Skylighter Fireworks Tips
May 1, 2003 -- Issue #51

Free Fireworks Safety Book. Please read this book. We have been selling Bill Ofca’s fine book on Fireworks Safety (#BK0034, $29.95) for years. Bill, however, has always felt that this kind of information should be as widely distributed as possible. So he has given us permission to make it available on our web site at no charge. His series on "The Dreaded Dud" is particularly interesting. And buried deeeeeep in the book is a little lagniappe, an article on how to make a "Beautiful 4" Spider Shell." There are several illustrations missing, which we will include at a later date. There may be some proofing errors in it as well. But we figured that with the fireworks season close upon us, it was better to get this book up on the site than to wait until it’s perfect. There is a link in the new Information section to it where you can read, copy, download, or print it. (http://www.skylighter.com/skylighter_info_pages/Books/fireworkssafetymanualofca.htm),

Web Site Changes. For some reason, the look and feel of the Skylighter web site is changing. Things ain’t where they used to be. I know nothing about it. It is possible that Snerd may have finally hooked up with Danny Clark and may be in nocturnal cahoots with him.

Rocket Sticks from Lowes.

I forgot who recently told me this; forgive me whoever you were. I am told you can buy square sticks from Lowes, which are perfect as rocket sticks. Square sticks result in better rocket flight than round dowels.

Rocket Sticks: How to Cut Your Own.

John Werner wrote this one. Making your own rockets is an extremely satisfying project for both beginner and advanced firework makers. Getting them to fly straight is an essential part of the process, and wooden sticks are the simplest and most common form of guidance.

Although wooden dowels can easily be bought in three or four-foot lengths at the local home improvement store and used as rocket sticks, having the ability to cut and make your own custom size sticks can be a real advantage. However, a good quality table saw fitted with the proper blade is essential if this is to be done safely. Here are a number of suggestions for cutting your own sticks:

TABLESAW - Use a quality, brand name saw such as Delta, Powermatic, Ryobi, Jet or DeWalt, fitted with a 10" blade. A high quality fence that is accurate and stays locked in position; parallel to the blade is absolutely essential since you will be making narrow cuts with the fence set close to the blade. Many older or cheap table saws have poor, flimsy fences that should be avoided.

BLADES - When buying saw blades there are no bargains and you get what you pay for. Get the best blade you can afford. Home improvement stores often do not carry top quality blades. A better place to buy is from woodworker catalogs or online. My personal favorites are blades made by Freud. There are basically three main types of blades available for table saws: crosscut, rip and combination. Crosscut blades produce an extremely smooth, fine cut when cutting boards across the grain and are mainly used for fine furniture-making and therefore are not needed by the average woodworker (or fireworks maker). Rip blades are used only for cutting a board along its length, as in cutting rocket sticks. A rip blade should not be used for making crosscuts. Combination blades are designed to function both as a crosscut and a rip blade. A top quality combination blade (about 50.00 to 60.00 dollars) works pretty good as intended in both roles. However, if you intend to do a lot of ripping cuts, I recommend getting both a combination and a rip blade. Although it means changing blades, a rip blade will glide through the wood with much less effort.

PUSH STICKS - When making cuts any time the fence is located close to the blade, a push stick is mandatory for pushing the tail end of the board past the blade. You may be familiar with push sticks that are basically a straight stick about 8" to 12" long with a notch on the front end that hooks over the back end of the board, enabling you to push the board. This is a most common type of push stick that is sometimes recommended in woodworking books and magazines. Unfortunately it is not a good design, especially when cutting thin, narrow strips like rocket sticks, as it can slip off the back of the board easily and does not keep the wood from chattering as it is being cut. A much better shape is made from a piece of 3/4" plywood cut in an "L" shape that has a low "heel" on the bottom to hook the wood. The vertical portion of the "L" is the handhold and should be about 2" wide and about 8" high. The horizontal portion should be roughly 6" to 8" long. The "heel" extends down from the bottom of the horizontal portion about 1/4" and is about 3/4" long. Imagine a tall, thin boot shape with a small, low heel. The push stick is used by resting the sole of the stick on top of the board being cut and with the "heel" hanging off the back edge of the board. Push sticks should always be used to push the portion of wood that is between the blade and the fence, never the piece that is outside the blade. Since the rocket sticks are going to be narrower than the width of the push stick (3/4"), the saw blade will cut a groove in the sole of the push stick. Therefore the push stick needs to be made of wood so as not to damage the saw blade.

