Pyro Harold

Hi all,

 

Hopefully next year I will be travelling across Europe, I have always wanted to experience a Guy Fawkes night, as luck would have it I should be over there in November, I have some questions about Guy Fawkes night.

 

Do you need permits to buy consumer fireworks?

Are fireworks sold in the night or do you purchase them pre Guy Fawkes night?

Where are you allowed to let fireworks off, can they be in a park or oval, or must it be on private land?

Where are fireworks generally sold?

I have a question I am hoping someone might be able to answer, as most of us know Magnesium must be coated when combined with certain chemicals to prevent a reaction, now with magnalium which consists of both magnesium and aluminium why is there no need for it to be coated? Or am I jumping the barrel here, is it coated? Or does it not need to be coated because it is used with chemicals which do not form a reaction, or my third suspicion is that a neutralizing chemical is added to formulas which contain it?

There is quite a rare book titled "Course of Instruction for Artillery Gunners. Gunpowder and High Explosives", by "Walke Willoughby", it's a collectors item now by far, they are very expensive if you find a copy, this book is a masterpiece, which lucky ones own it? I have photocopies of all the good stuff, but would love to know if it is available anywhere in a cheap reprint? It has an excellent chapter on blackpowder and describes it's practicality and uses.
If anyone owns this publication don't get rid of it because you won't find it anywhere for a decent price!

Wondering if anyone makes thier own lift powder for their shells, or do most people just buy ready made black powder FFF grade? I know that it's a bit of a process to make some good powder that able to lift a shell consistantly.

Just curious do any members use much zinc in there formulas? A number of years a go I got a few kilograms of zinc powder and made granite stars (Weingarts formula) and I thought the end result was spectacular especially when used in rocket burst, the the green tinge colour is amazing and you just don't see this type of green in commercial fireworks these days. The only problem I had from memory was they were very hard to ignite and there was quite a few stars that would fail to ignite, I can remember adding tiny fuses to the stars which solved the problem. I also found another solution was to fashion the stars into pyramids and forming the sharp edges aided in ignition. It was especially rewarding for me as it can be difficult to source decent chemicals here so it was my first colour formula.