28 replies to this topic

[fishy1]

Just was thinking, what chems do you love? Or hate? Anything brilliant or terrible?

Here's my favourites

KClO4 - Fairly easy to ignite (in comps), great colours.
Charcoal/Sulphur/KNO3 - Cheap, and for obvious reasons.
Atomised (sp?) Aluminium Powder - Not cheap, but burns very bright, mixed with perc on the ground it's blinding, and it has alot of uses for stars.
Meths (Methanol and Ethanol) - Dries stars quickly, but not too quickly, and is pretty cheap. Also, doesn't dissolve sprayers like acetone can.
Red Gum - Finely powdered, I think this is easy to light, good in colour comps, and it has that gorgious cinnamony smell.
Dextrin - Cheap and easy to make, sets stars rock hard when used with water.

And the ones I don't like much (although they have uses)

Hexamine - Very difficult to light comps with this (lots of primes), extracting it from fuel tablets is a pain, and it melts before burning.
Shellac - Flakes are a pain to powder, bulky in flakes, dissolve it in alcohol and sometimes it doesn't set stars, or takes ages to dry.
Sodium Nitrate - Hydroscopic, which isn't good as we get rain most days. Also burns very yellow so no use for other colour comps except yellow.
Barium Carbonate - Fairly toxic, and greens tend be pretty washed out.

Edited by fishy1, 01 September 2006 - 11:07 PM.

[Mumbles]

Personally, I love red gum. It cuts so well, dries fast, and just is overall sexy. The only downside it has is that it stains stuff, like clothes. I also am quite a fan of titanium. The particles split in midair like lightning or mini crossettes.


Mumbles' s**t list of chemicals:
Lampblack - messy, light and floats everywhere, so small it actually gets in your pores. More like a liquid than a solid. You look like you just came from the coal mine most of the time.

-325 mesh coated bright Al - Again with the messiness. Sticks to everything, and does not come off. Also smells of crayons, which I don't particularly care for. You look like the tinman from the wizard of oz after you are done.

[Phoenix]

This is really, really sad, but since I can't resist...

Favourites would be iron filings and ferrotitanium, because they only go down when poured and then they stay put.

Least favourites? Many of you will have noticed that if I have two pet hates they are lead and potassium permanganate, on the grounds that both of them can do permanent damage to one's mental performance, and the latter is also so unstable. Neither of them has a place in firework compositions, although I suspect it may take some time for lead compounds to acquire their proper status as an historical curiosity.

[Pretty green flames]

Favorite

1. KNO3: Really, it's just a fantastic chemical although it can't make pretty colours i have just learned to love it.
2. Magnesium, i like it, makes colours with colour nitrates and is just a fascinating chemical
3. Barium nitrate, this has something like a hipnotic effect on me, i was always fascinated with everything that can be linked to something green and Barium nitrate is deffinetly one of those things.


Least favorite

1. Chlorates, any of them actually, had a nasty experience with them
2. Lampblack, ughh, floats and stains EVERYTHING.

Edited by Pretty green flames, 01 June 2006 - 05:27 PM.

[chris17]

My fav. is probably Potassium Nitrate. It's Cheap, easy to get and easy to handle, even when finely powdered.

I share Mumbles view on the coated bright flake Al. I absolutely hate that stuff. It turns airborn very easily and goes everywhere.

[italteen3]

Favorites are KNO3, Charcoal, and Sulfur. It is great I can have almost 2 pounds of meal powder in a day. I weigh each out, diaper together, put in the jar, run the mill for a while, and voila I have the most important component of all fireworks.

I dislike working with any of the flash Aluminums. Dont get me wrong I love the effect, but dread everytime I have to work with it. Just scares me sometimes that even with every safety precaution I am aware of taken the unexpected could still happen.

[novacat14]

my favs are:

KNO3, it was one of the first chemicals i used, love the stuff and wish i could get my hands on a better source.

Sulfer, ok so im a little wierd but after a bunch of BP goes off u can smell that sulfer, reminds me of being young and building model rockets, long ago

anyway

my dislikes

Charcoal, dont get me wrong it is dead useful and produces great effects, but holy crap does this stuff make a mess, especially when using fine powder for BP.

fine aluminums, especially the german dark stuff. I dont like flash powder, and try to stay away from it, mainly cause i like all my limbs intact, and its too sensitive and those fine aluminums make a mess too!

