Black Powder Aluminium Flask?

[Boatncamp]

Make friends with some local carpenters and plumbers. Ask them for an old set of bathtub drain pipes, 1 1/2" brass. Then just use your lathe to make the end caps, spouts etc. save a lot in cost of brass. Machining a tube from a solid piece of brass would scrap an a lot of the material. Now, as you got a lathe and CNC, how about making some cannon barrels?

 

[Sonny from Vincennes]

Of course! Safety first. Thanks for the heads-up Sonny.

A letter to the reloading companies will clear up the use of aluminum around black powder. Some powder measures have cast iron bodies and some have aluminum parts that could be in contact with black powder. These measures are marked NO BLACK POWDER and in the manual too. One company advised me to use of brass only for black powder use.

 

[Notchy Bob]

Um..., no that's probably a bad idea. I was once a muzzleloading artillery man and I know the black powder reacts with the aluminum foil that we would wrap the main charge within to shoot the cannon. Since we made these up less than a week before an event it was not a problem for us as the aluminum foil would get destroyed when the cartridge was fired, but storing powder for long periods, no I would not.

LD

Dave, I don’t doubt a word you say, but I am curious with regard to the type of reaction that would occur. Does the aluminum degrade the powder, or vice versa? Or, is it an issue with safety?

Thanks!

Notchy Bob

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Dave, I don’t doubt a word you say, but I am curious with regard to the type of reaction that would occur. Does the aluminum degrade the powder, or vice versa? Or, is it an issue with safety?

Thanks!

Notchy Bob

Both the Aluminum and the powder that contacts it changes colors. May only be cosmetic, but didn't want to fool with it. We found a round that had been made for an event the month before, and it was so corrupted we dumped it. We figured aluminum is non-ferrous but steel is ferrous, yet manufacturers were selling us powder both black and modern, in steel cans... so we erred on the side of caution.

LD

 

[RATKAS]

Make friends with some local carpenters and plumbers. Ask them for an old set of bathtub drain pipes, 1 1/2" brass. Then just use your lathe to make the end caps, spouts etc. save a lot in cost of brass. Machining a tube from a solid piece of brass would scrap an a lot of the material. Now, as you got a lathe and CNC, how about making some cannon barrels?

Good idea to make it out of brass pipe. I know a couple of plumbers. Thanks

 

[Notchy Bob]

Dave, I don’t doubt a word you say, but I am curious with regard to the type of reaction that would occur. Does the aluminum degrade the powder, or vice versa? Or, is it an issue with safety?

Thanks!

Notchy Bob

Both the Aluminum and the powder that contacts it changes colors. May only be cosmetic, but didn't want to fool with it. We found a round that had been made for an event the month before, and it was so corrupted we dumped it. We figured aluminum is non-ferrous but steel is ferrous, yet manufacturers were selling us powder both black and modern, in steel cans... so we erred on the side of caution.

LD

Thanks!

Notchy Bob

 

[ZUG]

A person should consider static electricity when working around black powder.

There have been experiments that addressed this subject and it was found that you needed heat along with the arc to set off the black powder. Normal static electricity will not set off 1F, 2F, 3F, or 4F black powder. Depending on the spark it could set off VERY FINE DUST black powder. Now if you are using an arc welder around your flintlock then all bets are off.

 

[Keyhole]

I wasn't aware of the aluminum thing.....
I have cannon loads made up in packets made of aluminum foil. Most were made last year....is this a risk?

 

[RATKAS]

Hi guys. While we are on the subject of flasks. Would something like this work as a spout on a flask? It's a small gas shut off valve made from brass. If it is going to work I would modify it to fit a brass flask together with different calibrated spouts depending on the size of the charge I want to throw. Any advice would be helpful. Cheers

 

[toot]

leather does not conduct electricity or the brass spout will not spark, as I under stand it?

 

[Rebel bull]

Make friends with some local carpenters and plumbers. Ask them for an old set of bathtub drain pipes, 1 1/2" brass. Then just use your lathe to make the end caps, spouts etc. save a lot in cost of brass. Machining a tube from a solid piece of brass would scrap an a lot of the material. Now, as you got a lathe and CNC, how about making some cannon barrels?