SUITABLE WOOD - Any straight-grain, knot-free wood can be used for sticks. Heavy, dense woods such as oak should be avoided, since they will add unnecessary weight to your finished rockets. At home improvement stores, clear pine or poplar are about the only choices available. Start with 3/4" thick boards rather than 1 1/2" thick material until you gain more experience cutting narrow strips, especially if your saw is under powered or you do not have a good, sharp saw blade. Scrap wood from old furniture such as tabletops can frequently be found being thrown out and is usually high quality, straight grain material. Watch out for nails and screws if you intend to use "recycled" wood.

PROCEDURE:

Determine the length of sticks needed and crosscut your raw boards to that length first. It is much easier to rip boards that are three feet long rather than ones eight feet long. However, do not try to rip anything less than about one foot in length. Next, switch your saw blade to a rip blade (if you have one) and set the fence to the desired width of the rocket stick. Set the height of the blade so that it is about 3/8" higher than the thickness of the material being cut. Spray-on saw blade lubricants are highly recommended when cutting and really make a big difference. Wearing safety glasses and a dust mask, cut the board into strips. Remember to use your new push stick tight up against the fence. After you have cut your boards into strips, the strips are rotated 90° and cut into the final square cross-section rocket sticks. Lower the saw blade so the teeth are just barely above the thin dimension of the strips and run the strips through the saw to produce the final product. Do not try to cut sticks thinner than about 5/16"x 5/16".

FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS

Know how to use a table saw safely before attempting this project. This is not a project for a beginner unfamiliar with the use of a table saw.

Make sure your blade is sharp and that the fence can be set accurately.

Make a push stick from good quality 3/4" plywood and understand how to use it. The project should not be attempted without a properly made push stick.

Use good quality, knot-free wood for your sticks.

At no time during the cutting process should it feel like you have to force the material through the blade.

Wear a dust mask and safety glasses.

Use a paste wax on the table saw top and fence, to help the wood glide through the cut.

Be aware of where your fingers are. Except for the hand on the push stick, your fingers should never extend past or over the edge of the blade of the saw. Do not try to pull the wood through the blade from the backside of the saw.

ATFE Application Requests Available Online. ATFE's National Licensing Center is making available a new customer service feature, which will enable applicants for explosives licenses/permits to request the necessary application forms via e-mail at NLClicenseapplication@atf.gov. The e-mail request should contain in the subject line, "Request for Application Package." To expedite your request please provide 1) Your Full Name, 2)Full Premises Address with a full mailing address 3)City, State and ZIP Code 4)E-mail addresses, if applicable and 5)Application type requested. Application requests will be filled within 48 hours with delivery of application package made via standard U.S. Postal Service procedures.

Notes on Radiant Green Star.

We gave a formula for a green star in the last Bulletin. Here are some useful comments from Charley Wilson about that star.

Radiant Green Star
--------------------------------

Potassium perchlorate	40%
Barium carbonate	30%
Dark pyro aluminum (400 mesh or finer)	15%
(any flash or -400 or smaller flake aluminum)
Parlon or saran	15%

Regarding substituting magnesium-aluminum, -200 mesh, for the aluminum... This is really similar to the Veline green, hard to light and blows blind a lot.

The use of magnalium is recommended. Magnesium would work also, and would give you closer to a go-getter result but needs using Parlon with MEK as the solvent. Good saran does not dissolve in acetone or MEK except at high temperatures.

Regarding the magnesium-aluminum producing an aqua color... He must have some copper in there somewhere, probably in the magnalium as an alloy impurity. This is common in the European versions of the alloy. I don't get an aqua color from magnalium.

> HG's note: Although I haven't tried it, I expect you could eliminate the acetone (and its problems) and make cut stars > out of these by using Norm's +5% dextrin variant.