[maximusg]

Favourites include, KNO3, Mg, -325 mesh Atomised Al (Because I adore D1 Glitter) and soon to be MgAl once I get my furnace working;)

Nasty chems include Airfloat Charcoal (arrrgh), Sulphur (Because of the smell)

[Steve]

Working with large quantities of pyro chems regularly has caused me to develop quite a personal relationship with certain chemicals.

Favourite chemicals:
Parlon, Aluminium powder & Zinc powder: We have a big pile weighted out and we don't need to touch it again for a while.
Bismuth trioxide: Voted least likely to raise a dust, this stuff is so dense, it's great to work with.
Perc: It?s clean, woo! Plus we get a groovy bag of desiccant with every sack.
SGRS: The powder density is so constant.

Hated Chemials:
SGRS: It loves to get stuck in the grip seals. Grrr
Lampblack. I swear I still have black mucus from that stuff (and it's running out again AHHHHHHHHHH)
Rust. Soo much rust always needs weighing out. And the density of the powder is so inconsistent, there can be so much variance between weights two equal looking scoops.
Anything toxic. The scene where someone puts on a dust mask and gloves to "No cancer for me today" is becoming somewhat clich?d

[Frozentech]

Like:
KNO3/C/S - the basis for everything
KClO4 - used in so many star comps
Copper Benzoate - it's just plain pretty to look at
Ti - silver/white sparks, nice & bright

Dislike:
Potassium Dichromate - not as bad as the horror stories, but still requires extra attention.
Barium Nitrate - same as Dichromate...
Acetone - evaporates too fast, stinks, flammable vapors.
Xylene - same reasons as Acetone.

Worst:
-325 mesh bright flake Aluminum - freaking messy, everything it touches looks like an Etch-A-Sketch screen.

Edited by Frozentech, 05 June 2006 - 11:20 PM.

[lord_dranack]

Likes: iron filings
FeTi- gives my favourite sparks- great in fountians!

Unsure: Potassium chlorate- yes it requires extre care in use, and can be sensitive, but it gives such good colours.

Dislike: airfloat charcoal- gets EVERYWHERE

[pyromaniac303]

Like:
Potassium Perchlorate
KNO3
Atomized Aluminium
Balsa Charcoal, Great for fast BP
Cat litter / Bentonite

Dislike:
Charcoal Briquettes
Iron filings (the metal oxide blocked the nozzle on a driver and caused my wheel to explode, that took me all afternoon to make)
Air float charcoal, really messy but I cant do without it
Anything very hygroscopic, especially sodium and calcium salts

[KNO3]

I love KNO3, its brilliant stuff, you just cant do without it. Does loads of things, and is so easy to use, its non-toxic, and not very sensitive. I also love sulphur for the smell.

I love and hate strontium nitrate, it produces the most amazing crimson, but its difficult to work with.

I dont like:
Potassium Permanganate - only chemical ive ever had an accident with, and it discolours you skin (not that it shoud ever touch your skin), and is toxic.
Bromine (water) - stinks, horrible smell (supose that you should be able to tell that form the name)

Edited by KNO3, 13 June 2006 - 09:51 AM.

[paul]

I like

Potassium Nitrate - Definately the most universal Chemical in pyrotechnics

Methylated spirits - Yeah, over the time I got used to that smell and now love it hehe... great for shellack sollutions, for binding and so on

Good charcoal - no good blackpowder without it!

Many other chems. KClO4 and stuff like it with which you can work relatively safe.

Ping Pong balls - Just the poor mans NC

gum arabicum - just one of the best binders out there! especially for blackmatch


I dislike

That DAMN floating 325 al ...

Edited by paul, 13 June 2006 - 11:17 AM.

[italteen3]

I am changing my opinion on AF Charcoal. I hate this stuff. Well I hate working with it. I love it but hate using it. What a mess. I swear I walked in the house and my mom thought I turned black. LOL it is so messy.