Mostly chemicals, and junk...and some thinkin'...(planning the year mentally)

Thinking early this year. I can't wait two months!! ;-)

All pyro starts with oxidizers. Oxidizers are hard to get if your idea of
"easy to get" is nothing beyond the hardware store, so I'll need to do some
cooking. Two major things come to mind, chlorate and oxide.

I'm cooking up some chlorate right now. I've got some graphite anodes at
probably 3 or 4 volts, not high enough (I have the cell wrapped in a winter
jacket and it's still only warm!) but it's the power supply I have on hand.
Apparently the load is too stiff for any spare 5V computer supplies I have
on hand. Last one I tried yielded smoke three times, fixing it twice! LOL.

Oxides pretty much require a reactive metal, but that's not a problem, I
still have 5 or 10 pounds of magnalium on hand. Ok I lied, I'm selling
something -- if someone wants up to 5 pounds of lump magnalium for $5/lb,
drop me an e-mail. For that matter, I could sell a pound of powdered copper
oxychloride too.

But which oxides? Well, any not very reactive metal's oxide will work.
Iron oxide is passable, more of a "hey look at me, I have thermite
w000t!!@!!1" thing. For action, copper and lead oxides are passable. Lead
is especially nice since it has that brown dioxide that should prove even
more exciting. I should get to work on some of that- maybe prep some lead
acetate, then add bleach. Supposedly that does it. Guess I'll be "hunting"
for a bottle of vinegar (worded so you can see how lazy I am as regards
leaving the house ;).

What else. Colors? I do happen to have strontium on hand, though it is
only ceramic grade- I hear that usually gives poor colors, huh?
What form is preferred? I don't have much nitrate on hand, and strontium
nitrate is hygroscopic, right? Sulfate is insoluble, and it does provide a
little oxygen to reactive metals, but that may burn too white.

I already used most of my nitrate to make some barium nitrate. Its primary
purpose was chemical, to clean up my nitrates. But being a nitrate, I can
burn it with stuff, too, so what little I have I can burn for greens, eh? I
also have carbonate and chloride. Hell, I have pounds and pounds of
carbonate, I'm in no shortage of barium...

Blue, I have copper. All the more reason to cook up some potassium
chlorate, huh? For that matter, I could try messing with copper greens,
too. Needs a chlorine source as I recall, for which I have copper
oxychloride. I have straight copper chloride too, but that'd soak up
moisture in the midwestern humidity, huh?

Yellow, orange: sodium and calcium. Not a problem. In fact I may just have
to cook up some sodium sulfate, it makes an awesome orange blast with
magnalium. The reaction makes sodium vapor, no wonder it's bring orange eh?

What else, ah yes, I'll have to cook up some dextrin. Starch on a cookie
*** at 350°F for a few hours worked pretty well last year. Anything else?
Has anyone tried, say, Elmer's glue? Any opinions on polystyrene dissolved
in lacquer thinner as a non-water binder?

Projects, construction methods... I'll need to roll some tubes, sure. Am I
going to try a shell this year? Probably not, last couple times I tried
firing a chlorate comp out of a mortar, it exploded in situ... A good
salute (I use cardboard tubes for everything, so far), but not very
interesting height-wise.

Plain salutes are practically fool-proof, of course I'll make some, maybe
even some rather large ground salutes if there's a good field clear of
people. :)

That excites the ears and chest, but for sight, I can start with fountains I
guess. Not a real happy thing with chlorate on hand, although I didn't get
many CATO's last year. I can grind up some iron, er somehow, and coarse
magnalium is always a pleasure. I can try making dragon's eggs, but to me
they seem hard to ignite. Guess I'll have to drum up a hot chlorate
prime...mmh..

Anything moving? Rockets, spinners, etc.? Probably not. Last time I tried
I got piddley thrust and it tended to go on a precariously low trajectory.
Definetly not a perky BP thrust, at any rate. I might be able to get things
spinning though.

Between a heavy cardboard tube, some H3 and a properly tuned star mix, I
should be able to make at least a star gun, and perhaps a whole star mine at
that. We'll see.

*Yawn* think I'll call it a night here...

Tim

--
Deep Fryer: a very philosophical monk.
Website: http://webpages.charter.net/dawill/tmoranwms


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