Black Match

[Tim1877]

Well I had my first major failure today I tried to make my own black match by dipping cotton string in a mixture of meal dust dextrin and water and pulling it slowly through a small hole it looked great very nice coating let it dry two days and all it did was smolder nothing like a fuse should be can anyone give a few tips on making my own black match.

[dagabu]

Dry it for another week! Seriously, most of the nation is WAY too humid to fully dry match, direct sun is no good as it drives in the moisture so you need the humidity to become low enough for the water to evaporate.

[Tim1877]

Would it be ok to bring it inside where my air conditioner is on or make it in the winter months when there is less humidity

[OldMarine]

I'm waiting for winter to make my next batch. I can dry it in my mildly heated shed without it sucking up humidity.

[dagabu]

Would it be ok to bring it inside where my air conditioner is on or make it in the winter months when there is less humidity

 

Uh... NO! Seriously Tim, black match has an immense amount of potential energy, it needs to stay where it cannot be around fire. Houses have lots of sparks, especially kitchens.

 

Leave it in the shed for a week in the open, a light breeze will help. It WILL dry out, just be patient.

 

OG is right, pulling BM when its dry out makes for a quick drying time.

[Tim1877]

Thanks I knew better once I posted always safety first, by the way this forum is great full of great posts.

[carbonhalo]

just made my first batch of match using CMC instead of dextrin. It took a while to beat the lumps out, but the BP stays in suspension without requiring shaking or much stirring. The match is way more reliable than any of my previous batches, but burns at about 1"/s as opposed to the dextrin + 6:3:1 used before which burned between 1/4"/s and 1/2"/s. This batch I made with 4 strands of raw cotton whereas I used to use 6.

[OldMarine]

I use dextrin and cmc in my match. I've used 2½% of each in place of my usual 5% dextrin with good results. Good stiff match that doesn't crack when bent.

[Tim1877]

May I ask what cmc is?

[dagabu]

May I ask what cmc is?

 

Um... No.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) or cellulose gum is a cellulose derivative with carboxymethyl groups (-CH2-COOH) bound to some of the hydroxyl groups of the glucopyranose monomers that make up the cellulose backbone. It is often used as its sodium salt, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose. It thickens stuff!

[patsroom]

 

Um... No.

 

 

Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) or cellulose gum is a cellulose derivative with carboxymethyl groups (-CH2-COOH) bound to some of the hydroxyl groups of the glucopyranose monomers that make up the cellulose backbone. It is often used as its sodium salt, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose. It thickens stuff!

Good one dag, now tell him were to get it .............Pat

[dagabu]

eBay?

[Raceman17]

Some wall paper paste adhesive has cmc in it. I purchased a small 8oz box of zinsser brand adhesive. It's called suregrip all purpose adhesive. It's made by rustoleum. The product number from Amazon has it as 62008. I paid 8$ for the box with prime shipping. Seems to do the job.

[rogeryermaw]

I know i advocate the use of n.c. lacquer quite a bit but a b.p. suspension in n.c. made the best, long term storable and most reliable match i have made to date. 3 strand q.m. made with this performs very well...burns faaaast! I'll record an example this evening.

[OldMarine]

CMC is actually used in the baking industry in fondant for decorating cakes. This type is way expensive but it's out there. I got 5 lbs on eBay for a pittance do I'd look there first. I look through my account and see if I can find the seller.

 

I think this is the one:

 

Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/201636580199

Edited August 25, 2016 by OldMarine

[gregh]

Pm me. I have plenty to share if you need some.

[Tim1877]

So how much of the N.C. lacquer do you use with your BP?

[otto]

CMC is actually used in the baking industry in fondant for decorating cakes. This type is way expensive but it's out there. I got 5 lbs on eBay for a pittance do I'd look there first. I look through my account and see if I can find the seller.

 

I think this is the one:

 

Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/201636580199

 

Hah! CMC.... I just walk out on the shop floor and scoop out what I need into a ziplock. They spill more each week than I can use in a year! It goes in your hamburger and hot dog buns to make them "resilient".

