Important: Safety Warning
This page contains instructions involving gunpowder or other explosive or pyrotechnic compositions. Preparing explosives as described has caused severe injuries and deaths, and is illegal in most places.
In addition, this page describes trade processes that use dangerously toxic materials such as cyanide solutions, mercury amalgams, or strong acids. These processes require training, equipment, and precautions far beyond what the text describes.
This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.
Home › Pyrotechny › To Prepare Gun-Cotton
To Prepare Gun-Cotton
The simplest way consists in immersing, for a few seconds, well-carded cotton in a mixture of equal parts, by volume, of oil of vitriol of specific gravity 1.845, and nitric acid of specific gravity of 1.500. The cotton, when well saturated, is to be removed and squeezed to repel the excess of acid, and then well washed in clean cold water, until the water no longer reddens litmus paper. It is then dried at a heat not exceeding 212°. A lower temperature is still safer. The cotton thus prepared explodes well, but does not dissolve easily in ether. Under Collodion will be found other preparations of Gun-Cotton.