Black Powder (Carbon Black)

[@Nighthawkinlight]

I almost commented on an earlier video when you mentioned trying this that you shouldn't bother, but I was curious *how bad* it would be. What people forget about carbon is that diamonds are "pure" carbon, graphite is "pure" carbon, same with graphene, buckeyballs, carbon nanotubes, charcoal, soot... Being pure carbon doesn't tell you anything about its properties because carbon can form an infinite number of molecular configurations. A diamond is a single giant molecule of chained carbon atoms. A lump of charcoal can be made just as pure carbon as a diamond but that doesn't make them the same thing. Lampblack can be made on a spectrum of molecular configurations, but most of the commercial stuff is closer in properties to graphite than to charcoal. I'm certain most of it doesn't even burn in your powder and it would have hardly been flammable at all had it not been for the sulfur.

[@jamesdenton3692]

Tru Dat!!!

[@xjda68]

Couldn't have put it better and I was also going to comment previous to not waste your time, but people usually only believe what they see. Carbon Black, CAS# 1333-86-4 is mainly used for coloring Rubber like tires and making them more durable. Lamp Black has the same CAS#, but its properties are different. So technically they are NOT the same thing as people want to think. Lamp Black is mainly used as a pigment for coloring anything and everything from Concrete to Paper. It would be worse than Carbon Black. Don't bother.

[@pursaveer9027]

Charcoal, properly retorted for black powder is not pure carbon. It's 75-85% carbon.

[@Nighthawkinlight]

@@pursaveer9027 Thank you semantic man. You might notice I said "can be made".

[@JohnLloydScharf]

Okay I want him to use pure crushed diamonds!🤡 Actually, I'd like to see single atoms used, but Buckminsterfullerene might be interesting, too.

[@waynemanning3262]

Carbon black was mixed with diesel then sprayed on frozen rivers from helicopters to hasten the spring break-up! This was done in the early fifties in British Columbia on the Kamano power project. Imagine doing that today!

[@Gunsmith-4570]

You may not be a chemist, but you certainly are a scientist. Your methodology for your search for the most powerful and most clean burning antique muzzleloader propellant shows this. Thank you for your diligence in your search. All good videos!

[@ThubanDraconis]

In science when something doesn't work it is a success. In this case he has demonstrated that lampblack is not a good carbon source for black powder.

[@Royal-xh8db]

​@@ThubanDraconis ??????

[@Beuwen_The_Dragon]

I believe the word is Alchemist. ^.-.^ 👍

[@speedyfly]

I spoke to my brother who is a chemist about this. His take is that because pure carbon has a stable crystal structure it won't react as much during the explosion - causing the poor performance and the amount of carbon residue left behind. He says graphite would produce a worse result. We talked about the toilet paper charcoal and he said because the paper is almost pure cellulose the process probably results in a form of gun cotton where the structure is more open allowing the nitrate to better react with carbon.

[@kbjerke]

It had to be done. Thanks, Jake, for proving (or disproving) a concept. You satisfied *MY* curiosity!! Still wondering if brown, institutional grade paper towel will make a good charcoal. Best wishes!

[@jqpublic9777]

My family had an oil burning furnace when I was a boy and my dad cleaned it every spring. He'd save some of the soot for my baseball team to put under our eyes to reduce glare like the pros. Thanks for reminding me of that

[@harrypeterson9287]

Suggestion for sulfurless black powder. Pure ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in place of sulfur. It has virtually the same fuel content as sulfur and has similar catalytic properties. It might be worth trying if you want to expand on the sulfurless BP experiment.

[@Miningpastpresentfuture]

Ascorbic acid does not have the low melting point of sulfur and won’t “pressure weld” together the way sulfur does. It might make a pyrotechnic grade of BP, but I doubt it will work in a flintlock.

[@harrypeterson9287]

@@Miningpastpresentfuture Maybe, but 375F isn't extraordinarily higher of a melting point. Another suggestion I was going to make would be sodium benzoate. I'm afraid that might be a little too spicy if it works though.

[@DireAvenger001]

@@harrypeterson9287what is sodium benzonate derived from?

[@Miningpastpresentfuture]

Playing with the power of a benzene ring would make me a little nervous, but it probably would not be catastrophic. I have to admit it has been too many years since college organic chemistry for me to predict what the energy release would be.

[@kd5inm]

Maybe make some and see what it looks like burning it on the ground first.

