Posted: 6/11/2006 6:36:58 AM EDT
Hello guys, anyone ever try to make there own fireworks? You know, the big boomers. Safely though.
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Used to when I was a kid. We mostly made "screach bombs" when we could get the chemicals: Basically looked like an M80 tube (with an end and not a middle fuze) but we filled them with damped and packed whistle mix instead of flash and sealed the fuse end with candle wax so it would melt away when the fuze burned through and result in an open ended tube that would zip around screatching. . They produced an awful loud whistling sound. Best part was that they were a non-exploding firework and perfectly legal in our hometown, despite looking like M80s. We never made bangers, back then, there was no good source for the aluminum for flash powder, unless you wanted to sit down for 4 hours at a time with aluminum foil and a mortar and pestle. But we bought Black Cats (and their evil cousin "Thunder Bombs") by the crate! Our hometown allowed explosive fireworks of the "cracker" kind -- nothing bigger. Thunder Bombs, I must say, were the loudest firecrackers, but they had this evil fast burning fuze. The "lady fingers" were also pretty cool. They were miniscule, little tiny things, but they used some sort of super flash powder and really had a lot of kick for their size. Its all very much illegal now, and making explosive ones would probably get you listed as a terrorist. Once again, part of the fun and intrigue of being a kid has been coopted by the nanny state. When I was googling stuff on Tannerite the other day, I found a page that says the Consumer Product Safety Commission is coming down on the suppliers of the common fireworks pyro chemicals: Criminalizing sale basically of the atomized aluminums and perchlorate oxidizers. Kind of ironic, given how easily the alternative (and frighteningly less stable) "chlorate" oxidizers are to synthesize. I'm sure that if they succeed in getting the "safe" shit off the market, the garage fireworks makers will just move to the unsafe stuff. Frankly, I'd stay away from trying to "make" any of the exploding fireworks. Even the "safe" flash powder compositions that are capable of being fuse lit are so static sensitive that you take your life in your hands just mixing the stuff. We had a kid lose an eye when I was a kid: He wasn't even making flash, he just bought a brick of black cats and was using a razor blade to "reclaim" the flash powder in the tiny crackers 50mg at a time. He got a few grams together and stupidly tried to stir it in a plastic container to break up the lumps. Static electricity: KABOOM. (flash self constrains in the right volumes). One of the scary things is that on another gun board a few weeks ago, I saw a post from some idiot who said he had duplicated Tannerite, but he had actually made a chlorate based flash powder and he had purposefully mixed sulpher in with it (chlorate and sulper = spontaneous deflagration). Not fun, not safe. Before you even think of making your own fireworks, legalities aside, I suggest you find the picture of (what's left) of a guy's hands who loaded flash into a bird bomb for a 37mm flare launcher. It detonated in the barrel, blew off most of his hand, and looked totally grisley. There are no homemade fireworks that can hope to match even the most pedestrian municipal fireworks displays nowadays. My hometown puts on a show that costs in the five figures range. I was talking with one of the grounds crew, and he said this year they've got "aerial salute" (Boom!) shells that will produce thundering concussions. Hell, that's the ticket! Go watch a public show, if you're smart. |
 Umm, not such a good idea to "crush" up any composition that's aready got the fuel and oxidizer mixed together. Those fountains are pressed while the composition is slightly dampened. There's a reason for that. Make sure to post pics of the stubs left on your hand after you blow off the digits. |
Yikes. You need to look up the ATF's banned explosives lists. THey include refernce to such models of clarity as "salutes" (meaning any explosive firework) and "pyrotechnic compositions" I'd say you wouldn't want to risk it. BTW, the skyburst salutes they're using in my hometown's professional this year contain 4 FOUR! pounds of flash powder each! The powder is buffered inside the shells by foam to protect it from the shock of the launch charge. These are the ones that skyburstand you can litereally feel the "thump" of the thing. THe professional displays make anything else look boring! |