This has most likely been asked before, but what are some safe-ish and easily accessible things one could do to get used to/understand the basics of pyrotechnics?

[notawaffle]

I am very new to this, and have just recently stumbled upon this forum due through a video featuring it as a source. I have a somewhat understanding of how they work on a chemical level, and how to safely mess around with them, but I have done nothing yet. as I don't think I should just jump right in to making nitroglycerin or black powder, despite knowing how to manufacture both of them, this is also my first time using a web forum like this, so I may seem a bit inexperienced. 

[Zumber]

Welcome to the community..!!

Be patient for few days to month until you are familiar to pyro world and dont attempt anything practically instead just keep on studying searching different things on this forum.

Try to study chemicals their uses and so on....

[notawaffle]

14 minutes ago, Zumber said:

Welcome to the community..!!

Be patient for few days to month until you are familiar to pyro world and dont attempt anything practically instead just keep on studying searching different things on this forum.

Try to study chemicals their uses and so on....

Thanks for the welcome and suggestion, is there anything you think would be good for me to start with in particular?

[Mumbles]

Generally getting a good process to manufacture black powder is best. It's the basis of at least involved for a huge amount of pyro. 

[greenlight]

Reading the material safety data sheets for all the chemicals you add to your collection and thoroughly studying what chemicals should not be mixed together is a very good start.  

Reading proper safety and manufacture processes is also essential.

Black powder is a great composition to start with as it is so versatile and the major component of most pyrotechnic devices.

Definitely stay away from flash and whistle compositions in the beginning until you get used to safe preparation and handling.

Lots of reading and researching, there is always something new to learn.

 

 

[All10Fingers]

Definitely start with BP. From their you can make shells, comets, rockets, ground stuff, air stuff, spinning stuff, you name it. I started with shooting little 3/4 inch comets and 1/2 inch bottle rockets. Their simple, fun, and modular as can be. There's a million ways you can tweak the formulas and build accord to whatever provides buoyancy to your proverbial watercraft. 

[Arthur]

As Mumbles post, start with making BP. By the time you have good BP that will lift shells you will have lots of bad BP which will probably make fountain mix or rocket fuel.

Consider joining a (western) pyrotechnics association and attending their events for example Westernpyro.org . Their winter blast has classes, their Do-It does not. Working with club members gives you a target to reach and guidance on the way, remember everyone was a beginner once.

Early fireworks used nothing but BP ingredients and made powder, fountains, wheel drivers, rockets, stars, candles etc, then people discovered colours also.

[notawaffle]

4 hours ago, Arthur said:

As Mumbles post, start with making BP. By the time you have good BP that will lift shells you will have lots of bad BP which will probably make fountain mix or rocket fuel.

Consider joining a (western) pyrotechnics association and attending their events for example Westernpyro.org . Their winter blast has classes, their Do-It does not. Working with club members gives you a target to reach and guidance on the way, remember everyone was a beginner once.

Early fireworks used nothing but BP ingredients and made powder, fountains, wheel drivers, rockets, stars, candles etc, then people discovered colours also.

Thanks

[notawaffle]

Just now, notawaffle said:

Thanks

oh no, emoticons convert to emojis on here.

[mx5kevin]

Making even the simplest device takes at least months of work and a lot of time and money. It takes years of work for someone to make a product at a high level. In most cases, there is no plan that someone plans to do every firework what he can. You can settle on a specific product, but if I want something else, you need separate tools, you have to master it separately. Those who start this usually want a specific product. Firecrackers and explosions are the most popular. The other is rockets. The key thing is that these are hitting products, no one will start this hobby for make boring, crappy spinners and children pyro. In most cases, they put together some kind of explosive device, and for this they try to find the best oxidizer what they can find. If they live in a normal country, they get the professional, safe material for this and they don't improvise. In order to master this at a high level, and to try many other things, this does not happen in most cases, and it can be understood. The fact that someone has successfully done something twice or three times is a far cry from when someone does the given task regularly. And if someone presents, for example, a video or talks about it, in most cases it is the former, or if he talks about it in forums, most case not even make that product in his life. Those who have never done something cannot talk about it just because they have read things from different sources, that he know about it, they have many false ideas if that will be put into practice will be fail. And here the point is to check in several areas who exactly an information comes from.

 

There are very few people who have achieved something on a serious level and documented it. Anyone who is seriously interested in this should look for this contents. These people are not going to go to anyone and teach him how to solve it. No matter how you ask anywhere, you won't get adequate answers to deeper questions by asking others. There are a lot of problems with unknown interested parties, especially in private channels, it is full of police figures. Openly, all those who help in an identifiable way or showing their faces are biased and not completely honest. In many cases, there is deliberate mass misinformation in communities from groups. Some are for business interests, but someone's so that people cannot make these products so easy way. And as long as you don't see someone working with it with videos and other detailed documentation of their own, it can be anyone. Upload a spectacular profile picture, fill any page with comments, to say how professional him self the user many of them are built-in people who work against such communities. For factory products, obviously their choose the best in terms of technology and efficiency, and amateurs also have to build this in their own technology, because most of the homemade methods are stupid. However, mass products are the cheapest way at factories, their hands are tied as to how strong and how loud they can be, their performance is limited.