[@c62west]

The literature is clear on this. For good B.P. it's not important to merely have the correct amount of carbon for a stoichiometric mix. Charcoal contains chemicals other than the element, carbon, that aid in combustion. Obviously, our forefathers tried lampblack, too. I'M HAPPY YOU TRIED IT. A large part of science is verifying others' results. Thank you.

[@Godwh1sperer]

Oh Lord, the sheer rifle abuse, that must've hurt! All fireworks industry manuals recommend not using lamp black instead of charcoal in lift charges etc, and you see why. Its mostly used that i saw in primers and road flares. I saw a report formulation with it but it was heavily aluminized. Dont use powdered metals in antique.. because they burn so hot crystals of corundum (sandpaper grit) formed from the aluminium will "weld" to your barrel, and also mess with the rifling. Its great that you did this, and having big unexpected successes alternating with epic failures only increases the joy of watching your videos, because everything no matter how zany gets an objective test to make the most of it, and its standardizes so people can compare. Don't take the wile e coyote moments as personal failure, you run the best powder video series of the internet! 51 btw, not a pipsqueak yapping :)

[@lutherpayne9957]

Man, I have seen some fouling from shooting a weekend of 58 cal blanks, but that takes the prize. I think the Toilet Paper powder shows a lot of promise since it was no more dirty than some commercial powders. I enjoy your presentations.

[@Everythingblackpowder]

Thank you

[@kd5inm]

This video didn't suck. It may not have turned out like everyone would hope but it did tell us what not to use. Thank you!

[@sylvainlalonde5061]

Heard in chemistry, the best charcoal is made from coconut shells! Love your show Bro!!!

[@lizardkeeper100]

the answer to why it doesn't work well is because of the nano structure. the carbon from your charcoal had a porosity to it that when mixed with the other chemical holds on to the powders molecularly. the carbon black has a nano structure more like glass leading to less contact with the carbon. I hope that makes sense

[@joetaylor486]

This is something I suspected too. If this wasn't an important effect, the different sources of charcoal wouldn't matter, would it? Didn't think black powder could be this complicated.

[@Preyhawk81]

the Hydrogen in the charcoal gives the blackpowder the powder. They used the brown charcoal (rich on hydrogen compounds) for fast burning hunting powder. The first "modern" battleship gunpowder was the same they used straw and heated it with overheated steam around 170-200C with this methode you enrich the hydrogen it works with normal wood too. It was less abrassive than smokeless powder and it was compressed to an desteny of 2.0

[@SuperJC206]

I worked in the wine industry almost 50 years and we used activated charcoal (carbon) to decolor and absorb off odors. It was food grade and pure. It made awful BP. My assessment: the impurities in other carbon sources actually benefit the reaction. I also tried using dusting sulfur (used in the vineyard to control pests and disease) and it performed poorly, too. It has an anti-caking additive. My assessment: the impurities inhibit the reaction. My final conclusion: Trail and error trumps science. I enjoy your videos. Thanks.

[@marionriverwoodcraft]

I think the toilet paper powder needs to expanded on with a variety of different types. You obviously got lucky by trying the cottonelle first. We would definitely be curious to see a range of 5 or 6 common brands (in all your free time) that show super thick fluffy paper down to that nasty tissue paper single ply junk. There may be a gem hiding amongst the proverbial turds.

[@Brian-hf9tc]

Wonder how single ply bulk garbage TP would contend?

[@JoeSkylynx]

One kind of toilet paper that I think should be looked into is that brown toilet paper/papertowels that are in school bathrooms. That stuff rough, but for some reason layered to hell and back.

[@Royal-xh8db]

​@@Brian-hf9tcprobably the same way that the TP does, you're going to wind up with dirty fingers.

[@JunkfoodZombieGuns]

I would like him to try straight-up Scott TP.

[@jamesklein9846]

I wanna see the basic Scott paper

[@vickiepayne8686]

Regardless of the cellulose source (like wood or toilet paper) which is heated to produce charcoal for black powder, it is important to carefully control the degree of heat applied during pyrolysis. The buckthorn alder Swiss uses for their superior product is carefully controlled to never exceed 600F during pyrolysis. That is because the result is a mixture of carbon complexed with a variety of hydrocarbon moieties bound to the carbon molecules. Though not scientifically proven as far as I know, these hydrocarbon remnants in charcoal are thought to be reactive catalysts during the burn enabling oxygen provided by the potassium nitrate to more efficiently and quickly react with the charcoal to produce heat. Additionally, since these are hydrocarbons, they burn as well adding to the overall heat generated during the burn. If the temperature during pyrolysis exceeds 600F, a large percentage of the hydrocarbon moieties are driven off reducing this effect and slowing down the burn.

