ROFL!
Jim, a truly great post!
Evidently like myself, you have your own concerns regarding people
altogether willing to cobble together something that can easily perform
instant surgery on themselves without first doing a significant amount
of research on the subject first.
You're an excellent saleman for Passfire, and have even convinced me to
purchase a membership. Still, a few of the classic texts can be very
helpful as well, often covering topics which Passfire does not. Also,
if you are not a member of a club or have anyone to teach you (and to
yell at you as is sometimes required), a few selected titles of the AFN
published videos can be very helpful (the Louis Semenza video and that
one on how to make cut both stand out at the top of my list.) For
books, were I only to purchase one, it would be Lancaster's 4th
edition, followed by Hardt and Weingart in that order. Lancaster is
roughly $125, Hardt $85, and Weingart $5 in disk form from Warren
Klofkorn (a great buy).
I believe that you hit it right on the head about the materials needed,
the paper, string, glue, and chemicals. One nice thing about
constructing fireworks is that the amount of machinery required is
somewhat minimal, but owning a ball mill and press quickly become a
must as one develops lasting interest in the craft.
I would have to debate the point that $2,000 in chemicals are needed by
a beginner, because when producing fireworks in limited starter
quantities and varieties, very few are needed, and those only in modest
quantities. To me, $200 in chemicals would be a very reasonable
starting point. An equivalent sum invested in paper, headers, string,
etc. is of course needed.
As you so well have stated, you don't make quality and safe firworks by
combining things that you find in your junk drawer with chemicals. If
you do, you will likely find yourself quickly becoming a statistic or
gaining local notoriety.
I consider a 3" Italian shell to be an excellent starting point, but
you first have to learn from somewhere how such a traitional shell is
constructed, and why. For beginners, I would strongly suggest starting
out with the star comps required to produce highly color saturated red,
green, silver, and gold stars, since these will produce at first the
maximum personal saftisfaction on achieving a good break, and be
enteraining in the process for others to watch. Fortunately, these
require use of the least expensive chemicals. Leave blues to the more
experienced, since with the use of today's chemicals the production of
highly saturated blues can be problematic and require much more
sophisticated star comps.
As an aside, I suggest that everyone acquire a copy of the Fulcanelli
Papers from Pyrotechnia. These entirely capture the art of Italian
shell making in a couple of dozen short pages, and a a must to own.
$50, but money well spent. (Contact Mike Swisher, John Smith, or Ken
for information on how to acquire the copies of Pyrotechnia IX and XI
containing the two parts of fantastics this series.)
My suggestion for a beginner would be to first perfect the classic red
and green star shell to the point where you have both reliable
performance, a good spread of stars, and a reasonably uniform break.
Don't even think about making anything more sophisticated until you
have perfected the level of craftsmanship skill required to accomplish
this.
I doub't that a beginner wish to hear this, but 'that's the facts'.
For years I've been involved in two very different but both life
threatening hobbies.
The first is offshore sailing, where poor seamanship can get you killed
faster than you have time to issue a distress call on your radio unless
you are prepared for the worst case type of events plus are extremly
lucky.
The second is fireworks, where most of those reading this realize where
and what the hazards are, and survive over the years only by taking
them into account through extreme precaustionary measures.
Both hobbies have caused me to be accused of "living on the edge". :-)
I suppose that both would be considered extreme sports, but these like
most extreme sports offer a certain type of thrill that you cannot
easily obtain elsewhere. The risks associated with each are
comparabile, and in either case if you lack knowledge of the
fundamentals, the downside is equally draconic. At sea, if you're hit
by a sudden line-squall 30-miles offshore and go down, likely no part
of you will ever be recovered. (A swamped sailboat with several tons of
ballast in its keel can sink in 30 seconds or less.) With fireworks, if
you have an accident, if the rescue squad is able to save your life,
you will spend the rest of it minus a hand, eye, or leg. For me, I'd
rather go down at sea and be eaten by the sea creatures than live the
balance of my life that way.
On a more positve note, I've been offshore sailing for more than 20
years, and making/shoting fireworks for more than 50. I'm still in one
identifiable piece, and credit that solely to a complete knowledge of
the risks involved in both fields and a knowledge of how to minimize
the risks and survive intact.
Knowlege acquired before experimentation helps! Seeing the terrible
consequences of even one serious fireworks accident also helps.
Curmudgeonly, Harry C.
p.s., My offshore sailing is/was conducted using a 23' Hutchins
Compac-Yacht, two of which have already completed the voyage from
Boston to England/Ireland. Something that I have always wanted to try,
but quite honestly have never had the guts to do! I really don't know
if I could live with the constant boredom of 30 or more days at sea,
with the constant threat of severe storms while crossing the North
Atlantic, or the more Southern return voyage following the route of
Columbus. After all, not with GPS navigation is not a challenge, nor is
fuel cost when travelling by sail. It's a crazy idea, but then that
has not been an unusual thing for me. Also, satellite comunication
could make boredom less of an issue making the Internet available for
the entire duration of such a voyage. Let me know if there are any
potential sponsors! (Seriously) It would not be the first time that
anyone has ever crossed the Atlantic in a Compac 23, but to my
knowledge no one has yet to make the entire round trip from Boston to
England and then back again.
Post by Jim B.Post by t***@aol.comI made a couple 3 inch Italian style shells and both just broke out the
ends. Three wraps 60 lb. paper with two wraps 120 lb. paper for a
liner.I strung both with butchers string spaced about 1/4 inch apart.
Two wraps pasted paper. I'm using PB coated rice hulls with teaspoon of
whistle mix to break the shell. I pack the shell very good. What do I
need to do to get a better break? Am I building the side wall to strong?
Umm, Learn proper construction techniques and use the right
materials, Not some shit that you cobbled together from the junk
drawer. Your twine is wrong, your paper is wrong your break charge is
wrong. Tell us some more about these shells and that is probably wrong
too.
Get a passfire subscription, Get ready to plunk down a couple of
grand for chemicals, tools, books, etc.(Get it while you can Seems like
it might be getting a little bit harder in the future). Build em'
twenty different ways that are all shitty breaking untill you get it
right. Dont just expect the people here that know how to build to solve
all 30 of your problems on your first post, maybe one or two but I
wouldnt even expect that without a lecure or three about properly
barricading your mortars ( Sorry Harry I couldnt resist :) )
Jim B.