[dagabu]

I ate TONS of it while was in the hospital learning to swallow again, it's sold as thicken-it or thicken up.

[rogeryermaw]

so i threw together a couple pieces of q.m. with nitro. the black match used is almost a year old. i started experimenting with it a couple months before last new year. i'm sure it can be optimized. i was just worried i didn't have enough match for my purposes at the time so decided to give this a try. after lining the wet string out to dry, this stuff can be used in about 30 minutes or so. certainly burns fast enough for me to use.

 

 

 

So how much of the N.C. lacquer do you use with your BP?

it was all spur of the moment so i don't have official measurements but with n.c. lacquer about the viscocity of a 5 weight synthetic oil and roughly equal portion of black powder by volume to produce a slurry a touch thicker than corn syrup, is what i used. too thick and it wont get into the fibers of the string very well.

Edited August 26, 2016 by rogeryermaw

[NeighborJ]

Wow, Roger this nc bm method is awesome. I saw this last night and just had to try it. It will be the only way I will make it from now on. Works great and it has given me a few other ideas. After making the match I then took a few rubber stars and threw them into the bm slurry and let them dissolve. I pulled some of the match thru this slurry and it made a nice slow fuse. It burns at 30 sec a ft, is rigid and the mgal and perc creates a nice hiss with plenty of side spit. I think I will use this for my rocket fuses and save my visco for other things. I will do some more consistency testing but I'm happy with it.

[Tim1877]

 

so i threw together a couple pieces of q.m. with nitro. the black match used is almost a year old. i started experimenting with it a couple months before last new year. i'm sure it can be optimized. i was just worried i didn't have enough match for my purposes at the time so decided to give this a try. after lining the wet string out to dry, this stuff can be used in about 30 minutes or so. certainly burns fast enough for me to use.

 

 

 

it was all spur of the moment so i don't have official measurements but with n.c. lacquer about the viscocity of a 5 weight synthetic oil and roughly equal portion of black powder by volume to produce a slurry a touch thicker than corn syrup, is what i used. too thick and it wont get into the fibers of the string very well.

 

So how do you thin your lacquer to proper consistency I was thinking just add small amounts of acetone till its right.

[NeighborJ]

Tim when I made the nc bm I mixed it in a 1pt mason jar. 3/4" of thick nc, 1 full cup of hot mill dust bp(no other binders)and topped it off with acetone until I had a workable slurry. It is far more runny then the normal slurry and would settle to the bottom. I had to give the slurry cup a stir every so often to keep it suspended. It was dry to the touch before I could loop it on the rack so there is no real need to keep the strands separate. I could also tie it in a knot without any comp flaking off. I love it and will not need to wait weeks for the match to dry. I ran it thru the cup a second time to catch a few spots which were pulled with an empty cup. It will burn on its own in open air at a steady rate, and it's still lightning fast in a tube. Edited August 27, 2016 by NeighborJ

[Tim1877]

Tim when I made the nc bm I mixed it in a 1pt mason jar. 3/4" of thick nc, 1 full cup of hot mill dust bp(no other binders)and topped it off with acetone until I had a workable slurry. It is far more runny then the normal slurry and would settle to the bottom. I had to give the slurry cup a stir every so often to keep it suspended. It was dry to the touch before I could loop it on the rack so there is no real need to keep the strands separate. I could also tie it in a knot without any comp flaking off. I love it and will not need to wait weeks for the match to dry. I ran it thru the cup a second time to catch a few spots which were pulled with an empty cup. It will burn on its own in open air at a steady rate, and it's still lightning fast in a tube.

Thanks this is how I'm going to make my next batch of BM. Just one other question I know the string has to be 100% cotton but what kind is the best to use?

[NeighborJ]

The string I use is the cheapest cotton string available, the more ragged the better. It tends to grab comp much better than the high quality stuff I use for spiking.

The label said #9x250' 3# working load.