[@robertstump4740]

True. I lose significant velocity if my charcoal temps get over 600F. I try to stay under 550F.

[@michaelg4931]

I second. Look at the Japanese and they are sticklers for temperature control during the process. They are masters of making superb charcoal, for cooking anyway.

[@zerocool9774]

We dont have any commercial blackpowder available im my country, and this makes near to impossible for me to use my side-by-side shotgun with Damascus barrels, suitable only for blackpowder. So i decided to make my own. Instead of making traditional BP,i decided to make substitute, consisting of potassium nitrate, ascorbic acid and iron oxide as a catalyst. Ang literally couple of days ago after several weeks of experiments i made first batch of really fast burning meal. Next week im planning to corn it using dextrine and will try to shoot it during weekend, if weather will allow it. Ascorbic acid gunpowder has several advantages over traditional, like cleaner burning, more pleasant odor, higher energy. Although it also has some disadvantages, like higher hydroscopics. But it definitely works, works fine and worth a try.

[@robertstump4740]

Not a total loss. Sometimes you have to see IRL what doesn't work. Thanks for doing this so the rest of us don't have to!

[@Walter-wo5sz]

Negative results still provide valuable information.

[@mervmartin2112]

Lamp black was originally the soot scraped from a kerosene lamp chimney. No clue how it's made now, but you mentioned a smell and that it was oily. That would fit.

[@derekturner3272]

I was just about to descend down this rabbit hole. Thank you for saving me a week of my life. :)

[@Almost_Made_It]

I’m reading the 1937 “complete guide to handloading” by Philip B Sharpe and he has a recipe for a once popular bp of: 75% salt peter, 9% sulfur, 11.5% willow charcoal, and 4.5% charcoal manufactured from carbonized peas. Thought you might find that one interesting.

[@Everythingblackpowder]

Peas huh?

[@Almost_Made_It]

@@Everythingblackpowder I reckon so

[@joearledge]

about 3:30 This is a GREAT example of choking up on the rod and "wanging" for new guys. You can very clearly see the rod come to a dead stop when the ball is not seated, and obviously bouncing when it is seated.

[@liimnok-g3c]

If you didn't test it we wouldn't know for sure. Good work my dude.

[@Real11BangBang]

So we finally figured out how they actually make Pyrodex lol

[@billbearback2591]

years ago experimenting with axle grease to cover the projectiles in a 58 rem copy ,,i quickly discovered the gun locked up after 2 cylinders , i guess petroleum products just dont work with black , another great presentation , cheers big ears from down under

[@sokmalinowy6038]

I think you are a very entertaining person to listen to. The way you tempo yourself and the more casual tone of your presentations make your materials easily digestible, though i have never owned a bp firearm myself.

[@jasonwright285]

Thank goodness the Kibler barrels are made so well, along with the rest of the rifle.

[@someguy2741]

The problem is the charcoal has the benefit of having a lot of surface area. Light for volume. Carbon black is wanting it to be a dense additive, used as a pigment, you want it heavy for volume with very small particle size. This is the exact opposite of charcoal.

[@Hoopaball]

It's printer toner without sand. (SiO2)

[@lawrencestanley8989]

You guys always have such a good time - always makes me smile. And informative too!

[@archangel20031]

You should do a video where you list all the various black powders you have made, list the ingredients, and rate them on power speed and cleanliness.

[@richarddean3154]

Great job going through the various sources of carbon and confirming (or denying) their suitability for antique muzzleloader propellant. Has anyone suggested using mesquite for a carbon source? Your propellant series is especially interesting, as the firing of a muzzleloader has two primary components - performance and cleanliness. These components seem related - powerful propellant burns more fully, leaving less fouling and is therefore (possibly) easier to clean. It's a fascinating topic, both scientific and historic. Thank you for the effort you put into these videos.

[@KevinTownsend-hw5ih]

I noticed you go by the bounce of your ramrod more than a specific mark or depth for a seating indicator. I learn something every time I watch your videos. Keep them coming.

[@Everythingblackpowder]

Well, I had to do that with this because I needed to make sure it was seated and when the ramrod bounces, I know that the ball is seated against the powder

[@qhack]

In science, a failed experiment is still a data point and you learn something. In this case what not to use. Love these videos, keep them coming. I wonder how baking flour would work?

