30 replies to this topic

[YT2095]

this has Always bugged since I can remember.

What happens to the Sticks on large rockets?

you wake up Nov 6`th and take a walk around and you`ll see plenty sticks from the little tiny bottle screecher rockets littering the place, I`ve yet to come across a stick on the ground from the Larger rockets though.

Where do they go?

and how come you never hear of a damaged greenhouse or someone walking around looking like a teletubby?

[Wyvern]

True but i think the terminal velocity of a large rocket stick wold not be enough to do any damage

[RangerOfFire]

I believe a major factor is simply not very many people actually buy rockets that cost over £10 each and have sticks 4ft or more long...

I also think that most of them (simply due to probability) would land either on the road, on someones roof or on grass where they wouldnt do any damage. I doubt one would break a greenhouse (maybe a slight crack) and would probably make a very minor dent on a car.

Last year when my dad and I were sending up a few largeish rockets the sticks all landed either in our garden or the neighbours.

[YT2095]

I`ve never seen Any sticks other than the piddley little ones, even the 2 foot sticks on £2.50 rockets or the packs, nothing ever.

and feel free to speculate wildly ( I have) and one of my ideas was that maybe the reports on some of them shatter/splinter the stick or something???

here`s another one, look at the TV of pictures in the middle east when they fire off these large calibre guns into the air, 1000`s of rounds of solid metal go up, now that has Gotta Hurt! when it comes back down.

and yet you never hear of any such instance?

[Anders Greenman]

I believe they went down, at least in the beginning of the war on Iraq when they fired both AA shells and missiles by tousands. Altough there were few reports on casualties, there were some. Maybe they got blown by the wind. In mythbusters, they did a test using a pistol. The bullets flew quite a distance, just by the wind. Regarding rockets, it's probably nothing specical. If you keep looking, you'l see some large ones form time to time. At least I did.

[Creepin_pyro]

I bet if you searched the anti-fireworks forums you'd find some stories!

I like to recycle rocket sticks - last year I did pick up a few of the larger variety...

[Asteroid]

There are anti forums?! I think it's beacause they ar balsa wood, which, as wyvern said, has a miserable terminal velocity.

[pudi.dk]

Balsa wood rocket sticks? Wow, we don't have that in Denmark! (Neither have you, I think)

[Pretty green flames]

Indeed, most rocket sticks i've seen were spruce or bamboo on smaller rockets. If they used balsa, i think many of the pyros here would be scouring the fields after NYE or the 6'th

[BrightStar]

this has Always bugged since I can remember.

What happens to the Sticks on large rockets?

We were actually trained on this very point on on Sunday. In short, they come right back down again with most of the rocket still intact - often including metal engine casings. They drift a long way in the wind, often in unpredictable directions and can and do cause great damage. The bigger ones will smash a car or greenhouse quite spectacularly on their way back down.

Even worse are certain salute rockets - the flash charge can sharpen them into a wooden spear and they come down at very high speed.

Although shells are arguably more dangerous for the operator, they are generally much safer for the audience. Most Cat 4 display operators have some truly scary stories to tell about big rockets and generally avoid them whenever possible...

Edited by BrightStar, 31 July 2007 - 05:06 PM.

[YT2095]

I do remember getting a few still lit pieces of card and bits hitting me and the rest of the crowd at last years public park (council run) display, I had to pull the hood down on the pram for my child as a result, and though the guys actually Lighting the things were getting live and lit stars land on them AND the mortars (yes I was a little worried and moved us away) I hate unpredictability in things like that.

I can also well imagine that the metal rocket inner could cause some damage, maybe they`re all cheapskates around here and prefer quantity over quality?

I`ve yet to see a post launch rocket engine and stick result around here though

I`m also equally astonished that Anti-fireworks sites exist too! although I don`t know why, almost everything Else does on the net

[SwissTony]

At my local large display (Battel bonfire) the year before last they detonated a couple of massive salutes/maroons to destroy the remaining paper mache left on the effigy.
3 ft x 1.5ft piece landed next to me.
Always seems to be a lot of sticks on the field near my gaff the morning after Nov 5th.
Will be acquiring them this year
Cant wait for the bonfire season this year, hopefully festival fireworks will maybe have their buildings back up by then.

[Mortartube]

I have fired a number of salute rockets in daylight and I have never seen the spear like stick that BrightStar describes.

Any really decent salute rocket seems to totally destroy the rocket head, and even if the stick was pointed, in my experience they almost always fall horizontally as there is no weight to guide them.

[pyrotrev]

True but i think the terminal velocity of a large rocket stick wold not be enough to do any damage

I would disagree on that point! A few years ago on Nov 5th I was clearing up after a show, bending down to pull out some stakes when there was a THWANNG and a rocket stick appeared in the ground about 6" from my right hand . Pulling it out, it had a needle sharp end and had gone 6...8" into firm soil. I was glad I wasn't standing a bit to the right . Problem seems to be that so many rockets use a flash burst it completely destroys the head and splinters the end of the stick - maybe the upcoming regulations on rocket size aren't so completely stupid: though using more sensible BP bursts would have avoided the who scenario.

[dr thrust]

I would disagree on that point! A few years ago on Nov 5th I was clearing up after a show, bending down to pull out some stakes when there was a THWANNG and a rocket stick appeared in the ground about 6" from my right hand . Pulling it out, it had a needle sharp end and had gone 6...8" into firm soil. I was glad I wasn't standing a bit to the right . Problem seems to be that so many rockets use a flash burst it completely destroys the head and splinters the end of the stick - maybe the upcoming regulations on rocket size aren't so completely stupid: though using more sensible BP bursts would have avoided the who scenario.

where you able to reuse the stick? i fired off two racks of 4ft rockets about 14 in total all in one go, it was great! wonder where they all went? good job i dont live around there!