Cotton Ball Black Powder 

I have tremendous respect for this man's diligent, almost zealous commitment to systematic testing and empirical evidence.

I never expected to hear someone say "that's not as clean as the toilet paper stuff" while standing there holding a gun. Nice job. 😂😂😂

Pay attention to how Jake deals with the miss fire. Great follow through, but as important is him keeping the gun on target for several seconds in case of a hang fire. For anyone that isn’t aware, it is possible that the charge could ignite a second or so after the flash. O.R.

I've been watching for a couple of years and I've come to the conclusion, you are the guru of black powder. I can see the future of a warning on toilet paper wrappers now. "Not For Use In Antique Firearms".

Start playing with mixing different ratios of charcoal. Ex: 50% balsa charcoal and 50% buckthorn, or Cottonel, or 25/75 of one and the other charcoal. The idea being that your are using balsa charcoal as a "fouling reducer additive". Try to find the mix that is clean enough and powerful enough and cost efficient enough. The ideal mix(realistically) won't be 1st place in any of those categories, but it'll be a solid 2nd place in all of them. Of course the dream will always be making it at $1 a lbs, getting 2,000FPS, and pulling out white patches after 10 shots, but if you ever get to that point, you need to patent it and start your own powder company.

I’m finding this interesting on several levels. I’ve pulled up some figures on ash content from the USDA. Cotton is 6 grams per hundred. Balsa wood 3 grams per hundred. Toilet paper is not listed, but “wood pulp”, the main component of TP ranges from 5-11 grams/100. All these organics will contain some nitrogen, phosphorous, sulphur etc. cotton is notable for containing a stiff dose of zinc. Presumably the zinc will be represented as part of that ash figure. Now your carbonization process should be reasonably complete. Meaning all the nitrogen, phosphorous, sulphur etc etc is colorized off. Leaving near elemental carbon and ash. And if I’m correct in remembering your figures, ash content would agree with your “clean” appraisal. With the 3pm balsa being the cleanest. Toilet paper is your anomaly. Toilet paper is made regionally. As is pulp wood harvesting which supply’s the wood fiber in the TP. I can find no ash figures for individual brands. But with an ash range between 5 and 11 grams one might conclude that your “best” TP batch was low in ash and your “worst” TP high in ash. Ash also competes for nitrogen in combustion and may play a factor in your velocity differences between and within batches. Toilet paper is wood pulp. Wood chips are pulped using sulphuric and hydrochloride acids. These in turn leave sulfur and chloride organic compounds which may not completely break down on combustion in your fireplace. Presumably these would be part of the ash. However these data come from material combustion in a bomb calorimeter which used a charge of pure oxygen to ensure complete combustion. Your firebox will not be that efficient. Cotton was the favored carbon source for early smokeless powders. Or “gun cotton”. My mind headed that direction until I recalled that this was the artifact of nitrating as many carbons in a long chain molecule. But carbonization breaks these long chain bonds. Maybe not to molecular carbon, but very short chains. I mention this in case someone else makes the association as I did. Erroneously. Clearly you are close to the Holly grail of powders. Do continue to choose wisely. Fox out

I still think the reason the toilet paper worked so well is because how dense it was.And how it probably made very consistent charcoal.

could we postulate, that the reason for cotton ball to not be as clean as cottonel toilet paper, was because cotton balls are more prone to impurity buildup through its physical nature than rolled sheets of toilet paper? Great video btw!

Hemp toilet paper!!!!

I think that I should go and buy stocks in Cottonelle toilet paper. It's value is definitely going to go up now. I'm just wondering if the ATF is going to regulate it now 🤔 hahaha

It's fairly consistent. A good source of plain cotton, no dye or other things added, is cotton painters dropcloths.

Absolutely loving this series. Have always been interested in homemade energetic materials since grade school chemistry, and this sort of experimentation is making me feel like a kid again 😅

Cottonball still wipes the floor with Goex, and while dirty, its standardized the world over. Except for the first shot, all others were in the 1780s, very close! Another excellent and satisfying video!