[@Everythingblackpowder]

Thank you

[@TheBubagrunt]

Oh buddy I surely enjoyed the this demonstration! Thanks Jake The good the bad the ugly. All of these examples are great, even the fails. Touché

[@Everythingblackpowder]

Thank you

[@TheBubagrunt]

Please be encouraged and realize how appreciative we are. I’m in the Kibbler hunt and am now reinvigorated by your demonstrations.

[@r.awilliams9815]

Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. I've used lampblack in pyrotechnics, it's great for long-lasting sparks, but that's all.

[@octsuprise]

Please consider "brown powder" made from wheat straw charcoal,supposedly very powerful powder made at the end of black powder era. Brown powder supposedly never was fully developed because transition to smokeless. lreed

[@gunsnwater2668]

Thanks for the experiment. Damn that was a black patch! I hope you got a stump needs blasting.

[@AetherialDraconian]

Activated charcoal would be interesting. Ammonium nitrate would be interesting to see if you can use the stuff

[@louisianagray8618]

Well thanks for the video anyway Jake it wasn't a total complete waste of time because now we know we don't want to use that and thank you for finding that out for us appreciate you man

[@Everythingblackpowder]

Thank you

[@louisianagray8618]

@@Everythingblackpowder no man thank you

[@duybear4023]

Fascinating series. I can't stop watching these and wanting to try my own experiments.

[@the_great_tigorian_channel]

Lamp black is used in fireworks for smoke and slow burning effects or firework punks. So I figured the carbon black would turn out similar. Well we know for sure now.

[@sbreheny]

I think "carbon black" or "lamp black" refer more to a process for making the material rather than its exact composition, which probably depends on the source material, just like "charcoal" is not all the same. Lamp black is just soot that is deposited by placing a cold surface in the reducing part of a flame. This is similar to exploiting the pyrolysis which happens in making charcoal. The key is to stop the combustion reaction by having a lack of oxygen (or in the lamp black case, to cool off the partially-combusted particulate matter so it cannot continue to burn).

[@rjo49]

Good description.

[@schinderiapraemeturus6239]

Lamp black is a soot accumulation as you surmise. I heard it sucks too and I think it's the 2@& 3 dimensional multiple forms of carbon that you are exploring. BTW, I just replicated your TP powder (Cottonelle) and it's awesome, it's also the fluffiest charcoal I've ever made, a quart only weighs 2.5g. I think that surface area contributes to a faster chemical conversion to gases and solid byproducts..that translates to increased velocity. Now...think about oxidizers like perchlorate, guanidine nitrate, burning rate catalysts, and consider your flintlock ignites more from deflagration more than a shock wave, 209 primer is awesome. Keep it up brother!

[@chaecoco2]

You need 15grams of charcoal to make a hundred gram batch. If a quart of Cottonelle charcoal only weighs 2.5 grams, you would need 6 quarts. Are you sure that weight is correct? Should that be 25 grams, not 2.5?

[@chaimafaghet7343]

@@chaecoco2 Yes he fucked up, a roll of TP comes out to about an ounce.

[@thomaskimball3789]

I thought you tube pulled you channel ! I tried to watch your channel last week and both times I got a white screen that said no longer available. Glad I was wrong.

[@Thecathunter]

Great demonstration. I was afraid of that. Great show keep up the good work.

[@Everythingblackpowder]

Thank you

[@francescopili5076]

It would be interesting to see how cheap stuff like dried leaves, dry hay, or sawdust would behave like

[@boelwerkr]

I wouldn't use hay or other grasses (bamboo by example). They have high concentrations of silica and could create hard to clean fouling.

[@c62west]

If I remember correctly, I read in an American Fireworks News article that charcoal from pine sawdust or douglass fir works well. That's an old memory, though. Also, the author had good results with balsa, if I remember correctly. There were advantages to each, though.... old memory.

[@tompowers8495]

Yes, very low lignin content , carbonization temp between 550 and 600 °, are essential........the lamp contains oil like compounds. Very good at making everything dirty.........thank you for this video and your continuing efforts.........when people tell me that they made black powder back in the day and it was easy .........I just stare at them, speech less.......

