Swiss BP. Code cracked !?!?!

Summary

In an exciting revelation, the video delves into the precise methods used in the production of Swiss-quality black powder. The creator, after stumbling upon a document by the late Bill Knight, also known as 'The Mad Monk,' shares these insights with enthusiasm. The document outlines the use of specific types of alder, the meticulous aging process of the wood, the charcoal production method, and the precise chemical ratios used by Swiss manufacturers. Additionally, it highlights the unique polishing process employed to enhance shooting accuracy. Viewers are guided through these insights which potentially bring them closer to replicating the revered Swiss powder standards at home.

Highlights

• Bill Knight's document is a goldmine for aspiring black powder creators, detailing Swiss BP methods! 🔍
• Swiss BP utilizes Buckthorn Alder and Black Alder - straight from Slovenia! 🇸🇮
• The secret to clean burning powder is in the charcoal - aged for 3 years, debarked, and charred low and slow! 🌳
• Chemical mix for Swiss sporting powder: 78% potassium nitrate, 12% charcoal, and 10% sulfur! 📊
• Discover the polishing process that hones shooting accuracy! 🎯

Key Takeaways

• Discover the special types of alder used in Swiss BP production and where they import it from! 🌍
• Learn about the perfect timing to harvest the wood, crucial for quality powder! 🍂
• Find out the ideal aging process of the wood, paving the way to the magic of Swiss BP! ⏳
• The secret behind Swiss BP's excellent burn – it's all in the low and slow charring! 🔥
• Unravel the exact chemical mix Swiss uses – no secret, just quality! 🧪
• Get an insight into Swiss's industrial milling and their unique polishing process! 🏭

Overview

Stumbling upon the document of the late Bill Knight, a revered figure in pyrotechnics, the creator uncovers the explicit details of the acclaimed Swiss black powder production technique. This discovery opens the doors for viewers curious about mirroring Swiss BP's quality in their creations.

Central to Swiss BP's exceptional quality is its unconventional approach to charcoal production. The choice of Buckthorn and Black Alder, sourced from Slovenia, is pivotal. Harvested in late winter to early spring, the wood boasts the highest sugar content crucial for crafting powerful powder. Moreover, three years of aging primes it for the charring process, requiring low and slow exposure to reach the ideal state.

The manufacturing prowess of Swiss BP doesn't stop at charcoal. The brand’s chemical ratio is an open secret, promoting a mix of 78% potassium nitrate, 12% charcoal, and 10% sulfur. Industrial-grade milling ensures a refined finish, while the specialized polishing procedure assures accuracy. These insights are invaluable for anyone trying to emulate Swiss standards of black powder craftsmanship.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction and Discovery The speaker welcomes back viewers and expresses excitement about sharing their recent findings. These findings were discovered accidentally while browsing the internet for information on the Swiss method of making clean powder.
• 01:00 - 02:30: Bill Knight and His Contributions The chapter titled 'Bill Knight and His Contributions' revolves around Bill Knight, commonly known as The Mad Monk, who is recognized for his significant input in the field of pyrotechnics. The document mentions that Knight has addressed numerous challenges related to producing high-quality black powder akin to the Swiss standard. His work has become a valuable resource for enthusiasts and professionals on pyrotechnic forums.
• 02:30 - 06:00: Swiss Black Powder Charcoal The chapter titled 'Swiss Black Powder Charcoal' highlights an individual recognized as a leading expert on black powder. This person was widely respected for their extensive knowledge of the history and manufacturing process of black powder. They had an insider's perspective on various black powder companies and possessed a scientific mindset, enabling them to demonstrate and explain the science behind producing high-quality black powder. Unfortunately, the section ends on a note suggesting a sad event, potentially related to the individual.
• 06:00 - 09:00: Chemical Composition and Ratios The chapter discusses the availability of Mr. Knight's private files, which he made public before he passed away. These files are particularly valuable for individuals interested in researching and learning about making black powder, specifically Swiss black powder. The document authored by Mr. Knight provides answers to many questions about the composition and ratios involved in creating this type of black powder.
• 09:00 - 13:30: Milling and Polishing Techniques This chapter discusses the milling and polishing techniques used in the production of certain materials. Specifically, it highlights the use of charcoal, mentioning that Swiss black powder predominantly uses Buckthorn Alder charcoal in their process. Additionally, it's noted that black Alder is also used in their techniques. The information is supported by documentation and a tour conducted by Mr. Knight at the factory. The chapter aims to provide clear answers and insights into these specific techniques.
• 13:30 - 15:00: Conclusion and Future Experiments The chapter discusses importing practices, specifically mentioning that a particular product is imported from Slovenia, which is a departure from previous practices. It highlights a key period for cutting Buckthorn, which is late winter to early spring, drawing a parallel with the time for making maple syrup or sugar.

