a great family.
looks like my charcoal retort is going to be doing something soon too !! was going to do a sword but maybe a cannon might be worth a shot ??
Still alive?🤣
i made my own fireworks for years after first making my own black powder. The possibilities are endless.
😅 that laugh of joy blowing stuff up with his kids was great. Such a happy kid 😊 that laugh.
The giddy smile and giggling before he pushed the button was hilarious. Gotta love blowing things up lol!!!
Hello from Charleston, WV! I just happened upon this channel an IM SO GLAD I DID!! I have been watching for several days now just trying to get caught up. I'd love to come to the camp an learn a lot of things. Hopefully you will have another in the summer or fall? I am so interested in the off grid life an living in Canada. Thank you for sharing your family an the amazing life you all live. Many prayers an loads of blessings for you an your family.
Glad to have you along Shawn!
Hi !!from S.C.,Love your channel and I too, stubbled upon you,too!!!! How Happy I am about !!!!! Have watched all of your videos!!! Love your families relationship, you are two great parents!! Your girls are so pretty and SO INTELLIGENT!
LOVE everything that you have done.Your please is Awesome, but I don't think that I could deal with that extreme cold winters that you have !!!Last weeks low temp ,around 20F!!! I know you all will get a chuckle from that 😊❣️❣️❣️😊👍
I would like to see how your friend built his bellows . I need one for my for my forge Thanks Guys always love your videos keep them coming
I know right !!!!! Their videos always have a topic and then I see 10 other things I want to know about
If you look up at channel called Mr chickadee he shows you how to build them..called a box bellows from Japan very efficient of built good!
Think steam engine piston, but square. The leather valves let air in, but not out.
Add a hole in the side for air to "escape," and that has another valve to let air out, but not in.
That goes to a tube or pipe to go to the fire.
You'll have to make the tubes go to a common pipe, and just direct it from there.
The piston inside probably has a bit of soft leather around the edges so as to mate with the walls a bit better, but not so tight you can't move it.
The "handles" run both sides of the piston, and that's what guides the piston as well as transmitting the motion from your hand to the piston.
Just make sure that the valves, both in and out, are on the end caps.
The "out" one will have a pipe, the other will be the intake.
It should only take an afternoon.
If you can't find leather, use a piece of inner tube, or make a flapper with a hinge and some small wood pieces.
No end to the design changes you could come up with.
I love 💕 watching You and Your family on your videos, keep it up!!
Y’all are awesome to watch I love your channel keep on keeping on
No matter how many times you have tumbled 'ground' your powder as a complete mix without mishap, its a bad idea. Grind each component separately and then mix carefully.
I started making BP for my muzzle loader .54 caliber Hawken rifle last summer. Willow charcoal, saltpeter and sulfur. I found out later that the bark should be removed from the willow prior to placing it in a retort. Apparently the burning rate for the powder will be much faster. There is lots to learn for making useable firearm grade BP.
How to make the other two ingredients?
That's very cool stuff! 😉 Thanks for sharing guy's & gals. I love interesting science lessons like these. 🤔 Stay safe.
Now that's how to raise your kids... awesome video man, thanks 👍
oh man i wish i could have joined ya at the campout. i hope you have much success and a great turnout. sounds like a blast!
Don't feel bad, Hot Dave. A lot of people get it wrong. Hot air rises, heat goes to cold, in any direction. Some people actually think floor insulation is not needed.
Most American homes are built with a footing that extends below the Frost Depth,.whatever that might be for that area to defeat "Frost Heave," And a slab directly on the soil. Most of the cold Scandinavian Countries built homes with a Floor a foot or two above the soil, and the footing barely below ground. This is done because the heat sinks below the floor, and then escapes out below the footing, keeping the frost depth below the footing and defeating "Frost Heave"
the problem in this particular case, is the radiant heat ignores air, as it is effectively a beam of energy. the fact you could see the red hot glowing heat means you will feel it regardless of how much cold air you send past it, which is why it was hotter where they were putting their hand than when they were standing closer to the burner.
as far as insulating the floor? it is not needed in many places and in certain structures and locations it is detrimental. buildings and structures MUST be engineered to their location.
You guys are rad. BUTT! That pop. Was a Oscar Meyer!!! GOD BLESS YOU WONDERFUL CANUCKS!!
That's some childhood memories right there. Black powder is all sorts of fun.
So very awesome. Black powder from what I was reading when I started hunting with my muzzle loaders is supposed to be kinda unstable. But I guess as long as it’s not around sparks it should be fine. It fun waiting for the smoke to clear before knowing if you hit the target. Suspense. 👍
😎
FYI. If your getting your sulphur from plant fertilizer and your kn03 from stump remover you can purify it very easily. This way all of the fillers will be gone and your BP will be way more awesome. Also willow works the best lol.
Awesome.!!!I do enjoy Dave being a part of it.!!
Cool show! Love the bp I used to make it back in the day myself. But I had to eyeball it since I didn’t have a scale lol still a great time! The bellow was awesome as well. Really cool to see one made of wood. Thanks again!
I have made my own charcoal for my forge, but your method looks much more efficient.
Use the poplar to make the charcoal and pine for the heat, poplar is a relative of willow which makes the best blackpowder, Also poplar or willow charcoal is regarded as the best for art if you have an artist in the family. Great retort by the way,
I could never quite make top notch blackpowder. Long after I quit, I read that popular was the best wood to use, because it has the least minerals. Those trees grow really fast too.
