By John Steinberg I would like to begin this article by thanking and crediting my instructors. Doc Barr introduced me to strobe rockets years ago. Steve LaDuke walked me through my first attempts at this pyrotechnic formula. Without them, this...
Joel Harmon was in a discussion on the PML about how to reduce the risk of a runaway reaction between aluminum powder and water in a star composition. Boric acid powder is commonly added to star compositions for this purpose,...
The very popular fireworks making book, Introductory Practical Pyrotechnics provides a neat project for making sparklers. Problem is, we couldn't ship barium nitrate for a long time. What to do? Here's a project formulae for making sparklers that doesn't need...
By Ned Gorski Properly joining plastic aerial shell parts is both critical to the fireworks shell performing as desired in the air, and to the shell not self-destructing on the ground. Failure to properly seal a shell can result in...
I love a comet. I just love 'em. They are incredibly, visually dramatic. They're graceful, and they are unlike anything else in fireworks. If you don't know exactly what a comet is, it's a single slug of pyrotechnic composition ignited...
Spiral and parallel wound tubes make great, cheap mortar tubes that can last a very long time, if you know just a few tricks. Plastic and fiberglass tubes are even better, of course, but cost a lot more per tube....
If you don't have ready access to ready made shell fireworks fuse leaders or quickmatch fuse, then making your own with blackmatch and the paper "pipes" for them may be necessary. Here is Frank Feher's approach to making the quickmatch...
Introduction In my experience, there are three basic machines, which become necessary as one gets deeply into fireworking: a ball mill, a star roller, and a hydraulic press. Ball mills were discussed extensively in Ball Milling 101, and I showed...
Making Ball Shells Using Plastic Parts In this article I am going to describe a way that I make 4" plastic ball shells. I want to emphasize the "One Way" part of this article's title, though. In Volume 2 of...
Entertainment Prior to the Show In the half-hour leading up to show time, I have some devices to shoot to entertain the kids, and to use to get the crowd ready for the main event. I purchased some smoke cakes,...
There are three common types of simple, black powder, charcoal-tailed, rocket motors: cored, nozzleless, and end-burner. A cored rocket motor is the traditional motor, typically with a clay nozzle, and a hollow core going up through the nozzle and into...