[@daveyjoweaver6282]

Hey Jake, Thank You for your sacrifice and the loooong hours cleaning all that ca ca yucky stuff! But how else would you have known? Many Blessings and keep your powder muzzled! DaveyJO in Pennsylvania

[@seantierney3]

Good video. for wood sources I am still holding out for you to give poplar a try. but if you want weird stuff you could always try tree leaves, corncobs, and grass. I remember reading that the chemical equation for black powder burning is not the most precises because at the time there was no way to capture the byproducts of combustion when it was under pressure and not being able to identify positively impurities or trace molecules. black powder is more than nitrate, sulfur, and carbon.

[@dpasek1]

Straw is a readily available form of grass.

[@samueldamewood5273]

The science goes on. Another item to write off the list. Thanks muchly and press on,

[@Hoopaball]

Hemp Crete, Hemp Hurd, for making hempcrete blocks - is sold in 50lbs bags and can be found for $1-2/lb. Or try Hemp Hurd animal bedding for barns, $1/lb. The "hurd" is the dense center of the stalk after removing the fibers. Harvesting requires tungsten steel blades on farm equipment because it's 7x stronger than steel. Check out the old WWII movie, "Hemp for victory." Hempcrete Hurd without the lime binder, might give you more bang for your buck than toilet paper.

[@bradkuz76]

Failures can be as important as victories. Good job.

[@gailkalkes8325]

Thank you for your experiments and the time you spend doing/sharing all your knowledge and wisdom. Keep up the good work,

[@raymondpearson4268]

I've been thinking about getting into black powder and I ran across your channel and now you have a new subscriber❤❤

[@Everythingblackpowder]

Glad to hear it

[@dalehildebrand7709]

Interesting. When you make charcoal, you're not actually making "pure" carbon (Unless you"re heating it red hot). When heated, organic materials like toilet paper wood, etcetera, decompose into a carbon rich material with plenty of partially decomposed products. Thats why your choice of carbon source is so important. Once thing that might make really good souce of carbon... is ordinary table sugar. Sugsr, is a carbohydrate. Which means that it is comprised of carbon and water. It might decompose into mostly carbon with some carbon hydrogen chemicals that might be just what is needed for fast clean black powder.

[@matthewq4b]

Petcoke (petroleum coke) might be worth a try and of course standard printer/photocopier paper and paper towels.

[@noapologizes2018]

I will reiterate, yes, it was a bad one, but I think you were due a bad one, as the other recent trials were (serendipitous) and pretty impressive. (You like my new word?) Any-who, these trials are really beneficial for those wanting to make the best antique muzzle loading propellant. And you doing the work cuts out the headaches for the rest of us. Thank you.

[@slcgrgcrgcaneafgugiesclawhfg]

Thanks!

[@AndyTheCornbread]

The molecular structure of the final product is what matters, not that it is "pure carbon", it's what structure that carbon is in that matters as well as what contaminates it contains within that structure. That is why carbon from cellulose products e.g. wood etc. is used, it has been found to have the best resulting molecular structure for propellants once it has been turned to carbon. The purer you can make that structure the faster it will propel your projectiles and the cleaner it will burn. It isn't the carbon itself you want pure, because if that were the case crushed diamonds or coal would work amazing but they don't because they have the wrong molecular structure to do what you are trying to accomplish.

[@joedhall3424]

Try mimosa if you have not already. The primary use of carbon black is in the manufacture of rubber. Thanks for always sharing your work with us!

[@firearmsfuelfabrication]

Well if your looking for a clean carbon.. I only know this from working at a carbon plant. But water filters use carbon made from coconut shells. It's a very dense very hard carbon. Could be worth a shot.

[@MichaelLloyd]

I've been in the oil and gas business (control design for over 1/2 of it) for about 46 years. When I was a kid we lived in Borger, TX and my dad was a construction superintendent in the Carbon Black plant west of town. As I remember it hey were increasing the size of the bag filters, which increased the recovery of carbon black. "Black" is made by burning gas, oil, or both extra rich. If you've ever lit a cutting torch or rosebud you've seen the soot that is formed if a hydrocarbon is burning rich. The soot is trapped in the bag filters. Once a bank of filters is "full" they switch to a new set, "puff" the set that are dirty (not sure how that was done, I was a teenager and that's how he explained it) to recover the carbon black. FYI- "petroleum product" = hydrocarbon = a molecule of hydrogen and carbon with a ratio of CnH2n+2. For instance, propane = C3H8. That's all it is. It's about as green an energy source as it gets. I think properly combusted wood is likely to have more "things" in it that would make it a better source of carbon than carbon black. Black is too pure. It's literally just carbon. Now back to see what the video results are (bet I can guess).

