Basic starter chemicals

[they call me 9 fingers]

Well I haven't seen this covered anywhere, but if it has let me know. My question is what would a be a good shopping list of basic pyro chemicals (excluding the pyro holy trinity, KN03, sulfur,charcoal) ? I have done all the basic black power stuff, i guess what would be a few inexpensive chems that are used allot especially in different star effects. With three kids I am defiantly on a limited budget so I want to get the most bang for my buck. So what do you guys think would be worthwhile purchases? Any guidance/advice/don't do what i did, would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

Note: I just got my first good batch of BP and sugar rocket flights this week, so I am happy and the kids were impressed.

[WarezWally]

Strontium carbonate

Potassium perchlorate

Red gum

Various aluminium powders (flake, bright and flitter)

Barium nitrate

Barium carbonate

Magnalium (200mesh)

Parlon

 

You will be able to make red and green stars with everything there.

[nick2354]

Im not an admin, but please work on correct spelling and punctuation. I can barely read your paragraph.

 

Edit: It has been edited now.

[TheSidewinder]

I'm not an Admin either, but I *am* a Moderator.

 

Now, I can't tell if he edited that or not, but what I'm seeing is perfectly readable. A couple of run-on sentences, but nothing more.

 

You should see what people try to pass off as English sometimes.

 

Oh, and good to hear you entertained the kids, 9 fingers. Get'em involved early.

[Bonny]

Strontium carbonate

Potassium perchlorate

Red gum

Various aluminium powders (flake, bright and flitter)

Barium nitrate

Barium carbonate

Magnalium (200mesh)

Parlon

 

You will be able to make red and green stars with everything there.

Add these to that list:

copper oxide

copper carbonate

calcium carbonate

Then you can make blues or the whole veline colour system.

[qwezxc12]

bonny and Warez have made you a fairly comprehensive list of colorants (all the metal oxides and carbonates) and with perc, red gum and Parlon (or PVC or Saran) you'll have a large pallet of colors at your disposal for experimentation. The Veline system is especially easy to start with because it makes an entire spectrum of colors with a standard base formulation; you can make a lot of the "base", then weigh it out in portions, adding your color component, saving you lots of mixing / weighing time. It will also teach you to prime your stars very well They aren't arguably the "best" colors, but as a system, they're matched very well from a saturation / brightness standpoint.

 

If your budget prevents you from diving in with all the previously mentions chems at ones, I just wanted to add that with BP ingredients you already have, you have the option of making all of the Charcoal Fire-dust stars:

Chrys6

Chrys8

Chrys of Mystery

TigerTail

and Willow.

 

If you acquire just three grades of Aluminum first (20um atomized, bright flake, and coarse flitter) you now have the ingredients for:

Various brilliant white stars (BP+ % of bright flake)

ReeperSilver and various tremelons (BP+ % of atomized)

Various Firefly and flitter stars (BP + Charcoal + flitter Al)

D1 Glitter, one of the best glitters, IMO (BP + atomized AL + baking soda)

 

You also can score NaNO3 on the cheap at gardening centers and sub it for KNO3 for a whole range of cheap yellows.

[they call me 9 fingers]

To the grammar police yes I did edit. There was a missing comma and a few spelling errors. That's what I get for drinking and posting . I know it wouldn't get your post count up, but a PM would have been just as effective,and would have kept the thread on track IMHO. Anywho spell check IS my best friend. Thanks for the quick responses, very helpful. I will try the BP stars today.

[nath0r]

IMO for the simplicity, the stars you can produce from the basic BP chems are excellent.

 

I recently fired a small tigertail mine to use up some leftover stars and managed to get a nice photo. It was fairly windy on the night as you can see from the way the stars are blown to the left, despite this, i think the photo looks fantastic (even if i do say so myself).

 

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/5089/imgp0569sy8.jpg

 

Hope to see some of your work soon!

[InRainbows]

nath0r, that looks absolutely amazing, those look like really long burning tiger tails, or the wind was the equivalent of a hurricane. As for the list:

 

potassium perchlorate

red gum

PVC

Barium carbonate/ nitrate

Strontium carbonate/ nitrate

aluminum, varying mesh sizes

parlon

 

Chlorine donors are important, makes your stars much more impressive.

[jacob]

I recomend,

 

Potassium Perchlorate

Ammonium Perchlorate

Strontium nitrate

Barium nitrate

Parlon

PVC

Saran

Al powder -325 mesh

MgAl powder -325 mesh

Hexamine

Copper oxide

 

You should be able to make most anything with these.

[lnstantkarma]

Here's a link to the veline system: http://www.skylighter.com/fireworks/How_to...works_stars.asp

 

Thats what I use and overall I'm happy except I don't like the red, but I only tried it once.

[zwdog922]

I recomend,

 

Potassium Perchlorate

Ammonium Perchlorate

Strontium nitrate

Barium nitrate

Parlon

PVC

Saran

Al powder -325 mesh

MgAl powder -325 mesh

Hexamine

Copper oxide

 

You should be able to make most anything with these.

Why have so many oxidizers?

[Mumbles]

The oxidisers often double as colorants. In my opinion the nitrates of barium and strontium make superior colors to the carbonates otherwise used. I can't say I completely agree with these lists. They tend to be focused on color stars, which IMO, are a big step from BP. Generally after one produces BP, the BP type stars are next. Charcoal streamers, glitters, firefly, flitter, etc.

 

From where you are I'd get some of the following:

 

Barium Carbonate

Barium nitrate

Red Iron Oxide

Atomized aluminium in the 200-400 mesh range, bit larger the better

-200 mesh MgAl

Boric acid

Antimony Trisulfide - not neccesary but involved in most of my favorite glitters

 

If you want to do colors, I suggest green as the barium nitrate used is extremely useful in other areas where as some of the other colorants don't find as much use.

 

Saran is my favorite chlorine donor, but any will work

Red Gum

Potassium Perchlorate (very important)

 

For red you'll want to pick up:

Strontium nitrate

 

For blue you'll want:

Copper Oxide

Parlon

 

For some nice long tailed comets:

Charcoal 80 mesh

Coarse Flitter Aluminum

[InRainbows]

If a formula would call for Parlon, would substituting Saran in the right proportions bring on the same effects?

[zwdog922]

ok

[Mumbles]

Please avoid making one word posts when not neccesary. Saying "ok" or "thanks" is completely useless and just takes up space. Continual doing so is in general considered to be post whoring.