You’re one of the best guntubers on RU-vid in my book. Always interesting subjects and not just vomiting up a review from whoever is paying leviathan group any given month.

It's funny how all these people have the bright ideas but how many of them are actually making their own powder? I know I'm not but it is very entertaining to see you do it. Keep doing what you're doing.

A lot of us are watching because of logistical issues. Where I live in Alaska, a pound of propellant costs around $ 75 in hazmat fees.

Sir i don’t get excited easily nore am I easily entertained. I’m also in general a negative hypercritical cantankerous and ornery prick.. but I REALLY like, enjoy and appreciate your content sir! You rock!! And Roll!

Guncotton, also known as nitrocellulose, is more powerful and burns faster than black powder. It's a key ingredient in smokeless gunpowder and propellants.

Haha nice! It is fast. I thought it was fast when I carbonized a t-shirt. I didn't have nearly as much residue left behind but I don't have a BP pistol or rifle. My test was with miniature, very thin plastic christmas ornaments I got from the craft store. They're styrene I think. Really flimsy but just enough containment to give a good pop without throwing shrapnel. Made some fuses, poured in 3/4g of my t-shirt BP, milled with a ceramic mortar and pestle by hand. I only filled it about 1/4 full, maybe less, folowed by a fuse, sealed with hot glue. Not quite gunshot loud, but close. Loud enough to echo and reverb down the canyon. So, my test analysis consists of how much residue is left over on my stump after my, uh, test. With oak charcoal nothing worked. It all just fizzled. Couldn't get the carbon fine enough. Cedar was better but marginally so. Really dirty and slow. A t-shirt worked fantastic and even allowed me to completely pulverize it by hand in the mortar and pestle. It left nearly no residue. After watching your video I commented about a t-shirt and you responded (rad!) Cool to see you try it. I have also now tried toilet paper wit about as good of results as a t-shirt. I will say this, while you started with cotton balls, I don't think you needed to. Like, I'm pretty sure I got just as fine of powder from my t-shirt as you got from your cotton balls and I may even have ended up with more than 200g in the end. I didn't weight it, but man it sure seems like I had a lot more charcoal after a t-shirt than a roll of TP. (Was editing my comment when you liked it)

You've really carved out your own niche here on RU-vid for "antique muzzle loading propellant " these last few years and it's great.

Cotton balls! 🎉😂 well why not!! Let’s talk about some substitutions for potassium nitrate👀.

I really look forward to see what you try next so I can know what works best, what I would like to see is a 50/50 mix of the balsa and cottenelle toilet paper a combination of a clean and a powerful

The toilet paper is definitely the most accurate and I'm in total agreement with you 👍🏻. Every morning I hit the same hole accurately without making any new holes since childhood 👌🏻😁

Next time use Chinese cotton. The cotton you're using is cleaned and whitened by chemicals. Chinese cotton gets around the same velocity but in my experience it burns about as clean as the toilet paper. Maybe a little less clean. If you can't find Chinese cotton buy vapor cotton at your local vapor smoke shop as it's the same thing.

The fireworks community settled on eastern red cedar for hot BP, of course there are still debates on it but for the most part it’s the most powerful. We don’t really care about cleanliness like in muzzle loading but it’s certainly worth considering. I enjoyed your videos and will continue to watch.

Tech-weenies ....... Hahahaha. You are without a doubt, the BEST stand-up, black powder comedian performing today !!

I'd be interested in seeing the ol' butt sandpaper known as "Scott 1000 sheets/roll" - if it makes good powder, there will finally be an acceptable use for it.

Thank you for the work you put into these tests. They are very interesting! I also find it amusing that your "go make your own damn video" has been 'borrowed' by a couple of other channels I watch.