I did this and you dont have to machine the caps just solder a plate on the brass nut for the drain pipe thats what I did for the first one that I did

 

[Rebel bull]

Hi guys. While we are on the subject of flasks. Would something like this work as a spout on a flask? It's a small gas shut off valve made from brass. If it is going to work I would modify it to fit a brass flask together with different calibrated spouts depending on the size of the charge I want to throw. Any advice would be helpful. CheersView attachment 318541

yes it well work but it well be a pain to use and the ones from track and others isn't much more then what your local hardware store is going to charge for this.......but you do what you need to do

 

[RATKAS]

Yep.

leather does not conduct electricity or the brass spout will not spark, as I under stand it?

Yep, leather as well as brass don't spark.

 

[Relic shooter]

I personally have prefered using original shot dispensers as they work the best.
They are still readily available & even on ebay for reasonable prices.
TIP;
I used an original dispenser similar to Loyalist Dave's & tightly stitched a leather casing around it to protect it & added a shoulder harness strap to the rear for easier loading.

 

[Phil Coffins]

I’m always learning new things on this site and after the questions about aluminum foil and black powder reacting it seemed prudent to inspect some cannon loads that were made up in July of 2021 for an event. These have been in a wood cigar box in my basement till now. Opening one and inspecting it shows nothing has changed. Refolding the foil went fine so maybe this year they will get shot!
IMG_0576 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr

 

[Relic shooter]

I’m always learning new things on this site and after the questions about aluminum foil and black powder reacting it seemed prudent to inspect some cannon loads that were made up in July of 2021 for an event. These have been in a wood cigar box in my basement till now. Opening one and inspecting it shows nothing has changed. Refolding the foil went fine so maybe this year they will get shot!
IMG_0576 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr

Ha ! used the same charging method back when I was young enough to pack my big boomsticks around

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I’m always learning new things on this site and after the questions about aluminum foil and black powder reacting it seemed prudent to inspect some cannon loads that were made up in July of 2021 for an event. These have been in a wood cigar box in my basement till now. Opening one and inspecting it shows nothing has changed. Refolding the foil went fine so maybe this year they will get shot!
IMG_0576 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr

I did point out it was some years ago, and that we didn't bother to find out what had happened, only ceased to leave the rounds for very long.

OH but the observation that they didn't sell sporting BP in aluminum containers, when it would've been cheaper and non-ferrous to do so..., was accurate.

LD

 

[RATKAS]

Good morning guys! I want to make a mini flask dispenser for my 1863 Remington .31 Pocket Revolver. Can I use normal copper pipe used in plumbing that I buy at the hardware store? It won't be to store the BP in for long periods of time. Just to go out to the range for a day of shooting and then transfer the BP back to its original container. Will the copper pipe suffice? Thanks!

 

[ZUG]

With all the time and effort that you will expend on making one why don't you just buy one that is made for this? Time is precious but if you have plenty of it and I don't see how you can have EXTRA of it running a company then have at it. BTW - you could have made one in the time you were writing all these messages.

 

[RATKAS]

With all the time and effort that you will expend on making one why don't you just buy one that is made for this? Time is precious but if you have plenty of it and I don't see how you can have EXTRA of it running a company then have at it. BTW - you could have made one in the time you were writing all these messages.

Thanks for your reply ZUG, though it didn't really answer my previous question hehe. Allright, here are a couple of things to consider:

1) I live in South Africa, not the USA or some other first world country. To obtain black powder is already an issue here, so buying accessories like flasks and measures etc. is basically non existent.

2) I do own my own engineering company with CNC machines, so I have all the toys to make anything I need. That however does not mean I do not have the time to make these items or pursue my hobbies. Weekends are there for a reason hehehe, and this small functional flask won't need specialized machines to make at all. I can just make this one at home.

3) I am a designer, tinkerer and a maker by heart, so I never just go out and buy stuff. I always enjoy to make stuff for myself, because I love the learning process it provides. There is of course a healthy cut-off point where I realize to just go out and buy an item IF it's readily available AND if my input costs will be much higher to make it myself.

Cheers!