how to make nozzles for black powder rockets. I told him that if he asked ten people how to do it, he would get at least eleven answers. Well when it comes to fuel for black powder rockets, that number goes up. This is how I make it. I am not claiming that this is the best or only way to do it. It is just one of the many ways.
When I started making black powder
rockets, I was told that 60/30/10 was what should be used for one pound rockets. That’s 60 potassium nitrate, 30 charcoal, and 10 sulfur. Well, they didn’t work too good. I asked Tim Feider how to make good rockets. He said, “Get them to blow up consistently, and then back off on the oxidizer.” Remember that. It does work. Then Steve LaDuke told me that wetting the mixture and drying it doubled the power. Well I did want double the power, so I tried that too.
With a lot of trial and error and
testing, I came up with the following formula and technique. Testing is important, and also fun.
I use 75 parts of potassium nitrate.
The nice fine free flowing stuff. Then 15 parts of airfloat charcoal. Not ball milled. That is too fast. Then 10 parts of sulfur. Again the nice fine stuff. Rubbermaker’s is preferred if available, but not totally necessary. I screen that through a window screen three times to mix it thoroughly. Then I wet it until it is the consistency of thick pancake batter.
I mixed up a batch one Sunday, and
was getting ready to dry it. Then my wife, Margie, told me that we had to leave. So I put the wet mix in an airtight container and put it in the magazine. The next weekend we came up and I took it out and dried it. I feel that the extended damp time helped it a lot, so I always try to leave it sit for some time.
To dry it I put it on a cookie sheet
that has aluminum foil on it. I put it in the sun to dry. As it dries I mix it around to break up the dry skin that forms on the top. Slowly it will start to solidify. As it finally dries up I screen it with a window screen again. Dry it some more, and screen it again. Eventually it will be dry. Then I weigh the batch and I add 3% mineral oil. Now I have been told that this slows it down. I assume that it does. But I have successfully used this stuff in black powder rockets from 4 oz (1/2 inch ID) to 4 pound ( 1 ¼ inch ID.) Mix in the mineral oil, and then screen it at least two more times. I then add 3 to 4 percent titanium. What I use is about 80 mesh. Use what type of titanium you have and see how it works. Heh, heh, heh… It’s more testing.
Once you have it made, make a rocket
and try it. If it blows up, add 5% airfloat charcoal to slow it down, and try again. Remember what Tim told me. This is a basic formula. Try tweeking it a bit one way or the other by adding more potassium nitrate or more charcoal to get the desired effect.