--Went to a cannon shoot yesterday; great fun but I need to get some better powder! FFG is the coarsest I can find in Santa Rosa. Anyone got a source for coarser powder nort of the GG bridge? Also found that my mail-order fuze doesn't stand the test of time and am looking for something more reliable.
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SF Bay Area
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Re: Black powder?
Sun, April 6, 2008 - 1:48 PMSeal the fuse in a bag with about a pound of desiccant per 100 feet. That should get it up to par in short order. Make the powder yourself, ingredients are cheap and it's really easy. -
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Re: Black powder?
Sun, April 6, 2008 - 7:53 PMBelow is some BP info. What size are you looking for and what quantity?
Jack
Size Does Matter: Finding the Right Black Powder
Having a hard time finding the "right" size black powder or confused about it? The Manufacturers classify Black Powder types and grain sizes by the numbers and letters shown below. Most black powder sold in the US is either "sporting grade" ("G" black powders), or "blasting grade" ("A" black powders). Professional fireworks manufacturers prefer the "A" series black powders, but you are required to have an ATF license to buy them legally. However you don't need an ATF license to purchase up to 50 lbs. of sporting grade (G) black powders, which are chemically identical. Since the composition of the two types of black powders is identical, you can, in fact, substitute G black powder for A black powder in your fireworks, if you understand the following: the black powder manufacturers created completely different grading schemes for each type of black powder (i.e. sporting vs. blasting powder). Hence, 2FG black powder is not the same size as 2FA. By using the table below you can see how to substitute G Grade black powders for the harder-to-obtain A grade black powder. In the USA, gun stores will sell you Cannon Grade, 1FG, and 5FG black powders as suitable substitutes respectively for the most commonly used 2FA (for lift and burst), 4FA (for lift and burst), and Meal D (for rice hulls and priming).
If you are making your own black powder, you can use this chart for approximate screen sizes for granulating powders to standard grain sizes.
Black Powder Grades & Equivalent Sizes (in mm)
Sporting Grades (G) Grain Size (in mm) Blasting Grades (A) Grain Size (in mm)
1FA 8.0-4.0
Cannon Grade 4.76-1.68 2FA 4.76-1.68
1FG 1.68-1.19 4FA 1.68-.84
2FG 1.19-.59
3FG .84-.29 5FA .84-.297
4FG .42-.15 7FA .42-.149
Meal D .42
5FG .149 Fine .149 -
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Re: Black powder?
Sun, April 20, 2008 - 11:34 AM--Lotsa info there; thanks! Actually I'd like to get probably 25 lbs of cannon grade black powder, as well as another 25 lbs of Pyrodex, but I haven't been able to find this coarse enough either. I kinda dig switching back and forth, because of the different characteristics of the burn rates. Also I hope to build a mortar soon. With a mortar I've found that a round lifted with black powder leaves the barrel slow enough to be tracked by eye, which is handy for watching the fall of the shot.
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Re: Black powder?
Tue, April 22, 2008 - 10:27 PMMaking proper black powder yourself isn't simple or easy. You need to do the proper milling, drying and corning. It's nothing to fool with.
Simply mixing KNO3, S and C in the right ratio will produce nice a sputter, but proper powder needs proper physical processing,
which isn't exactly safe for the novice. Take a look at the number of black powder mill explosions that still occur today.
- Bart -
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Re: Black powder?
Wed, April 23, 2008 - 8:48 PMI've been making it since I was in the 6th grade. I've never had any problems with black powder. Flash powder is dangerous, but I've been making all kinds of that for almost as long and only had one accident.
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