Sharee took the notes and crossbow, and was mostly silent through his explanation. She hadn't thought of anything like what he was suggesting, though that might have been because of some of the problems she saw with it. There were some ways she could help, of course, but she didn't see it being scalable to the whole crew. 

"Well, as far as this explosive powder goes, I already know something way better to mix the fire salts with than charcoal. Combining it properly with something like imp gall or dragon's tongue can make a pretty spectacular effect, though the best is by far spiddal stick. If you use one of the other two, then you also need something like ectoplasm or wisp essence to make the mixture vaporize properly. Of course, you also need to know the exact proportions, how much heat to apply to each ingredient for how long, and in what order, how much water you will need, how much to dissolve in the solvent at a time, and so on, but I already know all of that. I just need the ingredients. Now, for your design...that's a different matter. The biggest issue I see is the fact that it is a cudgel. I could see it working with a blade, but blunt weapons are meant to be used with a lot of force. If you bore a hole in the thing, then keep hitting things with it, its going to bend the metal inside unless you make it out of something really strong, like ebony. For the entire crew, we can't afford that yet. Like I said, though, you might be able to make some sort of blade out of this." Sharee suggested.