Swiss BP. Code cracked !?!?! Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 hey everybody welcome back thank you for tuning in again pretty exciting video today I'm going to share with you the findings that I came across here a while back kind of just by accident uh Milling around the internet looking for information on how exactly Swiss makes their powder so clean and stumbled upon
• 00:30 - 01:00 a document from a gentleman whom I'd come by his name before and some of his research just never quite what I was looking for so I hadn't thought of it again but lo and behold he did indeed put together a document addressing a lot of the issues we have all had with trying to produce Swiss quality black powder and this gentleman's name was Bill Knight AKA The Mad Monk you may have heard of him if you've ever spent any time on pyrotechnic websites or
• 01:00 - 01:30 black powder websites and He was largely regarded as one of the highest Minds in terms of knowledge of black powder both its history how it's made a lot of uh the various how twos and uh inside view of the different black powder companies and he really had a scientific mind as well and could talk and show a lot of the science behind how to make very high quality black powder now sadly
• 01:30 - 02:00 Mr Knight died just a few years ago but before he did he made a lot of his private files publicly available for individuals such as us that are interested in researching and learning and making your own black powder so thankfully he wrote a document that is all about Swiss black powder and it's very telling and a lot of the things that I had questions on this document
• 02:00 - 02:30 answers so stay tuned and we're going to dive right into it all right so starting off the charcoal now Swiss black powder's website states that they use Buckthorn Alder that's what we've been pushing and promoting in this document verifies and also apparently Mr Knight toured the factory at one points how he accumulated a lot of this information but they do indeed use Buckthorn Alder that's the only charcoal they use except for they also use black Alder
• 02:30 - 03:00 according to this document so if you don't have the one you can get the other you're good to go uh they import it from Slovenia a country that is outside of Switzerland and this is the first little key piece of information that is different than what we've been doing they cut the Buckthorn late winter early spring now if you've ever made Maple search maple syrup excuse me or sugar that is when
• 03:00 - 03:30 you harvest it because the sugar content and the sap content are highest that time of year when you get temperatures that are down below freezing at night and above freezing during the day apparently this is one of the keys that enables them to produce powerful and clean burning black powder so that time of year is what you need to have and this time of year that we just went through I harvested about a truckload of this stuff so I will have it ready to go
• 03:30 - 04:00 but that's the first little tidbit of what they do differently um the second thing they do with it now this is going to be a little difficult for us you could do this but the Aging now I've heard everything from Swiss ages their wood for their charcoal from a year to seven years and everything in between but this document states that they age it for three years and that is when it does its thing molecularly speaking and all the various
• 04:00 - 04:30 compounds are at the prime time to turn into charcoal so three years is what they do to age it not that you can't make good gunpowder out of it but if you want to mimic Swiss age for three years and dried and debarked okay so moving on how they go about producing their charcoal so they it's sticks that they cut it into ideal pieces which looks there's some photos that accompany this document smaller so
• 04:30 - 05:00 it doesn't take too much effort to char them and it's placed in what they call a cradle which kind of looks like a giant elongated iron cage and it's packed in there very tightly no air gaps and then that is placed into a giant iron cylinder which is like the size of a Volkswagen it's on a set of railroad tracks that's putting aside a giant oven like a brick oven that's electronically controlled and it's not direct heat the inside of
• 05:00 - 05:30 the walls are heated 360 Degrees to the ideal temperature and the wood is held there for eight hours to char and the other secret if you will yes Swiss States ideal charring is done low and slow and apparently with the way that I've done it and others have done it in the past throwing it on a roaring fire this document states that you are over
• 05:30 - 06:00 charring it or scorching the wood you're messing up the ideal carbon content and that's also messing up the ideal moisture and creosote content so apparently low and slow is what you want to do and the magic number this document states it is 608 degrees right about there and you can get the Buckthorn to do its thing to produce that clean burning powder in the end now one little comparison test that you can do and I tried it and it
• 06:00 - 06:30 actually worked I took two pieces of Buckthorn I should say two different batches one was charred with the you know roaring hot fire as quick as possible done in 15 or 20 minutes in my little Char tin and the other one I suspended over a small fire on a grate and rotated it like every 30 seconds to keep the temperature low so on the bottom 30 seconds it took a long time it was very tedious way to do it but that took about an hour and a half to char
