                               Article Three                   

                   How To Make Black Powder That Really Works

I know you've probably seen the recipe for black powder in other pyrotechnic
articles.  The problem with most of that is the procedure, or the amount of
chemicals to put into the mixture.  Here's an example from the file 
SHURMAN.TXT:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
       Black Powder

      -In any powerful explosive,  there is required the explosive itself
       such as nitroglycerine,  TNT, and even Black Powder.   In military
       explosives, they tend to use more powerful explosives such as  TNT
       or  dynamite but many  urban terrorists would use the cheapest and
       the most available such as black powder.
      -Black powder is bought in most U.S. states but  not in Canada, the
       closest  to getting it in Canada would be probably privately made.
       However making it would be quite easy and also quite cheap.

       Supplies Required
   
       Potassium nitrate
       Sulfur
       barquiette Charcoal

   1. Take each item individual and grind them up into the finest powders
      as possible.  Use a blend and grind each down until it is so fine.
   2. Once you have blended them into a fine powder, mix them into a bowl
      with this ratio:
       6 parts potassium
       2 parts Charcoal
       1 part Sulfur

   3. Once the three are mixed together in that ratio,  mix it up as much
      as possible until it is a fine gray powder.  DO NOT! I repeat DON'T
      use the blender once these have been all combined.  This new formed
      powder is shock and friction  sensitive and could explode instantly 
      if put in a blender.
   4. Once completed,  store the powder in a plastic margarine container,
      This will prevent it from getting water, and keep in a cool place.

      -There  are other ways to making black powder but this is the  best
       of them all.  There are many other fast burning agents around that
       could be used for building explosive devices.   Especially the Gun
       Powder used in shotgun shells. 
      -Gun powder can be bought by the pound in Windsor for under $20s 
       and its even better then this home made black powder.  If you can
       get ahold of gun powder, this would be the substitute that can be
       used to replace Black Powder in any device.
      -There are many other fast burning agents  that are in the form of
       flash powder, but the problem with flash powder is that making it
       is extremely expensive or hard to obtain many of those supplies.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Let's get one thing straight first, Black Powder IS NOT Gun Powder!  Black 
Powder used to be used as gun powder way back a long time ago in muskets and 
cannons.  Now, however, we use a different form of it in which Potassium 
Chlorate is used instead of Potassium Nitrate because there is less smoke 
given off when it burns, it burns faster and it's more easy to light.

Ok, now let's go through this step by step:

1.  It is important to grind the Potassium Nitrate, the Sulfur and the 
    charcoal into fine powders.  Do each one separately.  I have yet to
    see the Potassium Nitrate ignite when ground in a plastic or metal
    bowl, so use whatever you got.  Electric shock won't set the drug
    store variety of Saltpeter off very easily.  Make sure each is a fine
    powder before continuing.

2.  Use the following ratio when mixing:   5 parts Potassium Nitrate
                                           2 parts Charcoal
                                           1 part Sulfur

3.  Once the ingredients are added, mix them up thoroughly.  Some people say
    to mix them dry, but I found that best results occur when you add a 
    little water, just enough to make it a fairly dry paste.  Mix it up good!
    You will then want to heat this paste somehow.  Use your mom's pot, or 
    do it in a big metal can or something and put it on the stove.  Heat it
    while stirring it CONSTANTLY!  You don't want any dry particles cooking:)
    When there is just a little moisture left, take it off the stove.

4.  When it is cooled off a little so that you can touch it, get some wire
    mesh (window screen mesh is fine) and grade the powder through it with a  
    piece of paper below to catch the droppings.  The droppings that fall 
    onto the paper below should look like small lumps of black/grey stuff.

5.  That's it!  Let the grey stuff on the paper dry thoroughly.  When it 
    feels dry to the touch then it's ready to light!  Take a small amount and
    put it in a pile on a metal plate or something that won't burn and put a
    match to it.  It may take a while to get it going, since drug store
    Potassium Nitrate isn't the most purest of substances :)  But when it 
    does light, take your hand away so it doesn't get burnt and watch it
    flare up!  

That's about all there is to it.  You may want to fool around with the amount
of ingredients you put in though.  Just remember two things:

1) The Potassium Nitrate is the Oxidizer
2) The Charcoal and the Sulfur are the feuls
3) The Oxidizer "oxidizes" the feul (it reacts with the feul)

This means that if there is too much Potassium Nitrate, there won't be enough
feul to sustain the reaction.  Also, if there is too much Charcoal, Sulfur, 
or both, there won't be enough Potassium nitrate to react with it all.  So,
if there is too much of any one of the chemicals, you will waste the excess
chemical, or you may even decrease the effifiency of the reaction meaning it
won't work as well as it could!

The most efficient ratio of ingredients can be calculated using 
Stoichiometry!  In other words, by using the chemical equation of the 
burning of black powder, you can find out the exact percentage of each
chemical to add.  I used to know the formula, but I lost it.  I'll try to 
get over to the Windsor Public Library and get it again.  Once I have it, 
I'll release an update to this file that will tell you what the formula is
aswell as all the calculations involved in finding the best percentages.
Oh, and of course I'll tell you what those percentages are :)

Until then, have fun with the instructions I have given.  Just don't do 
anything stupid like make a pipe bomb or something like that!  Black Powder
is great for making mini-road flares, or those Fountain 'o' Fire type of
fireworks (the ones that spray sparks) or whatever.  Just be careful!  Don't
burn yourself, or others, and don't set anything on fire :)

