My homemade black powder

[Vettepilot]

I had planned all along to ladle pour these. Think the zinc will stay liquid long enough to get away with that?? I'm going to use a propane turkey fryer with a pan on it instead of one of my good electric casting pots, so I will be able to get the zinc pretty hot....

Crap! I've been putting off hitting all the tire shops around here for more wheel weights. NOW'S the time to do that to get more to sort and end up with yet more zinc, but we're supposed to stay at home!! Wait! I've got a great big zinc mallet I've been wondering what to do with... Now I KNOW what to do with it!!

Thanks,
Vettepilot

[LAGS]

I am glad my post inspired you to use the things you have in these tough times.
But going to the tire store , as long as you follow the Distancing guidelines should be acceptable.
Not much different than going to Home Depot to get stuff to make your stay at home as productive as possible.
Good luck , and post your results if you can.

[RoyEllis]

What has worked quite well for me is pouring zinc into worn out/damaged .45acp cases, just shy of the case mouth then using seater die to roll case mouth over locking the casting in place. Brass is harder than lead and doesn't spark....win win deal.

[Vettepilot]

Oh well; I'm an idiot...

Excited about using zinc instead of my precious lead wheel weight stash to make tumbling media with zinc cast into 1/2" copper tubes, I set out to melt and cast some zinc wheel weights this afternoon, using my turkey fryer and an old, but rather heavy pot from the second hand store.

It was taking an extraordinarily long time to melt the zinc, but that was somewhat expected and I kept monitoring the temperature. Finally, when the zinc was about half melted, I thought, "Ok, NOW we're getting somewhere." "We'll be casting soon!" Then I heard an odd sound, looked, and zinc was pouring out into the burner!!! A hole had been burnt into the bottom of my pot!! I quickly turned off the heat, removed the pot, (WITH GREAT CARE!), and flipped the turkey fryer upside down. But I suspect it's ruined anyway... Liquid zinc all over the patio, turkey fryer trashed.... I just turned off the lights and came indoors disgusted.

Vettepilot

[LAGS]

You can probably use a propane torch to clean up you burner.
I have spilled Molton metal on my gas burner before , and my torch came in handy to loosen up any metal that was stuck in critical areas

[LAGS]

I scored today.
One of my wife's co workers Husband's gave me 6 bottles of Stump remover.
I guess a while back he bought the stuff to make sugar rockets , and gave up on that hobby.
I will find a good use for it , or Horse trade it away to someone who wants to try making their own powder.

[Fly]

Let me ask you this. I never messed with zink before. How much lighter is it than lead?

Fly

[LAGS]

About 10 to 15 percent.
Just compare two wheel weights one Lead and one Zinc side by side of the same weight and you will see.

[dondiego]

You must have been using an aluminum pot to melt that zinc in. I have heard of aluminum pot failures with lead even.

[Vettepilot]

Yeah, I thought it was an old steel pot. I knew it wasn't cast iron, but never thought to check if it was aluminum, but that's what it was; aluminum with a blackish coating of some sort.

Even if I had known it was aluminum I probably would have used it because it was a heavy duty pot, and the aluminum melts at a much higher temp than zinc. But I did a little web research on it, and the way it was explained is that the aluminum doesn't actually melt per se, it DISSOLVES into the zinc, creating an alloy called Zamac. In the correct proportions of the alloy, it is apparently stronger than cast iron.

My zinc is solidly fused, melded, partially alloyed with the thick aluminum bottom of that pot. My burner is going to be ok it looks like, so I guess I will just continue making Zamac; but using a CAST IRON pan this time!!

Live & Learn...

Vettepilot

[Vettepilot]

(Quote) I scored today.
One of my wife's co workers Husband's gave me 6 bottles of Stump remover.
I guess a while back he bought the stuff to make sugar rockets , and gave up on that hobby.
I will find a good use for it , or Horse trade it away to someone who wants to try making their own powder. (Quote)

You can find that at Lowes for about 7 bucks a bottle, or Amazon for 4 something. It works just fine for making BP. I used some I had, along with nearly pure sulphuric acid drain cleaner to make nitrocellulose. (Gun Cotton.) Great fun!!