Yes, it's an OK green but not as deep as ammonium perchlorate-based greens or the old barium chlorate/shellac green. And, yes, I have made similar with saran bound with dextrin. My version was: 42 perchlorate, 28 barium carbonate, 14 saran, 6 sulfur, 10 magnalium +5 dextrin.

Sulfur really helps the burn rate and seems to reduce cinder.


Order at least $150 wortha stuff and ask for any two of these one-of-a-kind items and we’ll include them in your order free. First come, first served, mostly one-of-a-kind items. Deadline, Saturday, 5:00 PM, May 3, 2003. To take advantage of this Early Bird Freebie, you must order online and tell us in the comments section of your order that you want this deal. You can combine this freebie with the $250 bonus freebie and the Free Glitter Aluminum Deal below.

#FX2010: Confetti. Discontinued: A $24.95 value

Spiral tube, 1/2" ID x 1/16" wall x 7-1/2" long. Good for waterfalls, gerbs, BIIG lance. About 30 tubes. An $8 value.

Old number 183: 2-1/2" diameter, chipboard disks with 2 time fuse holes. About 85 disks, a $15 value.

Old number 146: 1-12 ID x 1-1/2 long, spiral tube, box star with some loose-fitting end plugs. About 30 tubes, a $7 value.

Old number 126: 5/16" ID x 1/2 OD x 4-3/4 long, whistle or spolettes (if you cut 'em) parallel wound tubes. Discontinued item, bag of about 20. $9 value.

Old number 345: #5 star shell. Spiral wound tube, most with one end cap, in various stages of decay. Hundreds in one box, many useless but some salvageable tubes. These are 1-3/4 ID x 1/32 wall x 2" long. Value: Priceless.


If you order $250 or more worth of stuff from us between now and 5:00 PM, Thursday, May 8, you can take $35 bucks worth of any of our novelty fireworks. You must order online, and you must tell us in the comments section of your online order which novelty fireworks items you want and that you want this "$250 Bonus Freebie." This offer is limited to folks who order $250 and ask for the $250 Bonus Freebie. And yes, you can combine this freebie, the Early Bird Freebies above (if there are any left), AND take advantage of the special offer below.


Bad news: unfortunately, we can no longer afford to vend or make deliveries to the Pyrotechnics Guild’s (PGI) convention. Last year, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) set up a checkpoint at the entrance to the Fargo, North Dakota convention. Tickets for transportation violations were issued. DOT will be conducting the same inspections at the Gillette, Wyoming convention this coming August.

Quite simply, the cost and complexity of for us to fully comply with DOT regs is greater than the expected gross revenues from sales at and deliveries to the convention. So, for the foreseeable future at least, Skylighter will no longer be bringing anything to PGI Conventions. We regret the inconvenience this may cause you.

MINE CONSTRUCTION

Here's another article written by John Werner, this time on the making mines. It's a follow-on piece to his article in Bulletin 49 on making Fan Shaped Multi-Effects Boards.

A mine is a quantity of stars, small comets, inserts, etc., which are simply fired up into the air from a mortar tube so that their effect is immediately noticeable as they exit the muzzle of the mortar. The simplest mine is a single spray of colored stars. More complicated designs can exhibit several layers of color, or color with reports, whistles, spinners or small shells. They are fast and easy to make, and provide a dramatic effect.

Mines are low-level fireworks and designed to work roughly in the same spatial parameters as roman candles and comets. Since their effect starts at ground level and goes up to only several hundred feet at most, they are a great way to visually tie together ground pieces, such as lancework and wheels, with aerial shells. Mines can be constructed quickly and easily, and offer the beginner lots of opportunities to experiment with various types of stars and inserts, without getting into the intricacies of shell building. Mines are most effective when fired in multiples, and the individual tubes do not have to be large for the effect to be spectacular in a show.

