Bigfatorange Posted October 7, 2020 Share Posted October 7, 2020 Hi I need to know if this is nitrocellulose lacquerhttps://www.rockler.com/media/catalog/product/cache/5c5edcf249a74e99ece620285918bb9b/6/6/66322-01-1000.jpg If this if will it work well for bismuth trioxide crackling micro stars? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkWhisperer Posted October 7, 2020 Share Posted October 7, 2020 Pull the easily available MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) and it'll tell you what's in it. I have a quart of Mohawk (bought by Behlen) clear lacquer with a product number similar to yours (just remember it started with a 61...), that contains NC, but it has sat unopened for several years now. Google "MSDS Behlen XXXX" or go to Behlen's website to get MSDS. The stuff was expensive for what you get, but is an option if you can't buy smokeless powder for reloading shells/cartridges. Instead, I find it a whole lot cheaper to use smokeless powder in acetone--you want a significant amount of NC in your crackle/DEs (I go for 5% final NC+NG concentration, but sometimes get lazy waiting for acetone to evaporate and drop it to 4% NC final). Was playing around with using phenolic resin to bind DEs, which would be much cheaper and faster, and it was showing promise, but that project got temporarily sidelined. My favorite is Hodgdon's International shotshell powder. It's double-base (NC and NG) that is formed into thin roundish wafers (green and orange), goes into solution in 10 minutes of hard shaking (other brands/types can take a long time to dissolve), and at about $15 for 14 ounces (397 grams), should make you quite a bit of DEs. It makes a nice tan NC solution. I also use IMR 3031 single-base NC powder, but those extruded pellets take much longer to dissolve (never tried crushing them first--might speed up dissolving) which makes a thick black NC 5% in acetone. Above 5% NC in acetone would be great, but it'd be approaching cement in thickness and much harder to work with. In "most" US states, you can just walk into BassPro/Cabella's or any gun store, pick a bottle from the 50 or so types on display, pay your money at the counter, and drive on home with your crackle base. No ID. No legal issues whatsoever, as it should be. In some nanny states, you might need an FID card to purchase... Crackle/DEs are very much fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigfatorange Posted October 7, 2020 Author Share Posted October 7, 2020 Do I need an ID in Illinois? If so then how do I get good NC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigfatorange Posted October 7, 2020 Author Share Posted October 7, 2020 Ok is Illinois one of the states that you need an ID, if so how do I get it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkWhisperer Posted October 7, 2020 Share Posted October 7, 2020 Ok is Illinois one of the states that you need an ID, if so how do I get itMaybe take 5 minutes and look it up online? Or call a sporting goods store and ask them. How old are you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigfatorange Posted October 7, 2020 Author Share Posted October 7, 2020 I am 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkWhisperer Posted October 7, 2020 Share Posted October 7, 2020 (edited) Well, you won't be walking into Walmart and buying any smokeless for a few years. Same laws as buying ammunition. Strongly suggest you start with the basics, that being safely making charcoal and BP....decent, functional, reliable BP. It's the very foundation of pyro and is mandatory pyro knowledge. Crackle is sensitive and much more dangerous to make than BP, and is not a beginner's formulation. Plus, it would be way cheaper to simply cross the state line and buy commercial fireworks crackle balls and pull the DEs from those--the jumbo ones hold a decent quantity inside a 1.5" green plastic shell, for probably cheaper than you can make it yourself. The smaller crackle balls sometimes have loose DEs or a small bag of them, but need to check--sometimes they're embedded within a small solid chunk of bound compound, making them difficult to extract. Or strip them off of Magic Whips. There's a lot of info in these forums to get you going, and anybody here will gladly help you by answering intelligent questions. But enthusiasm to help will be low if it is clear that you have not done your basic homework before making a query. Like querying the laws for smokeless purchases in Illinois, ack. Edited October 7, 2020 by SharkWhisperer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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