Well that was interesting, cotton balls makes a powerfull enough powder to compete with commercial grade BP but it was not so clean, that disapoined me and even more by the cost; that makes a better choice that brand of TP you mentioned to be the closest to swiss. The best BP vids as always!!

wake up honey, everything black powder posted again

The problem with cotton is that it absorbs much of what is in the soil. If specific pesticides are used, they will be in the cotton when harvested. Back when the vape craze started, I was making my own rigs and coils. We experimented with different kinds of cotton, and some were down right nasty to vape with. We used organic cotton consistently after that. The chemistry of black powder is sensitive because it has only three constituents. If you feel up to it, give organic a try. I would bet dollars to donuts 🍩 it will be cleaner.

That last line about whether or not the video "sucked" just made me give it a thumbs up and to finally subscribe, I just REALLY like this guy's attitude!!!!!!

It's wild how the toilet paper burned cleaner than that cotton balls. Real curious to see how the Carbon Black burns.

Looking forward to the carbon black: I'd expect soot to make a really sooty BP in turn...

The cardboard tube rant got me lol

Dang I had high hopes for them cotton balls!!

You make a good point about price. I want a fairly inexpensive source of carbon.

Thoroughly enjoying this series Willard - like the sound of an updated making video too. Great to see your channel grow

The search ever continues for the Perfect Charcoal Source!! Thanks, Jake! 👍

Thank you for this presentation. Here's something to consider, for me anyway. If ordinary denim from bib overalls could make acceptable antique muzzle loader propellant, then I have 80 pounds of old bibs for a carbon source. And there's also those raggedy old wrangler shirts,too. Also, would the thread count of different cotton fabric make a difference? I believe the pyromaniac is reawakening in me. This may become a fascinating hobby. It would be fantastic if cotton rags made great antique muzzle loader propellant.

Inspirational stuff mate.... your shooting friends are blessed to have you around... the effort and dedication is not fully evident in the final cut of your videos but being an experimenter myself, I understand the workload - you have my respect and gratitude. Cheers.

Outstanding. I would like to see your step by step method of making B/P. I just believe it is going to beat the hell out of my old antique way and a lot cheaper. Great video great work keep it up.

This is a facinating ride, Jake. Thanks for all you do and share. I don't know how you find the time to do all this.

you should try leaf when seasoning coms. And try leaf of diffrent kind of trees, its free to.When i was young i made alot of black powdered home made, making it whit alder. Never had a gun even if it’s license free here. If the gun is made before 1890. Then its is license free here. But then we come to the sad part of a license free gun,price cost like 2000$ and up for a decent rifle from thet age 😮 Lives in boring europ! always nice to see good content how life could be if i living in America!!

The cheapest carbon source I can think of would be hay, straw or even cheaper is random local grass though it might no be very clean nor consistent. What I like is there are many carbon sources out there that you can try, in theory the cleaner/purer your carbon is, the cleaner the powder should be but I'm waiting for confirmation when you upload your next video. Note : the microscopic structure of the carbon source might influence the burn rate of your powder, maybe the ligther material will produce more porous grains of carbon, meanig that the salpeter can infiltrate them and make them burn faster.

Trully you managed to make "guncotton"

This channel is just pure gold.

You are right about the TP charcoal. The inventors of BP ( Chinese) had to have used Bsmboo. There will be a difference in dry ( dead) & green. The green is pretty good, will try dry dead next. Looking forward to you experimenting. Keep up the educational work. Your ignition is a key too. Pointers on how you go about getting good sparks every time would be greatly appreciated. TY.

I don't really care if my powder isn't the best that a fellow can buy. I just want my flinters to shoot well. Dirty powder Is a pain in the butt. You need to pick the vent hole and clean the flint and frizzen after each shot, I also tend to run a wet swab after every couple shots. but if you do that both of mine are very reliable. Out here in Idaho real antique propellant isn't very easy to aquire. But if I make it, I can use it whenever I please without having to worry about running out. I have just used home made charcoal out of River Willow. I know it ain't Willow, but I didn't know that until you told us. And it shoots fine. Soooo..... Love your channel.

