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8/23/2026 7:49:44 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Klee][Edited]
Yep dedicated.

Potassium Nitrate From My Own Pee


I always have been interested in making black powder and remember reading that during the civil war that in the south there was apparently a lot of people making potassium nitrate for the war by processing urine.

First time I have seen the process, not that I plan on ever doing it but it sure is interesting.

8/23/2026 11:25:12 PM EDT
[#1]
The confederates certainly faced shortages, including BP.

I’d heard (though just a rumor) they would carefully separate chicken dung, taking only the whitest part, as it was supposedly pure.  Then they mixed it with sorghum sap.  Not sure if they added sulpher too.

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