42 replies to this topic

[Mortartube]

Hi,

Here's a great Tiger Tail mix that works well in pill box stars.

KNO3 44%
Charcoal (airfloat) 44%
Sulphur 7%
Dextrin 5%
Add 10 cc water per 100g of mix and knead very well, press into pill box spools with thumb and forefinger. Allow to dry at room temp for a couple of weeks, no priming necessary.

Use in rockets, shells or candles.

keith

[zanes]

at the risk of sounding VERY special- what is a 'tiger tail mix?'

[Mortartube]

Tiger tail is a gold willow star that produces a very long tendril of golden sparks in the air, it's often used as rising tails on shells.

keith

[zanes]

bumpt!!

[Rhodri]

Tiger tails are one (if not THE) favourite star of mine.

These are really easy to make and produce a great effect.

[zanes]

so you're saying that these produce sparks without metal powders?

When my willow-bp comes out of the mill, that'll be the first thing that I try;)

btw: If you want tubes, go to a fruiters/vegetable shop. They have plastic bags on paper tubes, I nabbed three today. They are ACE!

[Pyromaster2003]

what did you say you wanted them for?

[Rhodri]

Hi Zanes

Tiger tails type comets are effective without metal powders.

Try some - you might be pleasantly surprised.

[zanes]

what did you say you wanted them for?

Nothing, to be honest they just seemed to be pleased to get rid of them. The assistant even went and looked for empty rolls, despite being a 'dopey youth', as my dad would say

btw: with these tails, can I just replace a star in a candle with them?

Edited by zanes, 28 October 2003 - 07:09 PM.

[Mortartube]

[QUOTE=zanes,Oct 28 2003, 07:08 PM]Nothing, to be honest they just seemed to be pleased to get rid of them. The assistant even went and looked for empty rolls, despite being a 'dopey youth', as my dad would say

btw: with these tails, can I just replace a star in a candle with them?[/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE]

Yes, but if make them into pumped stars if using in candles, you may also need more water to bind them for pumping

Keith

[dfk]

Dose anyone mill their charcoal firedust comps or do any special mixing?

How does one achieve that long burning almost weightless long hanging willow look?
when I shoot a charcoal comet say using shimizus tigertail, my sparks come down in a hury(havent tried them in a shell yet). Even the ones at the top fall almost to the ground.
This is using air float C (firefox) unknown wood source.
I want the long burning but I don't want my sparks to make a mad rush for the ground.
Any suggestions?
Thanks

Marcus

[Jerronimo]

You could try a lampblack formula, I just made a batch of lampblack fueled stars
They need to dry for a week before I can test them in a shell, will let you know how I get on.

[Phoenix]

Ball mill it. It looks (IMHO) so much better after it's been ball milled.

The ball milled comp produces physically stronger stars. The tail is almost as long but much denser and softer. The sparks last almost as long as the unmilled ones, but stay in the air, as opposed to raining down on the ground (which is really embarrassing if you have an audience).

My method is to boil the composition slurry minus the binder until it is getting quite dry (porridgey). This may seem very dangerous, but I have found that even with just 15% moisture the stars are unignitable with a blowtorch, so the sloppy (50 - 60% moisture?) mix is not going to ignite, and I keep it moving rapidly to prevent any from forming hot spots. NOTE this will vary from comp to comp and possibly person to person. Test before using. The advantages over the normal precipitation method are no alcohol needed, and no messy filtering.

When it reaches the porridgey stage, I turn the heat off and keep stirring it about. By the time it is cool enough to handle, the remaining water will have been reduced to a level where the comp can be riced through a screen and left to dry.

The dry grains and dextrin are then loaded into the ball mill and milled for a couple of hours. I then use this mix as normal for cut or pumped stars (I have't mastered round ones yet).

One thing I found is that if I use the recommended amount of binder the stars do not break up, and produce no tail. Instead fire passes through the whole star, which remains intact as a glowing lump of charcoal which falls to earth again and smoulders for about a quarter of an hour. Anyone else have this problem? However, I found that using 3% of binder (not 6) gives a rock hard star that does not suffer from this problem at all.

Edited by Phoenix, 13 January 2004 - 06:46 PM.

[tajmiester]

Ive had the very same thing, the stars fall to the ground and then smoulder for ages.

Tris

[Pyromaster2003]

I think this problem is due to insufficient drying of the stars on the inside. Iv had this problem a few times but when i poke a tiny hole in them and leave to dry for another 2-3 days they seem great. Often the stars will look completely dry and solid as a rock on the outside but on the inside they may still be pretty damp and squidgy.