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Golden charcoal streamer


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Name of composition: Golden charcoal streamer

 

Composition type: Charcoal streamer

 

Composition:

 

Potassium nitrate - 53.5%

Charcoal (I've tried Pine and Beech, both work well) - 26.5%

Sulfer - 10.5%

Dextrine - 9.5%

 

This is a basic BP chem golden charcoal streamer. In my humble opinion it is far more beautifull than Chrysanthemum mixes or similar. My chrysanthemums always came out as dim orange sparks. This mix is bright with a bushy tail and golden sparks.

 

Credit goes to A.Fulcanelli

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sound like a very nice charcoal streamer stars.

but in my opinion there is too much dextrin in this formula you can put 5 dextrin and more 5 grams of charcoal for bigger tail.

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PGF, that's very interesting as I happen to have a batch of beech charcoal in the ball mill as we speak! I've never cooked beech before as I have a seemingly limitless amount of poplar here on the farm, but I thought that a batch of beech might be worth a try. What mesh would you suggest?
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@Hst45 & Ultrabuf:

Just mill this composition for about an hour in a proper ball mill, rock tumblers may require more milling time. The ingredients should be as fine as possible so milling is the way to got for the desired effect

 

@Aqwa:

I wouldn't change the ratios because it seeems to work fine

 

 

I'll try to get a few action shots and movies up, hopefully today.

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Is that the formula from the bottom of page 20 of Pyrotechnica XI? If so, your ratios are a bit off, with the dextrin being doubled. Your mixture also adds to 110%

 

The original is:

Potassium Nitrate - 14 (55.4)

C - 7 (27.7)

S - 2.75 (10.9)

Dex - 1.5 (5.9)

 

Tot - 25.25

 

The numbers in parenthesis are the percentages. The two formulas look pretty similar so I wondered. The extra dextrin would help for a stronger star and could be flash broken with less trouble for a spider web type effectt.

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Thanks for the correction Mumbles. I must've hit a wrong button on my calculator when i was doing the math. I increased the dextrine % knowingly though, I wanted an especially hard star for strong flash breaks (Could also be remedied by using less of a stronger binder such as SGRS or Gum arabic )
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PGF, I finally dried a batch of these cut stars and made/shot a 2" canister last night. It's a very nice effect, as you said. I had a really crappy asymmetrical break (trying new spiking pattern) but the stars are great. They are bright, and seem to burn longer than my typical TT and the sparks have a long "hang time", probably due to being harder, what with the extra dextrin. Thanks for the formula.
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  • 7 months later...
how big did you cut the stars? im using a 3" shell

Something like 8-10mm (3/8"-ish) should be good for a 3" shell.

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Is that the formula from the bottom of page 20 of Pyrotechnica XI? If so, your ratios are a bit off, with the dextrin being doubled. Your mixture also adds to 110%

 

The original is:

Potassium Nitrate - 14 (55.4)

C - 7 (27.7)

S - 2.75 (10.9)

Dex - 1.5 (5.9)

 

Tot - 25.25

 

The numbers in parenthesis are the percentages. The two formulas look pretty similar so I wondered. The extra dextrin would help for a stronger star and could be flash broken with less trouble for a spider web type effectt.

Titanium??

 

In passfire say with titanium..

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Are you referring to "Tot" in formula? That is for Total (parts). Anyway it wouldn't be much of a golden charcoal streamer with Ti added.
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No,i refer in total formula.I think that need aslo titanium and Fe.

LIke this:

 

Potassium Nitrate -----44

Charcoal, spruce, ball milled----- 44

FerroTitanium, 40-325 mesh, 60:40----- 15

Sulfur 6

Dextrin 6

 

Total: 115

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No,i refer in total formula.I think that need aslo titanium and Fe.

LIke this:

 

Potassium Nitrate -----44

Charcoal, spruce, ball milled----- 44

FerroTitanium, 40-325 mesh, 60:40----- 15

Sulfur 6

Dextrin 6

 

Total: 115

That's just Tigertail with +15 ferrotitanium... The ratios of this golden streamer are a fair bit different.

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  • 11 years later...

Just mill this composition for about an hour in a proper ball mill, rock tumblers may require more milling time. The ingredients should be as fine as possible so milling is the way to got for the desired effect

 

Hello,

I want to bring up this old topic for one question:

Do you mill ALL of the composition together?

Also the dextrin?

 

comet

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Yes, you mill everything together. Including the Dextrin is personal preference. It was always fine for me. Some people think it makes the comp more likely to clump in the mill. Probably depends on local temperature and humidity.
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Yes, you mill everything together. Including the Dextrin is personal preference. It was always fine for me. Some people think it makes the comp more likely to clump in the mill. Probably depends on local temperature and humidity.

Thank you, I'll try this.

One more question: I want to make very small stars for 1" shottubes. The stars should be 3,0 to 3,5 mm (including primer).

Do you have expirience for small stars with this formula? anything else I should pay attention? Thank you, Mumbles.

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