[Born to Conserve]

“Black powder corned by moistening with stale urine gets an extra boost from the nitrate content.”

Human and animal urine was used to make the saltpeter third of the black powder recipe, sulfur and carbon were the other two thirds.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

You have to let the urine and waste rot and ferment for a while, then you leach out the nitrates with water and wood ash (potash) to get potassium nitrate. Using the stale urine later in the process to form a paste just adds a little more nitrate to the mix for a little more oxygen.

I made my first batch while I was still in Cub Scouts, LOL

Back then encyclopedias had all kinds of neat stuff to learn, and I read them like some kids read comic books.