Here's a grade 7 project - making Black Powder by a friend and his daughter on another site.
Originally, under a post in Accouterments, I responded to a post from Big Al about making black powder. At the suggestion of some others, I am moving parts of that post to this section.**************************************************************As each of my two daughters and a nephew got to the point of their 6th or 7th grade science project, I helped them make charcoal out of several different kinds of wood. Each type of charcoal was used to make pressed, corned, granulated, and tumbled black powder. [The charcoal was ball milled, as was the sulfur and potassium nitrate (all seperately) and then all together remotely for an hour or so. The meal powder was then moistened and pressed into cake. The cake was corned and screened to the appropriate size and then tumbled briefly in powdered graphite.]They then fired a golf ball down range (out of a small brass mortar) with an accurately weighed charge of each type of powder and timed the flight from firing to impact with a stop watch to compare the relative strength the powder. Each type of powder was tested 5 times and the results averaged. As a control, the test was run five times with the same granulation of Goex and five more times with DuPont. The results varied somewhat, but each of them made very consistent powder and the use of lemon wood for the charcoal made powder about 10% stronger than either DuPont or Goex.The bottom line here is that it is quite doable to safely make very consistent, usable black powder.In the ATF Federal Explosives Law and Regulations (ATF P 5400.7 (09/00) page 58, General Questions, #36 relates to this subject. The question is When is a manufacturer's (i.e. explosives) license required ? Answer, A manufacturer's license is needed only by persons engaged in the business of manufacturing explosive materials for sale, distribution, or for business use. For example, persons engaged in the business of providing a blasting service using explosives of their own manufacture would be required to have a manufacturer's license. Persons who manufacture explosives for their personal, non business use would not need a manufacturer's license. (27 CFR 55.11: Definition of manufacturer, 55.41)Under this provision, a federal manufacturer's license does not seem to be required. State and local laws may apply however, depending on the quantity made and stored.I will post some pictures from the science projects as well as some of the data generated by some 12 year old pyrotechnicians. You might be amazed. And for those who will undoubtedly jump up about safety in regard to making powder, at no time during the process is the intermediate powder any more volitile than the finished powder is in the can or in the horn. So if you can teach youngsters how to handle a firearm and its ammunition safely, then you can show them how to make powder safely.A few photos of the process.
Making charcoal (these two
Photo shows Dave's 12 year old daugther making charcoal.
The missing picture merely shows Andrea placing what looks like 1/2" X 2" pine boards in the retort.

weighing out the dry ingredients

They are all ball milled separately first, then combined for the final milling.

pressing the milled powder into a puck using a hydraulic press

The pressed powder-puck

Hand corning/granulating the puck in an aluminum, non sparking make shift mortar.

The granulated powder is screened, weighted and loaded in the golf ball mortar for firing.

Final results - the graph shows the average time of flight for five shots with each type of powder. Of interest is the difference between the commercial powder right out of the can and freshly screened like the newly made powders.

(THIS is enlightening, guys

NOTE - making your own explosives can be very dangerous - an explosion can easily take your life and/or that of your loved ones. To proceed in making your own powder from such little information as this, WILL BE extreemly dangerous. Much needed information is left out. I've never made powder and likely never will. My luck does not run strong enough for me to make my own powder, at this time. Perhaps your luck is similar to mine, in which case, for now, at least, you will continue to purchase it from the 'big' black powder makers like whomever makes it for Hodgdon(GOEX) or Swiss.

Daryl