Safety Question - Is it safe to dry BP in an oven at low temperatures?

[jeffreyschultz]

I only plan on considering doing this if the collective deems it safe with the proper precautions.

 

I have a mix of BP (not thoroughly mixed enough for me) that seems to have a bit of moisture causing it to stick to the walls of the mill jar and the media itself. I have left it to dry in a cabinet for the last couple of weeks, but it has been so humid that I am afraid it hasn't done much good. Backstory: Newbie here. I was trying to cut down on the dustiness of the BP when I was first putting it into the mill jar, and I added a touch of IPA thinking it would help with the grinding by creating a more resistent comp. for the media to trudge through, but unwittingly I just made a mess. The comp. still smells of IPA and doesn't seem to want to dry to allow me to continue processing it in the mill jar. This was a new ball mill that I purchased from Harbor Freight, so there might have also been a bit of release grease/jell or something left over in the mill jar from the manufacturing process that I wasn't aware of before.

 

I know that BP has an ignition temperature of around 800 degrees, and the thought is that if I keep the temperature low enough (150-200 degrees), that I can effectively minimize the risk of the BP igniting within my oven. I am also thinking about attempting this outside with a aluminum foil covered steel bowl over a small fire for a bit (away from anything I hold dear in the case something were to happen)--the aluminum foil is an attempt to isolate the BP from an open flame.

 

This was my first batch of BP, and it is fine if I lose it--I would prefer not to though--as I do have about 20 lbs of S, KNO3, and Airfloat Charcoal each. I have been testing the black powder comp. by making a couple pucks of it every few days with a 1/2 in. star pump and I am disappointed with the variance in burn rate between pucks, hence my interest in attempting to better homogenize the comp. with re-milling it.

[Col]

A drying box would be the safest option, an oven is ok for seperate chemicals but not live comps. Drying the chems seperately before milling is a good idea, especially the charcoal.

[Shadowcat1969]

Yeah, I would stay away from the oven, just on the off chance you have a filiment go out and spark, just at the wrong time.

 

A drying box would be best. You can also look for a food dehydrator, as long as it doesn't have a directly exposed heating filament for any comp/dust to come in contact with, it should work too.

 

Harbor Freight sells a couple models, but I haven't looked to see if they meet the "no exposed filament" requirement.

[laserkoi]

iuse a carbord box lined with polystyrine . i place a baking tray of sand in the oven for 30mins at 150c .remove from oven move it to a safe place were i wish to dry my chems, place the hot tray ni the box .then put a tray containing my chems on the hot sand in the insulated box .

[jeffreyschultz]

Very good responses. I will move forward with the drying box.

[Bobosan]

Home depot has a product called damprid that works great to remove moisture. Just placing it in the drying box would help.

 

Also suggest if you have a dehumidifier, pipe the drying box to the dehumidifier intake port.

[leedrill]

unless the box is in a open area then pipe it to the outlet port on the dehumidifier

[psyco_1322]

So I was trying to figure out why anyone would pour a perfectly good IPA into their black powder....then I realized he meant the other alcohol

[jeffreyschultz]

Haha! No, fireworks and beer don't mix! ;-) (pun intended) Edited September 14, 2013 by jeffreyschultz