Nasty Thread Creap Mr. JIK (and not a decent USA place to spawn such a creptilian creep.p>

The black powder that my nieghborhood amalgumated came from the Britanica Encyclopedia formulae of 5%, 10% 85% (we discovered later, after experimentation - it was by weight not volumne)....

We were also a loss for old-English "Monk's Alcholic Urine" to secure the nitre.....but a backyard tench....and a forged note to pharmacist...several cases of beer/wine, over many months, (years) provided the ingrediants for a most grand Guy Fawlkes Day

Sincerely,
Gargoyle