46 replies to this topic

[BigG]

?Flowers of sulfur? is sublimed. The sulfur is turned to gas using hot vapours and the droplets are collected from a cold surface. This picks up the acid droplets as well. Under a microscope the droplets look like fractal flowers, hence the name ?Flowers of sulfur?. The sulfur powder used in pyro is precipitated. While I will guess this means the sulfur is mixed with water and then collected from the surface (since sulfur is virtually insolvable) I don?t know for sure.

There are a few articles on the Internet regarding manufacture of sulfur. Look for industrial manufacturing of sulfur.

BigG

[Steve]

Something that not everyonw knows is that roll sulphur burns a lot quicker in bp mixes than flowers. I don't know why, it just does.

Steve

[hewettn]

OK I have now got hold of some precipitated sulphur. I have read that willow charcoal is the best can i confirm that, and is airfloat charcoal just very fine or produced differently?

Thanks

Again

[Steve]

Nah, its just b*st*rd fine charcoal. Mill it for 5 hours or so. Depends on the charcoal, Some takes less some more, but 5 ought to cover most charcoals, its what i do for my willow.

Steve

[hewettn]

Steve, have you had a chance to look up what ceramic balls you had ordered as per other post

[Rhodri]

You'll see why it's called 'air float' when you open the lid.....watch out!

[BigG]

Originally posted by hewettn
OK I have now got hold of some precipitated sulphur. I have read that willow charcoal is the best can i confirm that, and is airfloat charcoal just very fine or produced differently?

Thanks

Again

I think you will have to rephrase this question. Willow charcoal is best for ?..?
If you are asking whether willow charcoal is the best for making fastest BP then the answer is yes. Willow will make one of the fastest BP?s available. Other trees that make fast BP are paulownia, plum (both faster then willow) and most fruit tree and buses (we have a member who made fine bp from bramble). However, if you want to know what charcoal can produce better sparks in 60# grains, then pine is by far better ? and if you want to ask about the best charcoal for consistent burning speed bp, then you will have to start looking for some hardwood. A crud generalization will say that soft wood is faster, and hardwood gives more consistent burning time.

Now, when we got this out of the way then I must ask why you need the fastest bp? If you want to lift a shell, then bp made with apple tree charcoal will require a few more grams then willow made bp, but if you have more apple trees near your house, why make your life difficult?

There is this great story about a guy in the US who heard from his wife about some willow trees next to the fence of the state prison. The guy drove down and went to the main gate, asking if he can pick up some fallen branches near the fence, and was refused. ?we shoot anyone walking near the fence? you don?t need the trouble.? Told him the main gate?s guard. ?I did see some willow trees near the exit from the interstate, would that be any good??. The guy got into his car and drove to the suggested exit. He parked his car on the sidelines and walked down toward the trees almost bumping to a horse rider carrying a shoot gun. A quick glance revealed five more guards keeping an eye on? you guessed it ? a bunch of prisoners from the state prison, doing tree trimming for the benefit of the exit. He stepped back into his car and went to butcher some orchard.

If you want example closer to home you can look to the brooks brothers, which were a very famous firework makers in the uk in the 19th century. They made fireworks we can only dream of (seriously, how many of us think they can make 20 inch shell, or a 3 feet fountain?) and for there formulations they used English black powder which was 75% potassium nitrate, 15% beech charcoal and 10% sulfur. If it?s good enough for then, it should be good enough for us.

My suggestion is to find what soft wood tree is most abundant need your house and adjust your formulas to include that type of charcoal. This will promise consistency, as the raw material will always be available. I have a pine forest six miles away from my house ? there is a sign in front of it describing the history of the forest ? and it was used once upon a time from the manufacturing of wood for bp charcoal? a great choice.

As for you other question ? airfloat is charcoal passing 400 mesh. You can make good homemade bp, with charcoal that does through 120 mesh.

Good luck, and stay green!!! (Remember to light bp using a fuse, or at least at arms length. Don?t have your fingers above the bp ? it burns faster then you imagine.)

BigG

[bernie]

Hewettn, BigG is on to something. If you are interested in a very good study of charcoals then I highly recommend Pyrotechnica XVII. Roger O'Neill sorted it out very well. It's worth the cost of the issue. It covers more in 13 pages then you will learn in a year by trial and error.

[hewettn]

Thanks BigG for that extract from your new book. Bernie, Is Skylighter the bes place to purchase the book for us UK folk as shipping nearly the same as the book itself.

Nigel

[phildunford]

For most comps, you can get away with quite a wide variation in charcoal types. The two to avoid are 'activated charcoal' and 'charcoal brickettes'. Neither are much good. If you can get a bag of 'eco friendly' charoal produced by traditional method, this will be fine. The pieces should look like the wood they were made from and not 'processed' in any way. You can often get this from garages - I got my last one from Wakehurst Place where they make it from coppiced woodland - how green can you get!

[bernie]

I might have missed something somewhere down the line about Big getting a new book. Sounds like he knows a thing or two without one.

The only reference # I can find at the moment is ISSN 0272-6521. E-Mail is PyroPubs@aol.com. Locally you will have to check with your British friends.

[Rhodri]

Hi
A couple of people have been posting about the purity of KN03. Garden D. KN03 is fine for pyro (Bernie note pyro NOT pyros as you instructed:)). For pyro that require very good BP I purify it by using the standard technique of re-crystalisation.

Here's a piccie of some KNO3, that in good ole' Blue Peter fashion, "I've made earlier". Someone explain that to Bernine!

** CLICK HERE.....purifed_KN03 **

Note the impurities around the rim of the pyrex trough.

It's very easy to do. First get some distilled water. Boil it in a pyrex bowl.

(We're trying to remove and limit the impurites here so tap water will work but let's be chemists!)

Now add some (10 - 20g) of your KN03 to the water and dissolve.

Keep adding until you reach the point where a small amount will not dissovle.

Now carefully pour this hot solution into a pyrex trough. If you don't have some use the top off a pyrex casserole dish (make sure you missus is not around). Place this on a windowill where it won't be disturbed and wait.

Here's the secret. Let the water gently evaporate - this may take 1 - 2 weeks depending on temp., humidy etc. But if you wait you'll get perfect crystals like the above.

Don't be tempted to oven dry or put in the sun. The water evaporates too quicly and the crystals 'bunch' togehter - let it dry slowly and naturally.

Once dry scrape up the clear, well shaped crystals, and put into a clean jar and label.

Scrape up the residue around the edges - these are imuprites - and add some more KN03 -use for the next batch of purification.

This will take some time but the quaility of the KN03 is quite excellent and will dramatically increase the rate of BP deflegration.

[Edited on 10-7-2003 by Rhodri]

[bernie]

I'm glad we got the pyro thing sorted out. Now if I can only get you to spell my name right my work will be done.

One quick note on distilled water. I'm repeating myself I'm sure. By using the distilled variety in all things that involve pyrotechnics you are at least eliminating one variable. It's a small one but when someone says distilled water we all know what it is. It has a more universal meaning than tap.

[Robbie414]

Mate, I am impressed with that crystal growth!! You must have some patience!!

Well done

I love crystals...mmmmmm...grrrrrr...mmmm

Ok Rob, stop perving over the crystal!

[Rhodri]

Thanks Robbie. These crystals were untouched as it were when the piccie was taken. No 'makeup or grooming' - the crystals as you see them just grew that way - sort of gave each other 'space' - quite cool actually.

The white stuff on the rim is all the impure stuff that slows down good BP. The process takes a while but once you've made up a batch of clean crystals the BP is MUCH faster and well worth the effort.

[Edited on 11-7-2003 by Rhodri]