C6 Cut Stars

[chuck45]

Hey Team.

 

I've just weighed and bagged 400g of dry C6 composition, ready to be milled. My question is regarding milling time. I made these years ago and didn't mill them, still looked OK, but could have been much better. These were my younger days when I had not yet mastered blackpowder.

 

I'm using a hard charcaol for nice spark effect, and I was thinking I would mill for an hour at most, perhaps less, but I've read of some folks doing up to 5 hours. To me this seems too long, especially in an effecient mill. I run a Thumblers Tumbler Model B, with the hexagonal milling jar a bit less than half full of lead media. Its a great mill and gives me blackpowder that equals or betters any commercial type, depending on what I want.

 

So, any ideas as to how long I should mill for a nice tail and bushy spark formation?

 

Thanks so much for your time.

[dan999ification]

its really down to personal preferance i mill most charcoal streamer comps for 1 to 3 hours i have used unmilled tt and c6 with various woods including willow and the tails are a bit sparse with large sparks but do hang around, milling will give you finer fire dust with smaller sparks but it does not hang for so long,

i have made tt milled for three hours and use them as comets for rising tails on shells the tails were almost from the floor to the shell burst [est 400ft] because of the speed it was doing,

for the bushiest tails use soft wood like balsa, mill it for a few hours and make bigger stars than you normally would to compensate for the difference in burn speed.

 

dan.

 

edit, some magnalium is very nice in c6 stars, i have some video of milled c6and tt with pine unmilled tt with willow and mg/al in c6

Edited December 15, 2011 by dan999ification

[chuck45]

Thanks Dan, that advice has been very useful. I kinda like the big long lasting tail of C6 so I think I will keep the milling down to a minimum.

 

Can't wait, I'll be using them in starmines for now. I will give the magnallium a go once I get some.

 

Thanks again for the advice.

[chuck45]

Just got it out of the mill after one hour. Beautifully consistent, smooth powder.

 

Tested some on the ground, nice colour, lovely effect. Can't believe they are so simple.

 

I think some people miss out by thinking these are too simple to be good, I think they are super pretty.

[dan999ification]

yup part of the reason i made nothing else but charcoal stars for over a year.

 

dan.

 

 

[Mumbles]

I tend to use different formulas for longer hanging sparks. I like the look of milled compositions better. It's a bit finer and more "creamy" if that makes sense at all. If I want a longer burning composition, I use C8 or TT or a willow of some sort. Adding things like coarse charcoal after milling, or lampblack can also extend the tail and hangtime.

[chuck45]

Interesting insights guys, thanks. Yes mumbles that makes perfect sense. I do like the creamy type look as well :-)