Lift powder

Lift powder is simply granulated black powder (also known as gunpowder). It consists of potassium nitrate, sulfur, carbon, and dextrin. Dextrin acts as a water-soluble "glue" to hold the black powder together, so when it dries it will be rock hard. Lift powder gets its name because it is used for such things as launching shells out of mortars in pyrotechnics. Pyrotechnicians use this because it has a fast burn rate but not so fast as to cause the mortar to explode or cause other damage. Lift powder is good for this application because normal black powder cannot burn fast enough to push a shell out of a mortar fast enough; the shell would only go a few feet in the air. Lift powder does not burn so fast though, like flash powder, as to explode a mortar. A lift charge is an explosive charge.

Manufacturing lift powder

This process is relatively simple.

• First take 100 grams of black powder and put it in a plastic ziploc bag.
• Second, take 5 grams of dextrin and mix that in also.
• Then, carefully pour a small amount of water about 1/4 the whole mix weight until the mix gets like a putty. Mix well (always by hand, not a machine using a metal kitchen colander).

The mixture should become thick enough to stick together if squeezed between the fingers. If it is too dry, carefully add more water. Now, take an old spaghetti strainer and put all the wet lift powder into it and squeeze it out onto a paper plate. Let it dry in the sun for a day or two.

Once it is dry, some of the pieces may be a bit large. Just crumble those down. Overall the granules should be about the size of medium-sized cookie crumbs, about 10-16 mesh.