What is the subtance surrounding cherry bombs?

[ddewees]

I'm even not sure if that is a real old m80, since the real ones where red with a stiff fuse sticking out the side.

 

i'm not exactly sure either, but the guy who gave it to me is old enough to remember the real ones. I assume he wouldn't keep it all these years if it wasn't authentic. He's been "doing this" all his life, and was/is a PGI charter member.

 

But again, I have no idea... he gave me two of them, but one is missing the end cap so it's just hollow inside.

[countryboy7978]

More than likely that is a real M-80 from Miller's Fireworks or Kent. The color of the tubes varied between red and silver for the commercial versions, and american visco fuses were both red and green (could be made many colors though.) The sealant looks vintage and the silicate based ends also appear to be authentic for a later run. This may have even been after the initial ban in '66/'67, as many factories continued to churn these out for years afterwards under the various "in process" and pest-control exemptions.

 

Silver salutes and M-80's were basically the same thing. The 1980's bootleggers bastardized the silver salute name and many people think it's a quarter stick but actually the original silver salute was slightly smaller than an M-80 and much more prolific as well during the 50's/60's. They called them ash cans.

[Pyrogeezer]

Hi countryboy7978, I became involved in pyrotechnics in 1964 towards the end of the great American Firecracker era. I worked for a large pyrotechnics company not fr from where I lived, where we produced literally hundreds of thousands if not millions of Ash Aans (Silver salutes), Cherry bombs, 2" salutes and military and civilian grade M-80s. The original M-80s for the government were closed on both ends with glued and roll crimped heavy paper plugs. The name M-80 had nothing to do with how much flash they contained. This was the number designation the government classified it as. The civilian market continued on for a few years after the ban of 66 until many companies producing these items were forced to stop or they faced heavy fines and even jail time. The civilian market salutes at the time were were closed on both ends with thin paper plugs or a mixture of sodium silicate and plaster or lime, talc and other substances depending what the manufacture could buy at least cost. Some of the mixtures deteriorated over time and were rendered useless. They also contained significantly less watered down flash than the military grade, by using up to 20% silver sawdust to bulk it up. The generic Cherry Bombs of that era used 5/8" strawboard cup sets loaded with a hot flash mix, glued together and then coated with from 1 to 3 layers of sodium silicate and silver sawdust. the last layer being dyed red. The cherries would be heavily coated  in a silicate solution and then put into a rotating drum containing the saw dust similar to what you would use for making rolled stars but on a larger scale. We would roll up to 10 gross of cherries per batch. There was a tremendous market for these items and by far the most popular of them was the Cherry Bomb. It brings back great memories.     

[Pyrogeezer]

Bing-Bada-Boom  I became involved in pyrotechnics in 1964 towards the end of the great American Firecracker era. I worked for a large pyrotechnics company not fr from where I lived, where we produced literally hundreds of thousands if not millions of Ash Aans (Silver salutes), Cherry bombs, 2" salutes and military and civilian grade M-80s. The original M-80s for the government were closed on both ends with glued and roll crimped heavy paper plugs. The name M-80 had nothing to do with how much flash they contained. This was the number designation the government classified it as. The civilian market continued on for a few years after the ban of 66 until many companies producing these items were forced to stop or they faced heavy fines and even jail time. The civilian market salutes at the time were were closed on both ends with thin paper plugs or a mixture of sodium silicate and plaster or lime, talc and other substances depending what the manufacture could buy at least cost. Some of the mixtures deteriorated over time and were rendered useless. They also contained significantly less watered down flash than the military grade, by using up to 20% silver sawdust to bulk it up. The generic Cherry Bombs of that era used 5/8" strawboard cup sets loaded with a hot flash mix, glued together and then coated with from 1 to 3 layers of sodium silicate and silver sawdust. the last layer being dyed red. The cherries would be heavily coated  in a silicate solution and then put into a rotating drum containing the saw dust similar to what you would use for making rolled stars but on a larger scale. We would roll up to 10 gross of cherries per batch. There was a tremendous market for these items and by far the most popular of them was the Cherry Bomb. It brings back great memories.