Another great episode Jake. Please, Keep up the very interesting work.

love ya heavily informative vids mate. Aussie enthusiast taking notes! Thumbs up!

I made some with old denim jeans. Don't have a chrono but I got 29 shots through my 58 remington before it started binding. I only get about 16 with Goex. I've never owned Swiss to compare it to. Haven't had a chance to run it through my rifles to compare reloading effort.

OK so I am an experimental design Chemist well that was my trade a few years back. I think you have reached the point of diminishing returns on your carbon source, results are now within the range of experimental variation. You however have conclusively proved that the lighter the source material the better the burn in your BP. Which is sort of established thinking for centuries, use the lightest wood available in your area. (he said looking out on 2 willow trees you could park a bus under). However pointless though it is, its still dang fun to try EH!

These experiments are great. I personally stick with Triple 7, but I'm always trying new stuff and making powder at home is right up my alley.

I’m loving this series 😂

Aside from different sources of carbon, what about tinkering with the sulfur? Sulfur free powders already exist, so maybe try enhancing what it already does? Tetrasulfur tetranitride produces lots of expanding gas as it decomposes and leaves behind elemental sulfur as a byproduct, so with some tinkering you'd have a boosted powder with a burn rate that continues to accelerate as long as there's more to burn. Potentially really high velocities with that, I think.

I'm looking forward to a updated video on this whole process I love this channel

Hey brother, I'm happy to hear you're making a new video on your updated process.

Wood pulp contains some mineral matter like silica, calcium and potassium. This makes ash..you could try burning charcoal until only ash remains to compare ingredients. Making sporting powder for testing establishs primary performance, ashing charcoal should show why. The ash would make the powder carbon lean. This would explain the dark patch with cotton

Im glad i found your channel. I didn't realize making black powder was so simple. I think that coffee filters could be a good source for charcoal.

I was going to ask for a new vid on end to end production of BP for the reasons you pointed out. Glad to hear it is in the queue. It is nice to see there are viable alternative sources for carbon, you do excellent work and provide meaningful data and information. Thanks again!

They will be planting cotton here in Yuma soon if they haven't already. After they bail the raw cotton there's a lot of waste. You could fill trash dumpsters with what falls off of the bails. You're giving me ideas again...

As a new subscriber, I'm looking forward to your updated series on making sporting blackpowder.

Good work as usual fellas. (I like the hecklers at the rifle range). I apologize if it is a question that you have been answered oft before: is it worthwhile to mop the bore between the shots? Would bench rested tests for accuracy be worthwhile? Just curious, I like that you are testing the powder under real world conditions too. I am loving the videos, guys! Please keep them coming...

I know nothing about black powder but you, sir, look and sound exactly like someone I would trust on making black powder from cotton balls and toilet paper.

Invaluable content!!

I am looking forward to seeing the updated video on making black powder and the carbon black powder.

I like this carbon source series and have watched very video. Keep up the good work!

Another excellent video! I would bet that the price to volume ratio of cotton is why the nitrocellulose industry switched to wood pulp cellulose. If and when you do finally try pure fluff pulp cellulose with no glues etc. I am curious to see what you find. Looking forward to lamp black as well.

Only just found your channel, so now I have the pleasure of binge watching your back catalogue. Great idea for a series and very entertaining mate...

Your stuff is awesome. Keep it up. I'm glad you're willing to show us what someone can do.

You are very good at what you do haha Ive been binge watching your stuff, happen to have any long tange black powder stuff?

Thx for making this content. I'm sure I speak for all your subs. Keep the vids coming.

As a cannon user from the UK (yes we can have big guns you just need the paperwork) the cost of hiring us as a group with 4 cannon and several matchlocks is getting very expensive with powder at £15/20 per 500g .the experiments you have been conducted are interesting and amusing.i would state the obvious but it's the trace elements and not just the carbon that effected the difference between charcoal types so if you could ask someone with chemical knowledge they might help you by adding the elements or chemical components directly to your mix ....just a thought 🤔

Always appreciating the info you share. It's hard enough to put the video together let alone the time involved putting the parts together to conduct the experiment. Thanks again for the info.

