2 replies to this topic

[miksheridan]

Hello guys, first post on the fourm and very very much a beginner in this subject. first off appologies if this isn't the right part of the fourm for this question but i had to hazard a guess.

Looking at the green man website i have come accross a project of which i think could be a nice one to begin with, and i'm now looking at all the possible things i may need to collect, the project i'm considering is the "traffic light" which seemed, and i don't use this term lightly "safe" compared to a lot of others.

however the question i'd like to ask you guys is. what is red gum as a chemical, i couldn't use the forum search as the words were under 4 letters which it didn't like. wikipedia turned up a type of eucalyptus plant which was commonly used as a type of charcoal.

thanks for your time and i hope to become a more active member of this forum.

Mik

[digger]

Hello guys, first post on the fourm and very very much a beginner in this subject. first off appologies if this isn't the right part of the fourm for this question but i had to hazard a guess.

Looking at the green man website i have come accross a project of which i think could be a nice one to begin with, and i'm now looking at all the possible things i may need to collect, the project i'm considering is the "traffic light" which seemed, and i don't use this term lightly "safe" compared to a lot of others.

however the question i'd like to ask you guys is. what is red gum as a chemical, i couldn't use the forum search as the words were under 4 letters which it didn't like. wikipedia turned up a type of eucalyptus plant which was commonly used as a type of charcoal.

thanks for your time and i hope to become a more active member of this forum.

Mik

Red gum is a mix of chemicals but mostly para-coumaric ester of xanthoresinotannol IIRC. It is a natural gum that is obtained from some sort of shrub in Australia I believe. It is also known as Accroides or Accaroides Resin or by various other similar spellings.

It can be obtained from various dedicated pyro suppliers in the UK or from specialist resin suppliers. However some of the resin suppliers may only offer 25Kg bags.

[phildunford]

Hi miksheridan - and nice to see you have been looking at thegreenman!

As usual, Digger is quite right.

Red gum is usually supplied as a rather dirty red to sandy coloured powder with a 'resiny' smell. You can get it from the pyro suppliers that frequent this forum. If you can't find them, PM me.

In Pyro compositions, it's used both as a fuel and as a binder. It has quite a low melting point and is soluble in alcohols, but not water. It takes fire very easily.

There are some doubts about it's 'eco' credentials but I'm afraid I still use it a lot - I find comps made with it very reliable and stable and it's also a good binder for stars.

have fun! be careful...