• 06:30 - 07:00 that out so low and slow and one little test that you can do that this document shows is the hot quick charred charcoal if you rub it on a piece of paper it's just jet black in color and the Buckthorn Alder that has been charred low and slow when you rub it on there it will have a brownish cast to it and this is apparently a sign that you have the wood doing what it's supposed to do in order to produce clean burning powder so I tried that little
• 07:00 - 07:30 test and lo and behold it works so that's a huge piece of information for us at home to follow all right so next the chemicals and the chemical ratios this document shares what Swiss uses um they use nothing more than potassium nitrate their Buckthorn Alder charcoal and they're uh sulfur that's all that's in it there's no magic ingredient those are pure ingredients no fillers or
• 07:30 - 08:00 additives in there and uh the measurement that they use in order to produce their their sporting powder and apparently according to this document the kind of powder that we make with the 75 percent uh 1510 ratio that's what is referred to as blasting powder so I don't know if that's for use in like corals or what but it's not considered Firearms powder according to Swiss and their mixture that they use is
• 08:00 - 08:30 78 potassium nitrate 12 buckthorne Alder charcoal and 10 percent sulfur and that is the ratio that they use to produce their sporting powders so that's the one that I've been playing with that ratio and again a huge little tidbit of information there so next it talks about in the document the Milling methods that Swiss uses and they do use a large industrial roller
• 08:30 - 09:00 mills now obviously we can't mimic that type of Milling in our little hobbyist ball Mills but one thing I did take away from that is is it gives different uh time breakdowns for each type of powder and the sporting powder it had the longest Mill ratio or time of any of the powders listed it was uh 1200 where they refer to as tours I believe that's revolutions around on this large rotary
• 09:00 - 09:30 Mill ion and so what I took away from that is is don't skimp on the Milling which we have all learned and for sporting powder when in doubt no longer so with my current powder I've milled that for um you know over 24 hours to get it to the desired effect as of late and it seems to be making some really good quality powder so the last thing that I wanted to share with you guys that I thought might be of help from this document is this talks
• 09:30 - 10:00 about the polishing or the glazing of the powder now this is the process where it is gently tumbled after it has been mixed milled corn broken up sized it's gently tumbled in this these huge barrels again there's pictures in this document and they are slowly tumbled in these barrels for 24 hours at 20 RPM and this knocks down all the sharp little edges and it polishes the powder if you
• 10:00 - 10:30 look at it under a microscope you can see it's polished and apparently a lot of people have said oh you do that because it pours easier out of a powder Horner flask that may be but it's not the reason Swiss states that they do that apparently if you do that you get a more uniform burn rate and it will add to a greater accuracy and consistency shot to shot it states that it's not that unpolished powder won't
• 10:30 - 11:00 work says it will actually light a little faster doing this slows it down a hair but because it slows it down a hair and it packs better in the barrel of a gun apparently you'll get a better accuracy from shot to shot so it's the reason they stay they do that it does say that they graphite their powder uh it doesn't really go into detail about why I've heard theories everything from protection from moisture protects from static electricity
• 11:00 - 11:30 um the jury's kind of still out on that it does say they do it but it doesn't State why they do it and again there's a lot more information in this document just for the sake of keeping the video short I'm not sharing but as far as harnessing the power we know how to do that use their recipe uh corn your powder and you'll match the power of Swiss the cleanliness it's everything I laid out it's the type of wood it's
• 11:30 - 12:00 when it's cut it's how it's aged it's how it is charred now I will tell you all I've been playing with this new information and it seems to be very promising indeed right on the heels of Swiss I haven't shot any yet but I took two little piles of power put it on a clean piece of paper one using the old mix with the hot chard made charcoal and the other with all this new information I lit the two piles rub my finger on it
• 12:00 - 12:30 the Old Powder that I've been using my finger was black uh on all this new information as close as possible to this document I lit that and rubbed my finger on it and it was light black noticeable big time difference so I'm excited to experiment a little more and in the next video we're going to shoot some of this new powder and my personal feeling on this is this is going to get us as close to possible if
• 12:30 - 13:00 not to match Swiss obviously we can't automatically age wood three years so there's a few things here we can't quite get but armed with this knowledge I think we're going to be able to get pretty darn close to Swiss so exciting news in the realm of black powder making thank you all for tuning in and we'll see you all again next time [Music] foreign
• 13:00 - 13:30 [Music]