Going to try to use Hackberry (southern US). Great satisfaction to see that miserable tree turned into something of use. (Would never cook on it however)
I use tulipwood for BP charcoal. It's similar to poplar, grows fast and is pretty useless for anything else, weak wood. Plus I have lots of them growing around here in New England. Works really well.
Having fun, the giddiness of it sure shows in ur face. Great vid
Dudes a goof. I love it. Great vid!
Another great video, as all of your vids are! Good to see Dave, again, and he did a great job on the bellows. Your powder worked like a charm! I like to hunt with my muzzleloaders, but I've never made my own powder. I might have to make some, now, just to see if I can! I would love to come to your campout, but will just have to see about making it next year. It would be so much fun to meet you and your wonderful family. God bless.
Making BP isn't hard but please follow one simple rule: if you're going to mill it (which gives way better results), make absolutely sure that the milling media cannot cause sparks. Use lead or brass, maybe ceramic, but I'd be cautious about that even. I used to use .45 hardened lead balls. Never use iron or steel! If you feel the need for a workout, you can use a pestle and mortar. I have tried it - do not recommend!
You can, of course, mill the components separately but it isn't really necessary if the above rule is followed. Also, milled airfloat charcoal is extremely messy stuff to handle!
Purity of sulphur and pot. nitrate are important-ish but the wood from which the charcoal is made has a huge effect on burn speed. As other commenters have written, willow is possibly the best. The powder in this vid burned slooow. For pyrotechnics use, he would have done better to burn the pine and charcoal the poplar! I'm not sure about how fast a burn you want for muzzleloaders but I reckon residuals from pine resin could cause bore cleaning issues?
Once you have your BP, you can add a couple of percent by weight of dextrin (dry-baked cornflour - it turns yellow when cooked) and make a thick slurry with a little water. Pull cotton or hemp thread slowly through this and hang it to dry in a safe place. Now you have blackmatch, old style cannon fuse... it would probably burn at about one inch per second and looks really cool...
Sorry about the long post - I used to play with pyrotechnics and it's still in my blood!
SO SO COOL YOU GUYS ARE SO AWESOME VIDEO
Great video
Always enjoy Dave joining in.
You are going to have way too much fun with this black powder... congratulations. Now all you need is a vein of quartz flecked with gold and your girls’ college funds will be assured. Say safe out there brother. Wishing you, Rose and your family a blessed week and a gentle spring thaw.
That is some fine looking charcoal. Think I might have to build me one of them.
DAT LAUGH THOUGH ! Are you sure your Canadian? I think you might be American with that laugh and explosions. (Just kidding, I still love y'all) :)
I made black powder as a kid, fast forward about 40 years and I started making it again as a big kid 😂 but that’s what got me into charcoal and realising just how amazing the stuff is. I use a similar method although I use a 44 with both ends cut out then wrapped in corrugated iron that’s about 8” longer than the drum, then set a 60L drum inside on a platform as the charcoal retort. What this does is allow most of the air to be drawn down the corrugated iron on the outside of the drum which acts as an air preheater, gets very hot with very little smoke once running.
If you want to experiment, the type of wood used for the charcoal in black powder makes a big difference in burn rate, I think from memory willow may be one of the fastest. There’s a video maybe by Nurdrage where he tests various charcoal black powder burn rates.
I’ve also found bamboo charcoal works well and that makes some sense given the origins of black powder.
Apart from the black powder (and your forge) charcoal is amazing stuff for the garden and water purification.
Anyway thanks for the video, your journey into charcoal is very similar to mine
Dude I’m so glad I found u I love black powder and side locks
This is awesome!
Loved the video... granulated powder as one of your viewers suggested makes a big difference 😉
Loved that Bellows your friend/ neighbor/family had on his forge... sweet!
100% new favorite channel!
Your Wife’s and Kids facial reactions on your intro is Golden 😁
Perfect for bio char to make black earth soil, great for gardens and crops.
What about all of the smoke?
@@Michael-rg7mx
What about it?
@@deandennison4687 air pollution
That bellows reminds me of the tunnel ventilation air pump from the book and the movie The Great Escape. By the way, the book was based on real events during WWII. If you haven’t seen the movie I recommend it highly.
Best homeschooling dad ever!
You guys rock! Those girls are very lucky!
You can make activated charcoal by sending a steam line into your retort. Great for black powder, water filtration, and neutralizing ingested poisons.
Good to know, thank you.
@@danieljones317 You are welcome
Take your powder after grinding and mix it with wine or red wine vinegar or even urine. Just enough fluid till it gets wet but forms a very thick paste. (incorporation) Then push that thru a very fine brass screen like window screen fine and spread it out on a tray to dry.(corning) When fully dry grind it down again. It will greatly more explosive...Willow Charcoal has bigger air spaces in it which gets coated with the sulfur and KNO3 and makes a bigger faster boom
Hahaha wine or urine? Wtf is wrong with water? Or alcohol if you want to dry it faster.
@@JO-ch3el Alcohol will cause Volotility Problems and will work too good Water will as well but not good enough. Since the KNO3 will dissolve better in a slightly acidic medium; Wine, Urine or Vinegar are best
Not only is it fun to make, it's almost the only way to get real black powder today.
Cool project and video. Thanks for showing.