Making Black Powder Rocket Fuel

Each 4-ounce 1/2-inch ID motor will use about 0.55 ounce (16 grams)
of fuel. The 10-ounce (about 300 grams) batch of fuel we will prepare
will easily make 15-18 motors. Here is the formula and quantities of
the three chemicals required for this batch.

Component Percent Factor 10 oz 300 g

Potassium nitrate 60% 0.6 6 oz 180 g
Airfloat Charcoal 30% 0.3 3 oz 90 g
Sulfur 10% 0.1 1 oz 30 g
Black-Powder Rocket Fuel Formula

The potassium nitrate and sulfur need to be fine enough to pass a 40-
mesh screen. I've found that this produces a nice, fast fuel using the
Skylighter chemicals that I have on hand. They can be milled
individually in a blade-type coffee-mill until they will pass the screen.

Note: It is impossible to verify that a chemical will pass a 40-mesh

screen without actually having the screen and trying to rub the
chemical through it. Simply grinding the chemical in a coffee mill and
feeling it to see if it feels fine does not ensure that it is all ground
finely enough. Get a 40-mesh screen to use for these operations. They
are available here (item number TL2005) or you may be able to find a
40-mesh kitchen colander (gravy strainer).

Note: Sulfur powder is typically fine enough to pass a 40-mesh screen

when the lumps are broken down. It can be difficult, however, to get it
to pass the screen without the pores in the screen clogging up. Test a
small amount of your sulfur to verify that it is indeed fine enough to
pass the screen. If it is, you don't have to push all of it through the
screen at this time. Airfloat charcoal also typically will pass a 40-mesh
screen without any additional milling.

Once it has been verified that all the chemicals will individually pass
the 40-mesh screen, weigh out the correct amounts of the individual
chemicals. Then weigh them together to verify the correct total
weight.
Put the chemicals in a tightly closed tub, and shake them together
while holding the lid on the tub to prevent it from coming off and
making a mess.

Push the chemical mixture through the 40-mesh screen onto a piece of
kraft paper.

Put the mixture back into the tub and shake it, then screen it again.
Repeat this mixing process 3 times.

Add 3 ounces (90 grams, which is an additional 30%) of very hot

water to the composition. Stir the water into the mixture with a paint
stir-stick until the water is thoroughly integrated into the powder.

Knead the damp composition in the tub with a rubber-gloved hand

until it is evenly dampened. Then dump the damp comp into a large
ziplock plastic baggie and consolidate all of the mixture into a stiff ball
in one corner of the baggie. Twist the baggie closed around the ball.
Really squeeze and consolidate it into one, solid "potato" in the baggie
corner.

Remove the "potato" from the baggie and grate it through a 4-mesh
screen (available here as item number TL2049) onto a non-absorbent
surface such as aluminum foil or a plastic mat. (An absorbent surface
such as kraft paper will leach dissolved potassium nitrate out of the
mixture as it absorbs water, which will change the chemistry of the
powder.) Spread the granules out evenly and dry them overnight in a
safe location with warm, dry, moving air.

When the granules are thoroughly dry, they should weigh about what
the original batch of dry powder weighed. If not, let them dry longer.

Finally, push the dry granules, which will be pretty soft, through a 10-
mesh to 12-mesh screen (available here as item number TL2001) or a
coarse-mesh kitchen colander.

You will now have 10-mesh granules with some finer powder mixed
with them. Store the completed fuel in a tightly sealed tub in a safe
location, and with a label indicating what's inside. Many folks include a
packet of desiccant with their fuel to keep it completely dry. These
packets can be readily found on eBay.
These granules have all three of the chemicals intimately mixed with,
and bound to, each other. Since no binder (such as dextrin) was used
in this formula, the granules will be soft and easily crushed as they are
rammed into a solid fuel grain inside a rocket motor.

The granulation step results in rocket fuel which is not very dusty
when it is used. Additionally the burn rate of the fuel is speeded up a
little by the potassium nitrate being dissolved by the water and then
absorbed by the charcoal. And the three chemicals, now in granules,
will not separate from each other as the fuel is being scooped out for
use when making rockets.

Note: This final point is an important one. If the fuel is used without
the granulation step, there will be grains of the different chemicals in
the fuel which differ substantially in size and density. Even though the
chemicals have been sifted and mixed through the 40-mesh screen,
these particles of differing size and density will separate from each
other as the fuel is handled. The result of this "un-mixing" will be
inconsistent performance when the separated fuel is rammed into
rocket motors.