FiroweWorks Posted October 29 Posted October 29 Wondering about any small companies that sell high-quality materials/chemicals that may not be of common knowledge. If anyone cares to share. (Skylighter is a bit overpriced)
FiroweWorks Posted October 29 Author Posted October 29 Looks like nobody wants to share their secret sources 😂
cmjlab Posted October 30 Posted October 30 (edited) Fireworkscookbook.com and pyrochemsource.com are the only placed I buy chems. Woodysrocks.com is the only place I've bought tooling brand new. Pyrodirect.com and pyrocreations.com for tubes, supplies, etc. I get Italian flax string from a newer website, which of course I don't recall right now. $120.00 / roll, but it's a massive roll and the string is definitely worth it. Uline.com for large rolls of Virgin kraft paper (they were selling 30#, 40#, and 50# Virgin kraft.  I make whatever tools I can myself to save money, and use recycled materials to the greatest extent. Hope this helps! Chuck Edited October 31 by cmjlab "Virginia" changed to Virgin
cmjlab Posted October 30 Posted October 30 I've honestly never bought anything from skylighter.com. It's a common complaint for newer folks that they don't want to pay the prices Skylighter charges. I honestly think they must make most of there money from 1st time buyers by paying to be listed higher on Google search results or something.  The two sites I listed for chems are the cheapest you can probably get without buying bulk / wholesale (which for most companies, means having a manufacturers license).
FiroweWorks Posted October 30 Author Posted October 30 Thanks for sharing with me! Pyrodirect is really solid, great prices. They also have three consumer stores in PA with some of the best prices around. One of my places that I like to get from is Fireworkcharcoal.com. Really cheap on most things. Unfortunately, they are almost always sold out of charcoal. I managed to snag a bag of ERC charcoal when they restocked. Also I found this link to Paulownia wood chips that, as of now, are $0.69 a pound. wood chips
DecimusMaximus Posted October 30 Posted October 30 21 hours ago, cmjlab said: I've honestly never bought anything from skylighter.com. It's a common complaint for newer folks that they don't want to pay the prices Skylighter charges. I honestly think they must make most of there money from 1st time buyers by paying to be listed higher on Google search results or something.  The two sites I listed for chems are the cheapest you can probably get without buying bulk / wholesale (which for most companies, means having a manufacturers license). You know whats funny is I thought that too about Skylighter (which indeed they are overpriced), but you have to sign up for their email alerts/newsletter to get deals that make it a standard or good deal. For example, a couple months ago, they sold 1lb and 3lb parallel tubes for overall cheaper than other websites but they had a sale for it thats why. This week, they have a deal where they are giving away 2lbs of free "top shelf" titanium powder that sells for 22/lb on their site for any orders over $88. Their default prices are horrible but when they have these deals, its best to take advantage of it because it ends up being pretty good if you strategize with it. On the other hand, I did find their strobe fuel kit was one of the best prices for strobe fuel when compared anywhere else. Their sales models is a bit gimmicky and annoying but they are about gamification and making you come to their website to buy flash deals and hoping you spend more on their overpriced stuff. However, like I said, if you are strategic, you can get a pretty good deal out of them!
cmjlab Posted October 31 Posted October 31 That's good to know. I figured they had some means to maintain a revenue stream, but based on what I had seen the couple times I checked them out, I couldn't figure it out.Â
cmjlab Posted October 31 Posted October 31 3 hours ago, FiroweWorks said: Thanks for sharing with me! Pyrodirect is really solid, great prices. They also have three consumer stores in PA with some of the best prices around. One of my places that I like to get from is Fireworkcharcoal.com. Really cheap on most things. Unfortunately, they are almost always sold out of charcoal. I managed to snag a bag of ERC charcoal when they restocked. Also I found this link to Paulownia wood chips that, as of now, are $0.69 a pound. wood chips Tha KS for sharing, I don't think I've heard of this place, and the price seems more tha fair.  Have you bought any of the paulownia wood chips? I'm curious how it works. For that price (idk what shipping is), I could switch from "red cedar" pet bedding to paulownia charcoal for about the same cost. I'll have to order some and give it a shot, it said 12# min, but that's not bad @$0.69 / lb.
FiroweWorks Posted October 31 Author Posted October 31 I personally haven't bought any yet, but it could be an even better way to get your hands on paulownia charcoal than fireworkcharcoal.com. But im sure their process is much more refined. If you do end up purchasing some let me know how it goes!
Mumbles Posted November 1 Posted November 1 On the topic of obtaining scrap wood, here is a good source for balsa scrap https://specializedbalsa.com/products/balsa_scraps.php They offer both small scraps/chunks as well as sawdust depending on your cooking preferences. Balsa being balsa still isn't cheap, but better than most alternatives. I don't recall how much mass is in these things, but I have some inkling that the 6.424 cuft box is usually like 35-40lbs.
Recommended Posts