I like to categorize mine construction into 2 basic types, which I call "drop-in mine bags" and "pre-loaded disposable mines." Drop-in mine bags are constructed similarly to a shell with a quickmatch leader and are designed to be dropped into a mortar at the shoot site and to be fired by lighting the leader protruding from the top of the mortar. Traditionally this style is probably the most common way of using mines, at least for public displays. However, for the sake of this article, only the preloaded disposable method will be covered as it is somewhat simpler to make and can be readily used with multi-shot display boards (cakes) as was described in Skylighter Bulletin 49. You can see exactly how I make these mines on Skylighter video #VD0060, Mine Construction.

MATERIALS

• Spiral wound cardboard tube, 2" I.D., #TU2200
• Base or plug for tube, #PL3005
• Cardboard discs (2), 2" diameter, #DK2000
• Green visco fuse, #GN1000
• 2FA black powder
• Stars (1/4" to 3/8" diameter
• Inserts: small whistles, firecrackers, dragon eggs, etc. (optional)
• Awl or ice pick

1. Begin by making up several single-shot test mortars. A plastic base will work fine for 2" or smaller diameter tubes, but on larger diameters a wood base or plug is preferable. The basing method described in Bulletin 49 for making multi-shot boards works great for single shot mine tubes. Once the correct amounts of lift and stars have been dialed in, you will want to make up some multi-shot mine boards too.
   
   
2. Next take one of the cardboard discs and punch with the awl (6 or 8) 1/16" diameter holes in it. (If you do not have disks, you can use 2 inch end plugs, #PC2000). You can also drill these holes if you prefer. The pattern of holes can be as neat or as sloppy as you like. Set the perforated disks aside.
   
   
3. Using the same awl, punch a fuse hole at the very bottom of the mortar so that when the visco is inserted it lies flat against the plug or base on the inside of the mortar tube. The fuse can be left unglued if the hole has not been made too large or the fuse can be secured in place with a dab of hot melt or white glue.
   
   
4. Place a level 1/2-tablespoon of 2FA Black Powder in the mortar (about 8 or 9g.).
   
   
5. Insert the perforated disc from step #2 into the mortar and slide it down flat to the bottom of the tube, so that it rests on top of the black powder. Do not glue the disk. The disc should fit tight enough that it would not slide out if the mortar tube is turned upside down. Also, little or no black powder should leak out through the small holes in the disc if the mortar is inverted over a sheet of paper. The purpose of the disc is to ensure that that the black powder remains at the very bottom of the mortar, separate from the stars.
   
   
6. Measure out about 1/4 cup of stars to start, and place them in the mortar on top of the perforated disc. For a mortar of this size (2 inch diameter), small stars, 1/4" to 5/16" diameter are preferable, in order to prevent a thin or sparse pattern.
   
   
7. Finally, slide a solid cardboard disc down flat in the mortar to hold the stars in place. If the tube is inverted, the disc should be tight enough to prevent the contents from dropping out. Do not glue the disk.
   
   
8. Go outside and fire the device. Note the height and density of the star pattern. If it looks too sparse, increase the amount of stars slightly or decrease the black powder lift slightly. If the stars start to turn over and come back down, use more lift or smaller stars. Keep careful notes on quantities used for each size and type of mine constructed.
   
   
ADDING INSERTS WITH STARS


9. The next step after getting a single-color star mine to work to your satisfaction is to try adding some simple sound or report inserts. Firecrackers are probably the easiest and can be simply loaded in loose on top of the stars. However, a better method which results in more crackers getting lit, is to bundle the loose crackers together with a rubber band until you have a bunch that is slightly less in diameter than the I.D. of you mortar. Insert the bundle, fuses down, into the tube on top of the stars. There should be no disk between the stars and the firecrackers. Slide down an unperforated disc to hold everything in place.
   
   
10. Other inserts to try are crackling stars (dragon eggs), whistles, bees, small serpents, jumping jacks or combinations of these.
    
    
LAYERED PATTERN EFFECTS


11. Beautiful layered star patterns in which groups of stars arrange themselves in tiers are easily produced in mines. The only requirement is that stars of different shape and density be available. The layering is produced not by carefully arranging the stars in some particular order in the mortar, but by making use of the aerodynamic properties of various types of stars. Round stars, for instance, will tend to travel higher than cut stars and therefore will appear to separate and rise above the cut stars as they exit the mortar. Similarly, higher density, heavier stars such as color stars will travel higher than lightweight stars such as glitter stars.
    
