16 replies to this topic

[Monocle]

I just followed some sound advice and was definitely able to pull some very tightly packed newspaper from the bottom of the Southern Cross and it has no powder or powder sound. (But can I say that for safety's sake I stopped after grabbing a couple of pieces!) The Spangle Shell I cannot prise the fuse paper apart - but it has no powder sound when shaken. The Roman Candle (of which there are two) - one contains newspaper at the bottom but the other's fuse I cannot prise apart - but both sound as if they do contain powder. The rockets (there are two) appear to be empty casings. The bangers (there are 5 in total) I cannot unprise. Now does this mean that they are fakes or dummies or simply fireworks that have already been emptied?

[bangkokpyro]

Without seeing them i can't say for sure but I would doubt that commercial manufactured fireworks would have newspaper rammed into the base, nornally the base is filled with pressed clay.
Shaking them to listen for contents shifting will not tell you anything as the contens are pressed to a few thousand PSI and do not 'rattle' about.
From the photos they do not look like fake copies so I would lean towards thinking they have had their contents removed.
The sure way to find out is to untwist the blue touch paper on any of them except the bangers. You should be able to see the composition in the top of the tube.