[@sangomasmith]

What I'm getting from this is that you want a relatively dense form of cellulose with as little lignin as possible. Perhaps a good test would be a roll of plain brown packing paper versus an identical roll of printer-grade paper? Alternatively, you could try bleaching strips of, say, pine by boiling in a sodium hydroxide solution to remove the lignin. Different boil times, washing steps etc can adjust the lignin level and wood pH as needed.

[@marktwain2053]

Carbon Black is drrived from hydrocarbons, and its primary use is in making tires, but it has many other uses as well.

[@lightweight1974]

Clean, consistent, and fast.

[@matheusdardenne]

What makes soft wood charcoal and, in your case, toilet paper, a good carbon source for black powder, is how porous it is. The sulfur and the potassium nitrate crystals can lodge themselves inside the micro-pores of the grains of carbon, becoming thoroughly mixed. Hard woods and "pure" sources of carbon, such as graphite, do not have these pores, the sulfur and the crystals of potassium nitrate end up on the surface of the grains, so they don't mix as well.

[@sbreheny]

I would think that the ball milling process would make any porous structure of the initial carbon irrelevant.

[@matheusdardenne]

@@sbreheny Though the charcoal is milled to a fine powder with an average of 100µm, these pores are still only a couple micrometers in size. They're not destroyed by the milling, the process likely makes them cover an even bigger surface area of the grains compared to its volume.

[@Dr_Wrong]

Hmmmm bery interezting..

[@bobbydazzler4141]

Thanks for that little 'nugget' of info, easily absorbed.

[@dougzack4565]

These are really fun and interesting experiments. I wonder how Anthracite or Coke would work? Thank for taking the time to film your adventures.

[@Miningpastpresentfuture]

Anthracite coal is very difficult to ignite. Anyone trying to light a blacksmiths forge will know it will not light with a kitchen match or cigarette lighter. You need something flammable like cardboard or kindling wood to start it unless your forge has a propane burner/starter.

[@dalmatiangirl61]

@@Miningpastpresentfuture I've seen some vids where they use ground coal blown thru a tube and ignited to melt metals, and its like a jet engine. I burn lump bit coal for heat, yes, very hard to get it lit.

[@dougzack4565]

@@Miningpastpresentfuture Burns so clean, though. And, as Damnation girl says, coal dust burns very well.

[@Miningpastpresentfuture]

The key is it burns well and hot. For BP it needs to burn ultra rapidly. I think the coke would be like the carbon black, but what the heck, someone give it a try!

[@rafibausk7071]

You know what it might be. Lamp black being soot that came off of fire. Might mean that it's the most stable of the carbon being burned. Think about it it's already managed to go through temperatures hot enough to ignite in the flame but didn't. Also think about all the extra baffles and things we put in wood stoves to get the temperatures in their hot enough to burn that stuff.

[@jalexwheeler7751]

Soot has a very small amount of surface area topologically compared to charcoal. So there is less surface area for the other reagents to interact. Likely the Toilet paper, being mostly aerated carbon, provides a far larger surface area for reagent interaction per volume than the soot. To test that hypothesis, you could use and compare fractal carbon sources, like coconut husk, cork, or even balsa charcoal and see if they approach the TP test.

[@Nitricike]

I'd be interested in seeing how microcrystalline cellulose does as a charcoal source. Can't say I've seen anyone try that yet.

[@A.R.American1]

The carbon black might have sucked but your reaction was great. Good video glad I didnt have to clean that rifle afterwords

[@Everythingblackpowder]

It was pretty bad

[@brianr555]

I am learning a lot! Thanks for the fun videos as well! I was somewhat deceived by the name of what was used, “lamp black”. In contrast with the toity paper, it seems its a “toss up and give it a shot”, “hit or miss” process with the type of char used. It does make for great videos!! Thanks again!

[@Everythingblackpowder]

Thank you

[@Hoopaball]

​@@Everythingblackpowder I think you may have laser jet printed the inside of your barrel black. If you type in the "cas number" 1333-86-4 followed by the words; "laser jet" it appears to be laser jet toner minus the silicon dioxide (sand.)

[@ccuc22]

I once made BP using darco filter powder. Darco is a very fine super activated charcoal for industrial filter purpose. I used it to filter impurities from petroleum solvents. It did not make good BP, the burn rate was slower than BP I made from hardwoods.

[@codyway7424]

Have noticed that velocity is inversely proportional to the number of times you miss your pocket with the power flask.😅😅 Also, obviously, carbon black is made from extracting the fowling from previously used patches.