Awesome! Love these vids. It would be interesting to see what plain 'ol scott tp would do. That stuff is dense and probably as 'pure' as it gets... and cheap.

Again, another awesome video!! I enjoy watching you do these tests. I hope that at some point in the future that you do a video on the Bamboo TP. Keep up the great work, thanks again!!

The Foxfire books said willow was excellent. Your channel is exemplary and much appreciated.

Very good video. You are doing a great job with experimenting with making black powder. My only thought would be to change the ratio. I know you don't do that typically, but I would love to see what the cotton ball black powder would do if you had a 78, 12, 10 ratio. Since the Buckthorne Alder and Toilet paper and the Cotton ball are all about the same velocity, you are using the potassium nitrate efficiently. Since the cotton ball gives more fouling in the barrel , there may be too much carbon vs potassium nitrate. Therefore changing the ratio to have more potassium nitrate you might burn more of the carbon and get better performance as well. Once again, a great video.

This is very interesting, great work. I'm sure a survey on scrap/extremely low budget options will be greatly appreciated.

You should do a test to see how increasing your density of powder past what you do now improves performance of dirty powder.

Just found your videos. Absolutely love em.

Thank you for a very good video on making black powder. Sadly I have NOT seen your video on making Cottenelle black powder. It is very encouraging to see the possibility of making good black powder, other than buying regular over the counter "black powder" Thank you for very good videos!

Thanks Jake. Keep up the good work!

We all kind of assume that charcoal is pure carbon. But it is not. The more purer the carbon typically the more unreactive it is. It tends to form carbon to carbon structures like strings, rings or cubes which means it doesn't burn well. Often you will see an approximate chemical formula for charcoal listed as C7H4O.

Enjoyed the video, looking forward to the lamp black video. That should be pure carbon.

I admire your commitment, technical expertise and generosity in sharing it with us. Thank you!

I love your experiments!

Have you tried sumac wood yet? It definitely makes great kindling for starting fires. There's something about that wood

I have been enjoying you videos on the process and the results of diff materials. I think maybe a secret is in the pre-processing of the charcoal materials. the finer you can get the particles the better. Im thinking that you should try to get the wood into as fine a fluff as possible before turning it into charcoal and then processing as usual. not an expert here but I am enjoying your series.

Seems to me you are pretty good at making propellant. Look forward to the updated how to video.

I enjoy your videos a lot and am looking forward to your updated tutorial on making black powder. One thing I would like to know more about are the necessary safety precautions. when handling or making the powder. Obviously no open nearby flame or sparks, but what about materials - for example, I see that Goex changed from metal cans to plastic containers.

considering how the toilet paper came out I think that maybe this will be quite interesting, also I have an idea for "washing" the powder, maybe instead of washing the actual powder try grinding the wood to a paste or sawdust and wash it then?

Don't know why YT doesn't let me know when you post things! Thank you. God Bless and stay safe.

Congratulations on your channel taking off. You have excellent content - I am surprised you haven't run afoul of the powers that be yet. I like your videos and don't think they suck - so I liked and subscribed. Great outro.

Cotton balls, you're going to char everything at this rate. I wonder what the next product going in the paint can will be. Cool to see! Maybe find some extremely basic military grade TP to test. That single ply cheap stuff that doesn't care to be anything other than cheap.

Cotton wool should be promising because Gun cotton, which is used in artillery as a propellant is just cotton steeped in nitric acid and washed I believe with sulphuric acid.

I've done something similar (but different). I don't make charcoal out of cotton but I soak it directly into boiled bad quality black powder. Once it dries out it becomes a fluffy black cotton that ignites WAY faster than before. It is not as good as proper black powder but it significantly improves a bad batch.

Interesting. Thanks