    
12. The greatest layering effect will be achieved by using heavy, dense, round stars and lightweight cut stars. Imagine throwing a golf ball and a Styrofoam cube up into the air at the same time. Obviously the golf ball will go much higher than the cube. The principle is the same with actual stars exiting the mortar as the effects of air resistance and momentum cause the stars to separate and form a layered pattern. It is immaterial as to the order the stars are loaded into the mortar. Two and three layers can be achieved by careful selection of star types. Again, do not use a disk between layers.
    
    
13. Combinations of inserts as suggested in steps 9 and 10 can be added to layered star patterns. However, don't overdo the combinations of colors and effects, as the overall look in the air can easily get too busy and confusing.
    
    
USING COLOR CHANGING STARS


14. An alternate method of producing a layered look is to use round stars that change colors two or more times. As the stars leave the mortar tube they will be visible first as one color for the lower portion of their flight and then suddenly change to one or more different colors higher up in the sky. Visually the effect is somewhat different than the layering method described in steps 11 and 12.
    
    
15. Color changing stars made with a dark burning composition between colors give a very distinct rich looking pattern in the air as they first appear low to the ground, then seem to disappear half way up and suddenly reappear further up in the sky.
    
    
16. Again, don't forget to experiment with combinations of sound and noise along with color changers.
    
    
COMET AND STAR COMBINATIONS


17. A very nice effect is a mine utilizing large comets and stars. In order not to overload the cardboard mortars, use comets whose thickness is roughly 1/2 their diameter. For this effect the comet should be just slightly less in diameter than the I.D. of the mortar. It should fall loosely into the mortar tube. Typically, the comet would be one displaying a long glitter tail for best effect, especially when used in combination with small color stars.
    
    
18. Loading order is as follows: Black powder, perforated disc, small color stars (1/4" to 3/8"), comet, solid disk. It is important to place the small stars under the comet and not on top, in order for the stars to light reliably.
    
    
19. When fired, the mine will display a low-level cloud of color with a large tailed comet rising up through the center of the cloud and continuing to a higher elevation.
    
    
SOME FINAL THOUGHTS


20. Mines are a great way to enhance any type of pyrotechnic display. They are surprisingly effective even in small sizes, and require a minimum of materials. Keep in mind that mines are much more impressive when fired in multiples rather than merely sizing up a single mine. Six or eight 2 1/2" mines placed 35 feet apart in a straight line and fired simultaneously will get much more response from your audience than one or two 6" mines.
    
    
21. Make sure you first thoroughly understand the principles of constructing mines in smaller sizes (1 1/2" to 2" tube I.D.) before trying to scale up to larger sizes. I have seen mortar tubes (HDPE) blown apart by people that thought that mine construction consisted simply of pouring stars and black powder in a tube and lighting the fuse. Large diameter mines can be very dangerous if improperly made. There are very few instances where mines over 4" I.D. are necessary or justified, especially when fired in multiples.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: Do mines always have to be fired straight up?
A: No, fan shaped or angled arrays are a great variation. "V" shaped patterns of mines augmented with mortars firing tailed shells straight up works very nicely. Layered mines containing comets whose effect matches the tail of rising shells are beautiful.

Q: Do I have to use 2FA Black Powder?
A: No, especially on small mines (1" to 2" I.D.), 4FA works fine. However, with smaller particle black powder there is more chance that the powder will migrate through the holes in the perforated disc and mix in with the stars. To prevent this, a piece of tissue paper can be lightly glued to the underside of the perforated disc.

Q: What is the best way to construct electrically fired mines?
A: Look up Skylighter Bulletin 49 on making multi-shot boards. Go to the section on inserting electric matches in disposable mortar tubes. Do not attempt to load mines with a live electric match at the bottom of the mortar, unless the match has a shroud over its head. Always use extreme caution when using electric matches, THEY ARE VERY IMPACT AND FRICTION SENSITIVE!

Q: How much material can I put into any single mine tube?
A: Don’t fill cardboard tubes any more than 1/3 full with all mine contents including black powder, stars, comets, and inserts. If you do, the mine is likely to explode when ignited.