Vettepilot

[LAGS]

I am going to try making Gun Cotton too.
Been wanting took since I saw Kerry Byron do it on Mythbusters years ago.
But I just bought 20 lbs of KN03 off the net.
I have limited need for 6 lbs of Stump remover.
But , hay it is Free.
I can trade it off for what else I need.
But I can still use it if push comes to shove.
I can still use more Willow or Tree of heaven charcoal.

[Vettepilot]

"SCHEL" on YouTube has a good tutorial on making gun cotton. Be sure to keep it cool while it's nitrating, and use the best pure cotton balls you can find; not the cheapie kind. Schel's method of "fluffing" it is a bit spooky, but works really well.

I think it was Walmart where I finally scored the sulphuric acid drain cleaner, but you might check Lowes too...

Well, I could use your stump remover, but doubt I have anything you might need to trade.

Vettepilot

[LAGS]

The only reason I said to trade this off was, I just got my order of 20 pounds of KNO3 from on line.
So I have an Abundance.
The main thing I need , like many others is Willow Charcoal.
Heck, Willow wood would be fine too since I cook my own charcoal.
But , what you got to trade.
Bartering in my book is better than money, ( I have plenty of that )
But it is the shipping costs that kill most deals

[Vettepilot]

"But it is the shipping costs that kill most deals."

Man!! Is that ever true!!

Wow, the entire feed tube mixing chamber of my fryer was plugged with melted zinc/aluminum. Took me 40 minutes and half a tank of MAP gas to get it all cleaned out. In retrospect, I should have used the oxy/acetylene torch, but I never dreamed there would be so much in there. Must have been nearly a pound!!

Hey, I think the "TERMINATOR" robot had an accident on my patio last evening. Must have been somebody he ate....



Vettepilot

[LAGS]

Wait till you casting outside on your patio and it starts to rain when you walk back in the house.
That happened to me.
And my patio looked like the Tinsle Fairy had a party on my patio.

[LAGS]

One word of caution.
I got several Pots from second hand stores or swap meets that were "Pot Metal".
They cracked are melted when I tried to smelt lead or Zinc.
Use thinner Steel or stainless steel pots to do any smelting or casting.
Did you know , " Pot Metal " is made with steel smelted with Zinc ?

[swamp]

LAGS,
I have quite a bit of Willow charcoal. PM if interested.
swamp

[Vettepilot]

Wait till you casting outside on your patio and it starts to rain when you walk back in the house.
That happened to me.
And my patio looked like the Tinsle Fairy had a party on my patio.

Now that's funny!! Ya made me lose a mouthful of my Gin and tonic.

But wait... RAIN in Phoenix??? Surely you jest...

Trying to re-melt my "ZAMAC" as we speak. It's being stubborn. This is ending up taking a good bit of propane. Think I'll stick to good old fashioned lead once I make it through this fiasco.

I had read about a guy casting zinc with a 700 watt electric burner in under an hour. I don't believe that now...

Vettepilot

[LAGS]

When I melt Zinc, I top heat the Zinc with my MAPP gas torch to speed up the melting as it sits on the smelting burner.
Now Zinc contaminated lead melts at a lower temperature.
So if you have any of that that is not suitable to cast Boolits use that for casting odd stuff like I mentioned.
But the pure Zinc will melt and cast if you have patients.
Once the Zinc starts to melt , and you have residual heat , it will go smoother.
It can be done.
It is not like you are going to be casting Zinc every day.
And yes it does RAIN in Mesa Az..
Especially in our monsoon season.
But it comes in in a very short time , and blows out in an hour or so.
It is like the dust storms you see in Western movies.
The guy walks into a saloon and it is calm.
Then when they go outside for a gunfight it is windy as heck.
Then after the shooting is done , it gets calm again.
That stuff is real here in Az. In July thru September a few days a month.