passfire

[FlaMtnBkr]

Have you checked out the articles on Fireworking lately? Ned is getting a pretty extensive list these days.

 

The only thing I don't like about fireworking is the few people that insist on being spoon fed every single miniscule detail and have thousands of posts in a few months instead of taking a second to find where it has been explained hundreds of times before. A few people have proved there is in fact a stupid question. If you can't mentally find your way out of a paper bag then fireworks really is not a safe hobby to be attempting.

 

I'm sure many will not agree with me but I can live with that. That is why I have not renewed my membership because I find it that annoying.

[schroedinger]

Well i don't have the impression that there are to many people that want spoon feeding, and the couple questions witch are there for spoon feeding, i don't mind. I really apreciate how these are handled there, quick answer and a note where to find more informations on that, jo raging agout stupid questions or the like. And yes i know the fireworking and passfire database, and like i said, in two years (latest) fireworking will have catched up with passfire.

But thats not the situation atm.

[Mumbles]

It's not many people, but the ones who we have in mind are prolific. This doesn't bother me a ton. Rather it's all the mindless, useless comments about everything that run rampant there. There are so many threads with a ton of posts that effectively say nothing. It gets tiresome at times trudging through them all to find the gems.

 

Kyle will never sell or distribute his articles for what it's worth. It's the only thing that's still at all valuable on passfire which may keep up some amount of income for him. I mean he wouldn't even use a commercial, useful forum software for fear of losing some amount of control.

[mikeee]

Each week there seems to be a new member posting and it usually takes them a while to catch

on to the program. I have to scratch my head when a new person posts a message stating they

can't find anyplace to purchase PN or PP, when a Google search brings up multiple listings. These

people should not play with these materials until they learn the basics of research and knowledge.

[insutama]

if your in canada im almost positive you wont be finding Kclo4 but all the other chems seem doable

[dagabu]

if your in canada im almost positive you wont be finding Kclo4 but all the other chems seem doable

 

I know a few Canucks that are able to get the goodies, you have to be resourceful.

[insutama]

wow that crazy i have called everywhere seems like a key component when you get into making coloured stars and what not even for little reports on the small bp bottle rockets i have been making or the 1/2" ones bp just dont make a loud report more of a flare up when its in small amounts. i would love to get some if i ever get the chance im gonna get as much as i can so i can save it and make it last so i dont have to go through the trouble of finding it but to be honest i dont think ill ever get any were i am i have literally checked every source i found all sorts of other chems i never thought i would but no one can even try and get kclo4 its weird because there are alot worse chems out there that make much more dangerous comps than kclo4 for instance potassium permanganate i found that when i wasnt even looking for it but that has no use in pyro so its no good to me. one day i hope im lucky enough to come across some

[Pyronaught]

FlaMtnBkr, on 16 Feb 2015 - 11:45 PM, said:

It's pretty much dead. Lots of good info that is archived but not much activity. Get a fireworking.com subscription instead. Lots of activity and good information. A lot more activity than here even.

 

 

 

So is Shimizu's book not worth reading now because Shimizu is dead?

[Pyronaught]

MrB, on 18 Feb 2015 - 3:31 PM, said:MrB, on 18 Feb 2015 - 3:31 PM, said:

 

 

Anyways... The "resource" on Passfire supposedly is the archive of articles, and since there isn't a whole lot of new stuff coming out there, Fireworking seams to work out as the better alternative.

B!

 

Is there some rule that you can only subscribe to one fireworks site? Did everyone here just buy one single book on firework making and then that was it? Weather you spend $40 on fireworking.com (every year) or $50 for passfire (then $25 for renewals), you are getting more info with either source than you would spending that same money on any single book costing that same amount or more. Then there are the resources like formula databases, calculators, forum etc. on top of that. The articles on these two sites are not the same, just like no two books are the same.

 

If you want to kill off one site to favor the other, you are only cutting your own resources in half.

Edited December 27, 2015 by Pyronaught

[lloyd]

There are new articles on Passfire. But that's not "the resource" there. The resource, if there's one to differentiate it from other sites, is the depth of technical conversations.

 

Although there's always 'banter' on all sites, Passfire has a rich tradition of deeply technical, in-depth conversations about chemistry, technique, and practices.

 

I'm a member of both Passfire and Fireworking, and I whole-heartedly recommend both. They differ in their contribution on some important points.

 

Heck! You probably spend more every couple of months on soft drinks than you would to be a member in both places for a year!

