Jump to content


Photo

favorite tool


  • Please log in to reply
27 replies to this topic

#16 knackers

knackers

    Pyro Forum Regular

  • General Public Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 204 posts

Posted 29 July 2010 - 08:04 AM

My ball mill, i couldn't imagine life without it, it would take me days of grinding to get nowhere near the same results i can achieve in a few hours, but i do value my multi sizes of mortar and pestles for grinding up those quick small amounts of oxidisers for special purposes

#17 alany

alany

    Pyro Forum Regular

  • General Public Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 740 posts

Posted 29 July 2010 - 12:44 PM

everyone has missed the one thing no pyro could be with out, digital scales!!!


When I first started pyro I had only a home-made two pan balance (made from a ruler, jam tin lids, some fishing line and a paperclip). I used 10 cent coins as masses. This may be where I got the habit of reducing composition ratios to their smallest common divisors. 15:3:2 FTW! I was about 12 at the time, and had to ask my parents for change to buy saltpeter in china town and sulfur at the chemist.

I agree about the ball mill, for so long I slaved with mortar and pestle!

When I learnt I could screen together compositions it was the bee's knees. For some reason the utility of the screen didn't immediately dawn on me, it took until I was about 14 for that penny to drop.

When I finally got a real metal rocket tooling set I thought I was in heaven.

I think my favorite tool is my body. Brain, hands and eyes. All of which are still in good working order despite almost 20 years of doing pyro and other ill advised hobbies on and off. Determination and a bit of common sense allowed me to safely persue a hobby with one of the steepest and least forgiving learning curves around. The wonderful thing about being human is that combination of brain and hands let's us build an unlimited variety of tools to suit whatever the task at hand might be.

Uniquely human is also our language, that wonderful symbolic, recursive structured, communication tool that has allowed us to accumulate and share our knowledge and master nature in a way no other product of evolution on this planet has before. From this comes my second favourite, The Internet. Without it I'd never have met fine chaps such as yourselves to learn from and share with. I was (un)fortunate enough to start messing with pyro before the Internet, so I experienced the dark days of scratching around in library encyclopedias reading misquoted Kentish death mixes. Mercififully I never procured the chemicals needed to really hurt myself before the wonderful resource that is the 'net became available.

#18 phildunford

phildunford

    Member

  • General Public Members
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 2,299 posts

Posted 29 July 2010 - 03:22 PM

To replace a lost post - my Ohaus 3 beam old fashioned balance...
Teaching moft plainly, and withall moft exactly, the composing of all manner of fire-works for tryumph and recreation (John Bate 1635)
Posted Imagethegreenman

#19 Vic

Vic

    Pyro Forum Top Trump

  • General Public Members
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 1,144 posts

Posted 29 July 2010 - 07:10 PM

i have an old hand powered kitchen mincer( just like "granny" used to have) for charcoal, makes crushing charcoal a breeze ^_^

One of the most useful bits of kit I have bought, I grind up all my apple wood charcoal with one. I use it for all my 1lb rockets.
It's predominately eighty mesh and I just pass it through a 40 mesh screen if I am after a nice slow lift, or ballmill for 5 minutes if I am looking for more power.
Freud. Artists, in this view, are people who may avoid neurosis and perversion by sublimating their impulses in their work.

#20 dr thrust

dr thrust

    Pyro Forum Top Trump

  • General Public Members
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 1,408 posts

Posted 30 July 2010 - 04:28 PM

so there you go, its now been proven, great minds think alike ^_^

Edited by chris m, 30 July 2010 - 06:32 PM.


#21 ener

ener

    Member

  • General Public Members
  • PipPip
  • 31 posts

Posted 30 July 2010 - 06:14 PM

By far my japanese starroller, unfortunatelly have to wait one week before I get him.
The Ballmill is the most usefull, no pyro can life without one.

#22 PyroCreationZ

PyroCreationZ

    Member

  • General Public Members
  • PipPip
  • 105 posts

Posted 02 August 2010 - 10:18 AM

I'd go for the ballmill as well. I remember the first time I tried making BP (green pwdr).

Grinding the chems with mortar & pestle. So much labour and getting such weak results :rolleyes:

No mill, no pyro simple as that.

Then again I do love some other tools such as a starroller, rocket/fountain tooling, starplates, ...

Edited by PyroCreationZ, 02 August 2010 - 10:19 AM.

YouTube account.


#23 PyroSkitz

PyroSkitz

    Member

  • General Public Members
  • PipPip
  • 116 posts

Posted 20 August 2010 - 04:21 PM

i have to say ball mill shouldn't be counted as it is a staple tool of any keen pyro :D, IMHO id had to say a cheese grater + a good set of screens, i hope other people out there will agree with me on this one as well :)

#24 seymour

seymour

    Pyro Forum Regular

  • General Public Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 691 posts

Posted 21 August 2010 - 07:47 AM

I borrowed my parents cheese grater once, and liked the black powder granulated with it so much that I went out and bought myself one.
The monkey leaped off it's sunny perch and flew off into the night sky.

#25 PyroSkitz

PyroSkitz

    Member

  • General Public Members
  • PipPip
  • 116 posts

Posted 21 August 2010 - 01:12 PM

haha same...but i did it in reverse..i used my mum and dads cheese grater and they had to go out and buy there self a new one....haha :P

#26 PyroCreationZ

PyroCreationZ

    Member

  • General Public Members
  • PipPip
  • 105 posts

Posted 28 August 2010 - 08:16 PM

I borrowed my parents cheese grater once, and liked the black powder granulated with it so much that I went out and bought myself one.


I hope they didn't reuse it afterwards :blink: :lol:

Edited by PyroCreationZ, 28 August 2010 - 08:17 PM.

YouTube account.


#27 seymour

seymour

    Pyro Forum Regular

  • General Public Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 691 posts

Posted 28 August 2010 - 11:16 PM

They did, and I do too.

Black powder washes off very easily, and since all three chemicals are food ingredients (if unusual ones) I personally see no problem.
The monkey leaped off it's sunny perch and flew off into the night sky.

#28 PyroSkitz

PyroSkitz

    Member

  • General Public Members
  • PipPip
  • 116 posts

Posted 30 August 2010 - 05:16 PM

haha, i have to say i have no problem using it again, i like a bit of black powder granulated on top of my lasagna ;) lol... but my dad saw otherwise and let me keep it, with a bit of f'in and blinding of course ;) haha




1 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users