I've found that the most difficult part of this project has been my lack of machine tools. Trying to find which type of pvc pipe fits which size wooden dowel isn't something you can google. You have to get out there and do it. Fortunately, I have made some progress with sourcing all the things I need to get this done.
I was able to recrystallize (purify) the potassium nitrate stump remover by dissolving it in near boiling water. You will be surprised how much can be dissolved before saturation. Then I let it cool VERY slowly over several days to get some sizable crystals thereby confirming the purity.
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| Recrystallized KNO3 |
The sulfur was a whole different monster. To separate it from the 10% filler, which I am assuming is a Bentonite Clay (which is used to make the hydrophobic elemental sulfur "wettable"). I had to boil very small amounts in Toluene. Then perform the same crystallization process to purify the sulfur to, what I suspect is near 98%. This was excruciatingly time consuming because even in boiling Toluene Sulfur is only fractionally soluble. Regardless in the end, I ended up with enough ingredients to mill out ~1/2 kg of black powder (green milling powder). So the correct proportions of super dry, screened ingredients went into my grounded rubber tumbler barrel with double 0 buck shot lead that I emptied from a box of shotgun shells. This was put outside and embanked in case anything went haywire. 2-3 hours later... I had my first batch of powder to test.
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