How to make Potassium Nitrate by The Jolly Roger


Potassium Nitrate is an ingredient in making fuses, among other

things. Here is how you make it:

 

Materials needed:

 

-3.5 gallons of nitrate bearing earth or other material

-1/2 cup of wood ashes

-Bucket or other similar container about 4-5 gallons in volume

-2 pieces of finely woven cloth, each a bit bigger than the

bottom of the bucket

-Shallow dish or pan at least as large in diameter as the bucket

-Shallow, heat resistant container

-2 gallons of water

-Something to punch holes in the bottom of the bucket

-1 gallon of any type of alcohol

-A heat source

-Paper & tape

 

Procedure:

 

- Punch holes on the inside bottom of the bucket, so that the

metal is"puckered" outward from the bottom

 

- Spread cloth over the holes from the bottom

 

- Place wood ashes on the cloth. Spread it out so that it covers

the entire cloth and has about the same thickness.

 

- Place 2nd cloth on top of the wood ashes

 

- Place the dirt or other material in the bucket

 

- Place the bucket over the shallow container. NOTE: It may need

support on the bottom so that the holes on the bottom are not

blocked.

 

- Boil water and pour it over the earth very slowly. Do NOT pour

it all at once, as this will clog the filter on the bottom.

 

- Allow water to run through holes into the shallow dish on the

bottom.

 

- Be sure that the water goes through ALL of the earth!

 

- Allow water in dish to cool for an hour or so

 

- Carefully drain the liquid in the dish away, and discard the

sludge in the bottom

 

- Boil this liquid over a fire for at least two hours. Small

grains of salt will form - scoop these out with the paper as they

form

 

- When the liquid has boiled down to 1/2 its original volume let

it sit

 

- After 1/2 hour, add equal volume of the alcohol; when this

mixture is poured through paper, small white crystals appear. This

is the posassium nitrate.

 

Purification:

 

- Redissolve crystals in small amount of boiling water

 

- Remove any crystals that appear

 

- Pour through improvised filter then heat concentrated solution

to dryness.

 

- Spread out crystals and allow to dry

 

 

 

Compiled by -= Exodus =-