Thanks to Norm for this one. For years, it was not possible for us to ship either barium nitrate or chlorate. So, this star was developed for people who do not have those green-producing oxidizers on hand, or who preferred...
A rocket "heading" is typically a shell mounted on the top of a rocket, designed to explode at or near the height of the rocket's flight. To me, headings are the punctuation mark for the rocket. For some folks they...
It's the dead of winter. You want to make fireworks--"something," just to smell the smoke. Perhaps you'd like to entertain the party-goers with a pretty device. You'd like to light up the night as the crowd looks out into the...
Put about an ounce of this fire starter mixture underneath a pile of twigs and branches and put a few drops of glycerin on top of it. Stand back and in about 40 seconds the fire starter will burst into...
This article on making a bucket screen, by Ned Gorski, is a side article that goes with the Ball Milling 101 article. How to Make a Bucket Screen for Separating Media and Material Here are the plans for a really...
Multiple shot pyrotechnic effects boards are a great way to add interest and variety to any backyard or professional public firework display. Although it is easy to pick from hundreds of Chinese made multi-shot cakes for this same purpose, having...
John Dudley sent this in. Thanks John. Firefly Aluminum Rockets Ball mill the lampblack, sulfur and potassium nitrate together for two hours, just like making black powder. Next, mix in the firefly aluminum powder and boric acid. Make regular black...
Introduction There is a beautiful photo on the cover of Dr. Takeo Shimizu's Fireworks, The Art, Science and Technique (FAST). At the top of the picture is a huge, double-petaled, fireworks-shell starburst, with several smaller star-flowers between it and the...
I recently came by some fine-grained Goex black powder, around 2FG or finer. A pyro friend and I were hashing over what the stuff could be used for, and he told me about a great crossette comet break mix, which...
This works very well for a firework ignition system and does away with nichrome and/or bridge wire. It's easy. I first cut a 4 ft. length of Skylighter's shooting wire. Strip about 1/8 inch of insulation, squeeze the exposed copper...
A while back I received samples of some of Skylighter's fabulous Chinese-made fireworks fuse products: fast yellow visco, green visco, thin (cross-match) visco, and paper firecracker fuse. Noting the substantial flame spit from the visco fuse, I decided to try...
