[dangerdoc]

My attempt at making black powder as a kid was less than successful.

[imardmd1]

Me, too. The local drugstore would sell me all the potassium nitrate (KNO₃) I could afford as a 13-year-old. Sulfur, too. I used up all that was in my Gilbert Chemistry Set by a few days after Christmas. Charcoal was left over from summer picnics, pounded fine with a hammer.

Good thing that I didn't know you had to carefully mill the ingredients together and cook them below ignition point, or I wouldn't be writing this note.

You think we're in a free country now? Try and buy some/any chemical from a supply company without a purchase order from a lab or manufacturer, or make anything not edible without a Matrial Safety Data Sheet, enumerating the registered chemical identity numbers for the ingredients. If not, the EPA might put you in jail, I think.

[farming pharmer]

My attempt at making black powder as a kid was less than successful.

Real black powder is coated with graphite to make it less prone to ignition from static electricity. I could make my own, but why? Quality black powder from GOEX or Swiss is available and safer.