Drying Black Powder

[musketman]

Let's say your black powder gets wet, how would you go about drying it?

If you sun dried it, you could loose some to the wind...

 

[Rebel]

Heck, just put it in the microwave for a few minutes. :crackup: Might be better than raw eggs. :crackup:

 

[Claude Mathis]

Let's say your black powder gets wet, how would you go about drying it?

In a skillet, like parching corn! :crackup: :nono:

Or, spread it on newspaper and let it air dry.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

I have dried it in a paper bag. The beauty of BP is if once wet and properly dried, the quality remains unaffected.

Keeping your powder dry was more than just a saying. Navies of the time were constantly having to bring up their BP to dry on deck. The Corps of Discovery had to dry their powder (that was not in sealed lead containers) after a dunking or two.

If one must dry black powder, make sure it is done in a safe manner outdoors.

 

[mccoy]

Have your boss dry it over the campfire. it's a sure way to have off work for the next rondy....

 

[bezoar]

Pretty dangerous grounds here. first how wet is it? is it wet coffee grounds that just went thru the electric coffee pot? or it is a nasty mud?

Its possible you may need to grind the clumps up, so it may end up as a small batch of priming powder if you have a flint lock. and the method you choose to dry it will pose some problems. avoid nice hot places like a stove or furnace or water heater. and if you do it on the drive way, your neighbors dog could leave a present in it for you.

And if thats not horrid enough, your in the ATF check box "manufacturing explosives/explosive devices". With the political paranoia, you sadly could end up in prison cuz you dried the powder from the pocket flask.

 

[shmrck1]

One of the first things i was told when i joined
up here at the MLF was there was no such thing as a
dumb ??? so here goes mine.....concidering the way
a microwave works i don't see why you could not dry B/P
in one. low temp setting short periods of time,
several times. seems as safe to me as parching it.
I'm i being naive here ??????????? if i am
i think we mite want to put a disclaimer on this whole
topic. :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:THOUGHTS PLEASE!
snake-eyes

 

[musketman]

Pretty dangerous grounds here. first how wet is it?

It's not...

I am just trying to establish a way to dry some, just in case...

After all, powder is getting hard to come by for many, and I wouldn't want to throw it away if it gets wet...

How would you keep the wind from blowing it away as it's drying?

 

[musketman]

One of the first things i was told when i joined
up here at the MLF was there was no such thing as a
dumb ??? so here goes mine.....concidering the way
a microwave works i don't see why you could not dry B/P
in one. low temp setting short periods of time,
several times. seems as safe to me as parching it.
I'm i being naive here ??????????? if i am
i think we mite want to put a disclaimer on this whole
topic. :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:THOUGHTS PLEASE!
snake-eyes

NO MICROWAVE OR CONVENTUAL OVENS!!!

How's that for a disclaimer?

 

[horkeye]

You guys is all silly!!

Didn't nun of you see TLOTM???

Their powda didn need drien after they jumped the watafall!!!



:blah:

 

[CrackStock]

I think that if I were a desparate mountain man and found that my powder became damp, I would place it in a cloth bag and hang that up to air dry. I would check periodically and scoop the dried powder away from the damp clump. The grain size might be changed if it got very damp, but you might be able to keep the grain close if you were careful and the powder were only damp rather than soaked into a lump of black clay. If all else failed, you could grind it finer and use it for priming.

I would not worry about the ATF as you are not manufacturing anything, but rather simply drying what was already manufactured.

If it were to happen to me today, I would just use it as fertilizer and buy more, but I understand that this is just a mental exercise.

CS

 

[musketman]

I would not worry about the ATF as you are not manufacturing anything, but rather simply drying what was already manufactured.

Exactaly, powder can and does get wet from time to time...

You could slip while crossing a small stream and land horn first in the water, knocking the plug loose on the way down...

 

[Gary]

The Union's Civil War Ordnance Manual had a section on drying wet powder. All I recall is spreading it out in the sun. There's other things like breaking it up but I don't recall it off hand.

 

[SCATTERSHOT]

Seriously, is there an ATF regulation against making powder for your own use? Say a pound or so at a time? Or just massive quantities for sale or distribution?

Thanks,
Gene

 

[musketman]

Seriously, is there an ATF regulation against making powder for your own use? Say a pound or so at a time? Or just massive quantities for sale or distribution?

Thanks,
Gene

Yes, it is against the "law" to make black powder in any quantity, and it is a taboo topic here...

Drying wet powder is OK because it was already made by a proper manufacturer and paid for by you, the consumer...

 

[SCATTERSHOT]

Thanks, Musketman.

 

[bezoar]

You can legally purchase supplies and equipment for making black powder for fireworks, and at one time it seems to have been legal to make your own out west, maybe because everything is so wide spread apart..

But theoretically you could do all sorts of things to dry your powder. you could bag it up and hang it over the radiator. You could put it in a sandwich size tupperware container with the lid loosely placed ontop, and then put that into one of the big plastic tupper ware bins out on the lawn with a few dessicant bags thrown inside with it, and if theres a breeze throw the big plastic bin lid on. Those bins get very hot in summer on my porch. and the plus is that if it somehow exploded you would only loose the powder as the bin lid should blow off at low internal pressure and youd be able to test out a new bp solvent on the bin before the wife gets home to hit you when she discovers where her blanket bin went...

but please NO FIRE, thats insane. not only do you risk blowing the stove up, but you risk killing the house should the gas line decide to ignite.. THeres a good article somewhere about a kid in the early 1990s who blew himself up along with most of the kitchen when the batch of guncotton he was making decided to detonate in the oven as he dried it.

 

[CrackStock]

Musket Man -- was this a discussion of modern or period methods? Was I confused?

CS

 

[Slamfire]

You guys is all silly!!

Didn't nun of you see TLOTM???

Their powda didn need drien after they jumped the watafall!!!



:blah:

I thought they had to jump because their powder WAS wet. :huh:

 

[musketman]

Musket Man -- was this a discussion of modern or period methods? Was I confused?

CS

Either, black powder has got wet in all eras that contained it...

I believe that Lewis and Clark had to sun their powder once, something about a conoe tipping over comes to mind...