Q: I have heard that layered mines are made by building up alternating layers of black powder and stars, similar in fashion to the method used for making double and triple petal shells. Will this work?
A: No.


Order $144.44 worth of anything from Skylighter between now and Thursday, May 8, 2003, and get 3 pounds CH0122, Aluminum, atomized +120-325 mesh, free. That’s $44.85 worth of twinkle in the sky and your eye. The wide range of particle sizes makes this a particularly good aluminum for making glitter. I likes one wholelot. Deadline is 5:00 PM, May 8, 2003. See fine print below or... well, you know. To take advantage of this deal, you must order from our web site. Use the comments section of the shopping cart to tell us that you want the Free Glitter Aluminum deal.


Wade through it now or weep later. This fine print is different from the last fine print. It supersedes all previous fine print.

- You have to place your order using the shopping cart on our web site. To take advantage of this deal, you cannot fax your order in, phone your order in, mail your order in, nor wish it was here.

- You have to ask for the Free Glitter Aluminum Deal, when you place your order-not retroactively. Use the comments section of your order to ask for it.

- You have to place your order on our web site before 5:00 PM, Eastern Time (US) on the deadline date above (not Kuala Lumpur time, not Central, Rocky Mt. nor Pacific Time).

- You have to ask for this deal when you place your order-you're not allowed to forget and then remember. You can’t order yesterday and get this deal today. We will not apply it to the last order you placed, no matter how much we love you, nor how good a customer you have convinced yourself you are.

- The minimum order total cannot include anything showing as "Temporarily Unable to Ship" or 'Not Shippable" on our web site unless you’re gonna pick it up or have us deliver it. The minimum order total cannot include shipping charges or sales taxes.

- Aluminum powder is a hazardous chemical. We cannot ship it outside of the US.

- No funny money will be given or taken on your order if you take advantage of this special offer.

- If you order $144.44 worth of stuff, you can get 3 pounds CH0122 Aluminum free. If you order $288.88 worth of goods, you can get 6 pounds free, and so on. If you order $144.43 wortha stuff, you don't get nothin' fer free! We are tough sonsabeeches!

- You have to ask for this deal specifically. You can’t just request "Whatever Specials You Have Right Now" or words to that effect into your order. For some reason, ne’er-do-wells keep trying this ploy. We ignore their requests and put black marks in our database. You can’t call us and ask us what the current freebie is-we won’t tell you. There’s a reason for this. We only offer these deals to alert, sentient beings. We do not offer them to folks who don’t read our email bulletins or who haven’t figured out that they can go to our web site and read about our freebies before placing their orders.

- You pay all shipping costs, including free items.

- You have to prepay your order before the deadline by giving us your credit card number. You cain't place the order, and get us to hold it for you, until your allowance/alimony/social security check comes. Neither should you entertain yourself with fantasies about first placing the order and then asking us to wait for your check, or ID, or permission from your old lady. Nosireebob!

- We have to receive your ID and Hold Harmless (or you must have accepted the Hold Harmless Agreement on our web site) by the deadline. You can’t send your order and send your papers later, after the deadline.

- You have to ask for this deal when you place your order-right then; at the same time; in the comments block of yer web site order. NOT when you're talking to us on the phone; NOT in the fax you send; NOT in the letter you mail; NOT in the chicken scratchings wrapped around the yer homing pigeon's leg; NOT in the same bottle your order washed up in; NOT on the same flying carpet your messenger flew in on; NOT wrapped around the same rock that crashed through our winder here; NOT stuck in the same hole in the same tree trunk; NOT in the exact same puff of smoke you signaled your order with.

- This deal can only be combined with the Bonus Freebie offers described above. No other discounts are available. You already know this though, so why do you keep trying? NOOOO, DAMMIT. N-O. No.

- No, we won't give you this deal on the order you have already sent us; nor can you call us and tell us you forgot to mention it, because remember? You didn't ask for the deal back then! You must use at least 5% of your remember-power to get this deal.

- Yes, we really did conspire to send out this deal right after we got your huge order at full price! You KNOW we did! Must have!