[@Everythingblackpowder]

lol I hadn’t noticed

[@Boomhower89]

Have y’all tried activated carbon? Carbon cooked in an oxygen free environment? The material used is typically coconut shells. At least US Filter activated carbon.

[@Adamu98]

Try making brown powder. If i remember right its black powder but the carbon source is from grass instead of wood. It gets its name from being brown in color instead of black. The stuff was allegedly a stop gap between smokless and black powder in the late 19th century and is way more powerful than regular black powder.

[@jimmysails994]

Interesting.

[@dmorrow5570]

Can you make an updated video of your process for making antique muzzleloading propellant

[@joncummins4634]

Would like to see you try coconut charcoal the pure stuff burns hot and clean

[@WilliamMcNeil-r2k]

The carbon black has lots of oil, and I could see how that would not combust completely, and could varnish the barrel. I wanted to test this but I'm glad you took the time to disprove this. I might consider a toilet paper with the least amount of additives. Maybe camping or composting toilet paper.

[@dpasek1]

Try extracting the lampblack with alcohol to see if there is any significant amount of oil in it. Lampblack is often made by burning fuel oil in an excessively rich flame, so there is probably some oil residue. This is no problem for its typical application of use in compounding rubber, so the manufacturer may not control for purity, just for consistency.

[@CaptRons18thcentury]

I am glad you made this video... but I had my doubts when you mentioned it in your last video... and why I keep watching your experiments... saves me from making the same mistakes... love your content...

[@Everythingblackpowder]

Thank you

[@NullB]

Gonna dream about clean 1900 fps powder all night now...

[@Bobbylegs37]

His gun is going to explode... 😅

[@redtra236]

That powder exists, it's called H110 lol

[@Rustyer266]

The only way to do this is to start using some more powerful oxidizers, someone suggested using sodium benzonate I'm thinking that would be too spicy.

[@johnchristopherrobert1839]

Graphite similarly will not preform well. Once again it’s because of the surface area of the carbon source not being large enough to burn efficiently.

[@ph08nyx]

The Japanese use soot for some pyrotechnic compositions, which is formed when burning coniferous trees with a high rosin content. This soot differs significantly in its pyrotechnic properties from technical gas soot. Pure carbon (lamp black) is not suitable for pyrotechnics - it is written in all pyrotechnic manuals. It forms at too high a temperature and is therefore partially graphitized. It has reduced flammability and gorenje rate.

[@hawkings22]

One thing many people misunderstand about charcoal is that it's not pure carbon. There are impurities in charcoal, mainly hydrogen and oxygen, that change the properties.

[@danielgreen-d3x]

Have you tried corn cobs? I'd kinda like to see that.

[@Everythingblackpowder]

Not yet

[@BobJones-t6q]

Thanks for your videos. I enjoy watching and you have saved me from making lots of bad batches while learning.

[@gumbomudderx7503]

I don’t have any experience with carbon black, but I’ve heard one of my cousins talk about it. He used to work in a Goodyear factory and I guess they use it to color their rubber. He said if you ever drop even like a tablespoon full, it’ll be on every surface within 100 feet

[@bigcheesedog2645]

Have you tried plain old activated charcoal? From the aquarium store. As I understand it there is an extra step of injecting steam into the tort to drive off more VOCs, in theory, it should be more reactive. it would be interesting to go full chemistry geek on a batch, there is lots of crud in household chemicals. The stump remover is easy to clean, dissolve the stump remover in water, then evaporate the water. The sulfur on the other hand is basically the same but you have to dissolve it in nearly boiling xylene (basically gas) so not trivial from a safety perspective.

[@theshop2064]

It would be curious to see how your process affects the final outcome. You should try taking Swiss or Goex and run it through your process (wetting, pressing, pucking, and grinding it) and then testing it against itself as it come out of the bottle. You’d know your process is good if it averages the same chronograph results before and after.

[@niccosaur7778]

I would like to see this

[@rjo49]

There is a state known to experienced amateur pyrotechnists in which it is possible to mill your powder to the point it slows the burn rate. It has been hypothesized that this is due to a reduction in internal surface area of the charcoal. Also, Sporting grade powders like the Goex Fg series are typically glazed with graphite (to reduce dust IIRC) so you would then be incorporating a 4th material with very poor burn characteristics into your finished powder.