 

Lloyd

[dusty56]

I have to go against the crowd a little. While the Forum on Passfire is not as active as here or on FW there is a lot of very good info on Passfire and many great articles. There have been two different star rollers in the past several months. A very good library of most everything you can think of. Kyle and Ned are different personas, but both know their shit. Group buys are valuable but I'm almost 80 tears old and a case of 300 3" shells will probably outlast me. Don't just turn away from Passfire. Lloyd has been working hard to increase the posts on the forum and they are trying to grow the site. I subscribe to both and contribute here. Information is the life blood of this obsession we call fireworks. And you have to pay for it in one way or another.

[MrB]

Is there some rule that you can only subscribe to one fireworks site?

 

Nope. But then again, i'm not a member of either, so with your logic i'm trying to kill of both, i suppose.

 

 

Heck! You probably spend more every couple of months on soft drinks than you would to be a member in both places for a year!

 

I used to. But not anymore. Priorities and shit, you know? That, and th fact that i keep getting older. CocaCola seams NOT to be the water from the ever youthful fountain. Which sucks.

 

 

I subscribe to both and contribute here. Information is the life blood of this obsession we call fireworks. And you have to pay for it in one way or another.

 

The day i decide to subscribe anywhere, i will probably join both, and then stick around if i enjoy them. For me it's a lot about the personalities, if i like people, i stick around, if not, then they might be great people full of information they are willing to share, but i wont be around to participate.

[dusty56]

Thats true. However…….. There are some people who I don't care for, but I have to listen to. And if you think FW is so friendly go to the Campfirer and get into the Global Warming pissing contest.

[MrB]

Thats true. However…….. There are some people who I don't care for, but I have to listen to. And if you think FW is so friendly go to the Campfirer and get into the Global Warming pissing contest.

 

Meh... Global warming is a joke anyway. Not even the experts employed by governments believe it's a problem that has to be adressed, hence we get the sort of global agreements we got today.

'We have decided to come together and limit our carbon emmissions to a level that will let the temperature raize to no more then 1.5c. We don't really understand how the relationship "carbondioxide in the air - Temperature increase" works, so we don't really know how much carbon dioxide we can actually spew out, but none the less, by our best estimations we have put a number of promises on the table, that will limit the temperature increase to 3c.'

 

Are you freaking kidding? There is also no accountability, no fines, no checks, nothing. The reality is, nothing will happen. In my mind thats quite all right, where i live will be under water, but Sweden isn't that densely populated, i can move. (Actually, where i live will be fine, but the rest of the town will be under water, making my hill an island. So i might wanna move.) It's also said that the global warming will make it colder here (WTF? Cold from global warming... ok, if you say so, but i have my doubts...) which would be nice, since that means i'd get snow every now and then, and not just the wet mush that freezes over night, and ruins shoes during the day.

 

Anyway, Global warming, and the politics around it is quite frankly a joke. Look at the world. Hell, look at Germany. They had a bunch of well working, safe, and clean nuclear power-plants, in a safe environment. (A none earthquake environment) Great for the carbon emissions, since there is pretty much none from such a plant. They closed them all down in favor of what, exactly? Brown coal extraction, and burning. Great. The open mines leak methane-gas in to the atmosphere, a much more effective greenhouse gas, and lignite is one of the most polluting fossil fuels known to man. Makes perfect sense...

 

 

Anyway... Where were we? Oh, yes, global warming conversations. They are a riot, in every sense of the word. No matter where you are. ;-)

B!

[Nessalco]

I've been on Passfire, Fireworking, and here. I've settled on APC as my 'home'. I'm still a member at both of the other premium sites, but have zero interest in participating in the discussion at either location. The only value to me is in the articles.

 

Here at APC there is a search engine that works, civil discussion, and an international crowd. Much better.

 

Kevin

[taiwanluthiers]

Well at least you don't have to pay to use APC...

 

As for pyro even though I am now located in the US I won't do any (other than making igniters and reloading) because pyro is a huge mess... and being in a student type apartment really make things hard as far as mess and accident potential goes. Even though fireworks are illegal in Austin at the right time (NYE and 4th) you'll see a bunch of them light up (not professional displays). Then there's the different attitudes here... in Taiwan even though making firework is about as legal as making any other explosives, shooting a 4" will usually result in excited children and cheers (as long as no firemen is present, police do not enforce firework rules), here the police may get called.

[lloyd]

"Well at least you don't have to pay to use APC..."

------------

What's that old expression? <G>

 

Lloyd

[Pyronaught]

Nessalco, on 27 Dec 2015 - 06:32 AM, said:

I've been on Passfire, Fireworking, and here. I've settled on APC as my 'home'. I'm still a member at both of the other premium sites, but have zero interest in participating in the discussion at either location. The only value to me is in the articles.

 

Here at APC there is a search engine that works, civil discussion, and an international crowd. Much better.

