I was tumbling some of in in my basement, where it's quite humid. I was making some BP, and I left the lid of the tumbler open for a few hours. When I came back it was a icky mess. I think these people are getting some bizarre kind of liquid stump remover?

I tried making basic smoke mix with Bonide stump remover as my first chemistry adventure [outside of chem last year] and failed miserably. I followed directions from about.com I think saying you should slowly heat the sugar and KNO3 until they melt and form a peanut butter-like paste, then form this to desired shape and let it cool. I went ahead, and after 10 minutes of nothing except an astoundingly awful smell [when I first smelled it I was literally thrown back as if punched in the face] that eventually subsided, I cranked the heat up higher and ended up with a black/brown caked up mess that was peanut butter ish, but chunky and bad and worst of all, flame resistant! Didn't light at all, though I didn't put fuses in as I don't have any. It should light fine without a fuse correct? I guess I'll give it a go again, shadowmartyr mentioned high heat so maybe that was my problem? I also used granulated sugar if that makes a difference. I have brown sugar available if that will work better, since brown is the color of wood and wood burns great I figure that might also help. Just kidding, I'm a noob but not that much of a retard. Wish me luck!

your stump remover may not be KNO3. And DON'T HEAT THEM TOGETHER! Here's what you do:

1) melt the SUGAR alone.
2) REMOVE the heat source
3) MIX in the KNO3

And do it outside, for heaven's sake!

Also, don't try it in a nonstick pot. Some component of the nonstick surface, either the Teflon or the binder, seems to lower the ignition temperature of that stuff. Why? I have no clue. But it does, as I've observed more than once.

Well, fuck the guy who wrote the article I read! He made me inhale shitty fumes! I'm trying it again tomorrow your way.

Also, don't try it in a nonstick pot. Some component of the nonstick surface, either the Teflon or the binder, seems to lower the ignition temperature of that stuff. Why? I have no clue. But it does, as I've observed more than once.

I'll use the cast iron one next time, thanks for the tip.

Bonide stump remover

Look on the back. Does it say "CONTAINS POTASSIUM NITRATE, WILL MAKE YOUR KIDS MORE DEADER IF'N THEY HAS AN EAT ATTACK ALL UP ON THIS SHIT"? I remember Bonide being sodium pyrosulfate, absolutely useless.

Lame, didn't work again. I got some tastey looking caramel at one point though. Last year I remember seeing it and reading KNO3 on the back and thinking hmm I should remember that, could be useful. But this summer it seems to have changed and it doesn't say what it is, though it still is a white powder. Maybe my memory just sucks, but I've been getting a dark brown cement like material that won't light at all, so yeah it's probably not potassium nitrate.

I'll have to keep hunting.

In other news, I have 5+ electric motors made for a paint mixer that spin at 80-90 rpm with lots of torque that would be great for making a homemade ball mill, so if anyone's interested I'll trade one for some KNO3. [if it's not a bad idea to mail it....?]. I figure we could just trade by weight, as that will determine mailing cost. I'll post pics if you want, but if anyones interested, let me know!

I had the exact same problem as you with Bonide and it's not KNO3.

I recently got some Grant's Stump Remover but I still haven't tested it.

The only problem I seem to be having is an efficient way to grind up the little pellets from Grant's stump remover. So far I've tried a hammer but that just ended up with all these little pieces everywhere. Next I tried a knife but it had the same result. I was thinking about picking up a motor and pastel hopefully that is the solution.

You probably ment to say: mortal and pestle.

Try looking around flee markets/trift stores for good old fashioned coffee bean grinders.
Failing that, wheat grindes can be had pretty cheap from sites that cater to survivalists.

yeah find the cheapest coffee grinder you can they work wonders :)

You probably ment to say: mortal and pestle.

I think you meant to say "mortar and pestle." Anyway, I've found them fairly cheap at the kitchen gadget store at the mall, of all places. Grinding up anything that starts out as a large particle or granule size is bloody annoying, by the way. It's a lot of work. I've done granulated copper sulfate this way; the stuff comes in little crystals about the size of the clay bits in cat litter. It's hard, and whenever a crystal gets crushed it likes to spit little bits out and onto the table and generally all over the damn place, and it takes a lot of elbow grease to wind up with a fine powder.

Ball milling KNO3 isn't an especially bad idea, all things considered. People routinely ball mill it in conjunction with a fuel when making black powder, and so far none of the people I know who do that have turned up dead. Or even blown up any mills, insofar as I am aware.

Update on the motors- I have 10 motors available that run at perfect speed for a ball mill [easy to gear at least] if anyones interested in making one. They do about 80 rpm, just plug and go, and because they are for mixing paint they supply plenty of torque. If you're interested in one, see The Material Bartering Thread in DIY.

Ive found out you can order a whole puond of pure KNO3 from amazon.com. It costs about $19.00 plus shipping. Just search Pottasium Nitrate.

I just found that today

I heard you can just goto a chemical supply store dressed nice and order a 50lb bag.

i heard my hydroponic shop 3 blocks away has 25 kilo bags for 43 dollars....

That's 10-20 times what it should cost.

Pff, I gave a whole bunch of that stuff away some time back ... for making sausages, no fmame plz

It shouldn't be expensive or hard to find, if either of those, you're looking in the wrong places.

Yes its also used to store and preserve meat I believe. Ive ordered it from chemical supply stores saying that before.

So I ended up finding a decent grinder and I am really happy with the results. I say I got about 2 pounds of it now. Can't wait to use it now.

http://www.cheap-chemicals.com/chemicals.asp?Sort=P