[@jertres2887]

Graphite and especially diamond are very near pure carbon but, for whatever reason, seem to make poor antique muzzle loading propellant. Charcoal has a lot of surface area, maybe that helps.

[@ashe1.070]

The carbon atoms in graphite, and diamonds have a defined crystal structure. They are very tightly packed into these crystal structures, so the intermolecular bonds between the individual carbon atoms are much stronger. It requires a lot more energy to break these bonds. This makes graphite, and diamonds much less reactive. On the other hand, coal, and charcoal are forms of amorphous carbon. This means the carbon atoms don’t have a crystal structure at all. Instead they take the form of random clumps of carbon atoms. These clumps of carbon atoms are more spread out, have weaker bonds, and are more reactive as a result. So, while surface area is important, the strength of the intermolecular bonds, and the energy required to break them is much more important. Without enough energy to readily break these bonds you either get no reaction, or a very slow one.

[@jertres2887]

Maybe that’s why lampblack/soot performs poorly, it was the carbon that did not burn easily the first time. So, maybe the carbon that is not packed right for easy combustion…

[@ashe1.070]

@@jertres2887 So, the reason lampblack doesn't burn well is not the conformation, or crystal structure of the carbon atoms; i.e. it's not the carbon itself that's the problem. The carbon atoms in lampblack are in an amorphous form like that of coal, or charcoal. Rather, it is because lampblack has many organic impurities in it that impede its combustion. I will explain in more detail if your interested. It's kind of a complex topic, so bear with me. The impurities are the result of incomplete combustion of a fuel. Either because the combustion happens in an oxygen-poor environment, or the intramolecular bonds (the bonds within the molecules) are relatively too strong requiring harsher conditions to break them completely. These reactions in oxygen-poor environments are called pyrolytic reactions, or pyrolysis. In these reactions you get highly reactive, unstable carbon radicals (a radical is an atom with an unpaired electron, so it doesn't want to exist). These radicals react with all other molecules, including other radicals, in their vicinity forming larger molecules, and more radicals. So, the reaction products get bigger, and bigger. The result is a complex mixture of organic compounds that are tarry, or oily. Examples of these compounds includes some lower molecular weight arenes (an arene is an organic compound with a very stable aromatic ring system: these have strong intramolecular bonds), and larger polyaromatic compounds such as benzopyrene, anthracenes, etc. These arenes, because of the stability of an aromatic ring system, are not very reactive. Thus, larger arenes, and polyaromatic compounds aren't very flammable. Lower arenes do burn but they too produce a lot of soot too for the aforementioned reasons. For example, simple lower arenes like xylenes, toluene, benzene, etc. all produce lots of soot when burned. To get these large compounds to burn you really have to oxidize the hell out of them. This requires large a excess of oxidants, stronger oxidants such as pure oxygen, ozone, etc., and/or higher temperatures. For example: "...solid waste combustors has brought about the injection of excess oxygen to ensure that complete combustion will occur. In some cases, as much as 200 per cent of what would be stoichiometrically required for complete combustion, is added." These things just really don't want to burn. The presence of them in the carbon in lampblack really makes the complete combustion of lampblack really difficult under normal conditions.

[@Bombermann-1337]

Hey Id like to see you try wheat flour as a carbon source that may be really interesting because not chared flour is already flammable with potassium nitrate

[@RoyTelling]

Many years ago when I live in England (1989) I use to make my own black powder (mostly for visual effects for American Civil War re-enactment) and I wish you would of done these videos then BECAUSE I and my friends use to go 20 miles to to buy willow wood as the main wood sellers near us didn't sell it and we thought we have to use willow 🙃

[@FoulPet]

I'm no chemist either, but I've saved what I think may be carbon from a copy machine that collects in the waste section of the machine. Eventually, I want to try it. The spread might be the different pressures from the gunk pressing against the bullet.

[@johnhaylett3643]

dont know if you have tried it yet but have you considered straw, wheat and barley are just two options that come to mind and there must be more [ its got to be really cheep anyway]

[@slcgrgcrgcaneafgugiesclawhfg]

If Graphite is on your list don't bother, it will do about what Lampblack did. I'm surprised that lampblack worked at all. I'm still looking ofr a carbon source that is both easy to get and totally free, which would be either cardboard or the contents of the office paper shredder

[@1boortzfan]

I like all your videos. Keep up the great work. There's no shame in swabbing the bore after every shot.

[@not-fishing4730]

Lampblack is used in the making of Concrete to darken the color so it has to be cheap (which eventually sun-bleaches out).