 

Kevin

 

The forum software being used here on APC is quite impressive in terms of speed and a working search function. It is pretty rare to find a halfway decent search function on ANY forum these days. This forum uses MySQL as the database, so it is probably also using PHP as the code language. That seems to be a pretty fast platform from what I've seen.

 

As far as civil discussion, that is on all sites as far as I can tell.

[lloyd]

"As far as civil discussion, that is on all sites as far as I can tell."

---------

It is _now_ Pyronaught.

 

For a time, Kyle who administers Passfire, took a "hands-off" approach to administering, allowing people to express whatever they wished.

 

That ended up taking its toll on the site -- a couple of really abusive members decided to use the site as their personal war zone, and flung dung at almost everyone. That was greatly to the detriment of the site's reputation, and participation fell way off.

 

With some 3rd party encouragement and help from a couple of 'co-adminstrators', Kyle has assumed a more active administrative role, and no longer will tolerate personal abuse on his site. He's also resumed posting new articles, and the technical quality of discussions has gone up to where it was before the abusive people came on board. (They left, also!)

 

For those who do not know this: Both Ned Gorski of Fireworking.com AND Kyle Kepley of Passfire are past PGI Grand Champions. They both have a LOT to contribute to experienced users and beginners, alike.

 

I consider membership in both those sites to be as important in my 'literature budget' as any other thing I might spend my pyro dollars on. You just cannot read about or study this art enough to ever be done doing it!

 

Lloyd

[memo]

about year ago I was looking at forums, this forum is the first one I joined, I looked at passfire and there was little going on so I joined fireworking, plus all of neds videos on youtube helped make that choice. with only so many dollars to spend I held off on joining passfire. I guess it is time to join now.

 

memo

[wildcherryxoxo]

I'm with nessalco, I'm a member of passfire and fireworking but never post there. Apc is my home.

 

passfire has nearly no activity, the only consistent activity is from the admin "passfire" who is constantly whining that his posts aren't appreciated enough / he isn't making enough money.

 

The articles are poorly formatted (IMO) and the site is barely usable on a mobile platform (most of the posts run off the edge of the page)

 

All of the above would be tolerable if there was a functioning search function, but there isn't, it only searches posts pre 2013, and half the time doesn't work at all (error).

 

Fireworking has clearly written articles accompanied with good videos, an active forum, and a working search function. in my opinion the threads tend to wander a little too much and information tends to get lost in off topic discussion, but that's by design.

 

APC isnt run by anyone who is just trying to drum up a little more beer money, it is free, ad free, and run entirely by donations. The information is good, the people are helpful, the search function works, but best of all wildcherryxoxo is here

[lloyd]

Like I said, "Consider the old expression" when you post things like that.

 

Yours was not a constructive comment, only condemnation of material that's probably not yet in your scope of understanding.

 

BOTH sites contribute greatly to this art. To eschew one over the other is about the same as saying you'll "...only read Lancaster, because Shimizu isn't in the typeface I happen to like." Yeah? So... WORK a little at it! A 'mobile device' isn't the best study medium, anyway.

 

AFAIC, if you're not interested in ALL the authoritative information available, you're not really trying to be an accomplished pyro; just a complainer.

 

And I believe you'll find that Kyle doesn't do it "for beer money", but for love of the art. He's rationalized discontinuing the site several times, and acceded to our collective wishes to keep the site alive, because of it's singular contributions to our art.

 

Lloyd

[wildcherryxoxo]

Mine was a constructive comment, I never said that the content of passfire was BAD, just that it's hard to get to, opposed to fireworking and APC.

 

Would you buy a waterlogged, hard to read, half pages missing book over one that was clean and clear? I would, because there might be something there to work for, but it doesn't change the fact that it's not as "good" as the other.

 

You may believe that "kyle" does it for the love of the art, but I do not. The proof is in the pudding. But I suppose we will just have to agree to disagree.

[lloyd]

Kyle's a personal (face-to-face) friend as well as the site owner/administrator. I know exactly why he does it, because we've had long, heartfelt conversations about it.

 

"The bottom line" always matters -- he can't afford to run it without any income, but the fact that he does it - basically for cost - is the telling factor.

 

And yeah... I actually own a couple of books in similar condition to what you've described, and I treasure them for their content, not for the work I have to put out to use them!

 

Saying you'll simply not participate because "it's not as good" goes right back to that comment I made earlier. "Liking the format" doesn't enter into "value", unless you're only in it for ease-of-use and the personal gratification, instead of the diligent pursuance of an art.

 

Lloyd

[Nessalco]

 

"As far as civil discussion, that is on all sites as far as I can tell."

---------

It is _now_ Pyronaught.

 

Please. It hurts to laugh.

 

KO