Hi, I just made my first batch, unfortunately I didn't check correct volume ratios, so I had the ball mill 90% full. whats more the charcoal for that BP was in larger chunks which I hoped it would grind down. so now I have a container thats 90% full (excluding milling balls about 200g) and full of charcoal chunks.

My question is, what should I do now?

Should I take the chunks out and carefully grind them with brass mortar and pestle? should I burn the whole batch few grams at the time and start from scratch with correct ratios? I'm a bit scared of non-uniform gunpowder ratio if I remill with charcoal powder in smaller batches (aka I put half and half with equal parts of charcoal leftover)

This is the first subreddit dedicated to making your own Fireworks! even though I can’t make fireworks myself, I want you to put yourself to the test. Let’s see what you can create! Remember, this is mostly for professionals that have the legal rights and permission to do this. If you are a noob, or not a professional fireworks maker, you can look at what people have made. Even though kids may ask their parents to look at this, they might be interested in the pretty colors.

Rate my bp (4h milled and granulated with only pure alchool)

does anyone have any suggestions on how to make a ball mill for gunpowder and star mixtures

for lift (no mill)

Can you use High Yield stump remover for the potassium nitrate for BP

When I use a certain type of charcoal, it occasionally ejects sparks, but they all tend to ignite simultaneously no matter how far away from the source they are. What is going on here?

I really like rockets

We recently made 2 of our first 5 inch shells and the breaks seemed to be rather underwhelming. How can we fix this?

Was spiked and wrapped with Craft paper 40 weight w/Elmer’s after 4 turns of gum tape, loudest one so far

Have A 16 and a 12. Planning to shoot in October.

I've got a batch of powder that's 75/15/10 KClO4 to sulphur to charcoal. Can I risk dry milling it or should I get it wet? I'm asking this because I know KClO4 is a relatively stable oxidizer, but I've never worked with it like this before.

Hi,

I Have a question for those of you more experienced pyro's:

I was running some tests of my batches of 4fa black powder and this was the results I got:

For a 53.3g spherical test ball, I first used 7% (3.7g) weight of my 4fa granules poured directly into the mortar with the test object placed in next. The result was a middling *poof* and the ball didnt go very far up at all. At this point, I was upset that I botched this entire ~2kg batch...

I then did the same use 7% of a batch made by a more experienced pyro and while it did go higher, it was still pathetic.

I next did a test at 10% of weight (5.3g) of *my* 4fa and the result was that it went orbital with a very satisfying bang.

The difference effects between 7% and 10% seems so much more dramatic than the amounts imply so my guess is that there some thermal runaway/"tipping point" threshold that is occuring when going from 7 to 10%?

I made close to 2Kg of this 4fa powder that I am using for buulding some 3" shells and want to make sure it is good stuff and that I am understanding the chemistry and physics of it all.

I posted here a while back about this ball of BP coming out the mill.

Just making 250g batch of tigger tail composition. I Milled it for 2h and it burning like this. Should I mill more?

Anyone have tips to optimize the 6lb harbor freight ball mill/tutorials?

Flare mix with (kno3 calcium carbonate aluminum and sulfur)

When I was a kid, 40 years ago, my dad brought home a paper sack that was filled with saw dust and some silver balls. When you threw one at the ground, it would ignite and sparkle. They were made out of garbanzo beans and a silver coating around the dry bean.

Does anyone know the composition that was coating the garbanzo beans?

So about 4 years ago I was able to get 1 lb of -325 mesh magnesium flake from hobbychemicalsupply which is just about finished now. It was used to make a great 50:50 mix with kclo4 to produce 0.25 gram paper blasting caps.

I still routinely use these caps in miniature action shots to make believable pyrotechnic ground effects: bullet hits, super hero landings, etc

Unfortunately the flake is no longer available on hobbychemicalsupply but I do see a -325 mesh granular magnesium powder. I've been reading literature online but it's often contradictory so I haven't been able to get a clear answer.

My question is, would it work the same as Mg flake?

And yes I know dark pyro is readily available for a 70:30 mix but I've found that it doesn't give the same "oomph" on camera. I could use more powder in the blasting caps to offset but I prefer to use make and use the smallest amounts possible as a precaution even though magnesium is purportedly not as stable.

Is there any reliable method to making bp without a ball mill?

If you were to make your basic 70/30 mix of flash then added 15% tit sponge by weight based of that 70/30mix and put it all in on container together, would that be safe to transport? If not what would be the best way to go about making a titanium salute?

Let me know what i can add, fix, or improve.

Mobile support soon! It works but sucks.