Blackmatch manufacture

[AdmiralDonSnider]

Blackmatch manufacture is certainly not one of those fields where I´d call myself experienced. I´m still saturating string by hand and pulling it through an improvised vise one lenght at a time...

 

Can you suggest a tried and true method for making high quality blackmatch, preferably without the need for complicated machinery...?

 

The outcome should be both durable and reliable, not only when piped but also as crossmatch, as well as thin enough to stick it through holes punched into 1/4" timefuse.

 

Suggestions concerning string and binder are also welcome. I´m currently using a 9-ply cotton string, which it is hard to remove the twist from. May not be the best choice. Gum arabic may also be better than the dextrin I use...

[NightHawkInLight]

Not to self promote, but: http://grassrootsdiy.com/black_match.htm

 

I don't know if that would be what you call complicated machinery - there's not much to it. I've had a little bit of trouble in the past with the string not getting coated 100%, but it still burns fine. If I wanted absolutely perfect match I would add a second funnel and draw it through slurry twice. Before pulling it through the machine the string should be wet with nitrate/water solution. This solves two problems: 1. It prevents the string from soaking up the nitrate out of the BP slurry which can cause your match to burn slowly toward the end of the spool. 2. The wet string lessens the surface tension of the slurry and allows it to adhere better. As an added bonus, the string itself will now burn along with the BP coating.

[dagabu]

Nice TUT NHIL, haven't looked at that one in a while.

 

The oldest and easiest method that takes no tools what so ever is the coil method. Grab a small spool of butchers twine (cotton) and un-wrap 20' or so, coil it up into a 6" ring and then take smaller pieces of string (a few inches long) and tie the coil up in several places so that you have a circle of string that has 4-6 places where it is tied in a loop securely.

 

I use CMC for the binder but you can use just about anything that will hold the slurry on to the string.

 

Mix up your slurry with the 75:15:10:2 method using well milled meal, wet it until it is like thick pancake batter, place your string loop into the slurry and knead the string into the slurry for a few minutes making sure that the slurry is pressed into all of the string.

 

Remove the string loop, lay it down on waxed paper, cut all of the ties and grab an end of the string. Now gently pull the string through your fingers leaving most of the slurry on the string but not letting it drip all over the place. 2 nails a few feet apart pounded into studs, fence posts, a wall or what ever will be your drying rack. Loop one end of the string over one nail and as you are running the string though your fingers, walk to the other nail and loop it over, repeat until you have laid out all of your string.

 

Take a 9x11" cake pan and hold it under your match and sprinkle dry meal over the top of the BM. Let dry and use.

[Cookieman]

I've seen that tut. on your website before. It is very simple, practical, and effective.Great job Nighthawk!!!!

[Mumbles]

I use a method much like Dagabu described only sans the dry powder dusting, and adding an extra zero to that 20' coil. I also like using fairly warm water. Not only is it nicer on the hands, but it makes in thinner at first which helps to work it in between the fibers. I use fairly thick string, about 1/16" or 3/32" or so. It ends up around 1/8" or so. I primarily use it for nosing spolettes now. For crossmatch I use commercial 5 strand quickmatch, but I used to make it with thin crochet string, maybe a millimeter or a little less. I

 

The thicker stuff can be used to crossmatch, but it is a bit difficult for punched time fuse as opposed to slit. If you can find it, the thinner stuff sounds like it would work great for you.

 

For the thicker I use about 5g per meter of blackmatch. There is always some left over, which I cleanup with extra string. There is very little waste.

 

A little trick, tie the end of the coil to one of the ties, or use it as a tie itself. Otherwise it can be hard to find when you want to hang it up.

[dagabu]

Good points Mum, I was tearing through it and didn't do any details.

 

I machine pull most of my BM and use a saturated solution like Night on the string first since I am only interested in the BP coating the outside of the string for BM and CM.

[50AE]

I use the passfire method, which does very high quality BM. I make a big roll of cotton string and work it thoroughly with my hands into the slurry. It makes the black powder get deep inside into the strands. The biggest batch of cotton strand I work with, the more efficient the method is. After that, I make the strand pass through a narrow point to make the excess BP paste fall. I clean the rest of the slurry with more cotton like Mumbles does.

 

The choice of binder is also very important! Dextrin alone can ruin your BM, because KNO3 tends not to be equally present in all strands, which results in some drossy burning BM and other almost extinguishing. But if you add 1% CMC with your dextrin, it will gellify the slurry, making the KNO3 spreading equally. I've done BM with 3% CMC and it was perfect. Dagabu claims that CMC slows the pass fire, but I haven't noticed such thing. I've also used 3-4% gum arabic, which has made maybe the best BM for me.

 

As for crossmatch BM, I have to wind my own thin cotton string, because I can't find any thin one to buy

Edited September 2, 2010 by 50AE

[dagabu]

50,

 

I think I said that too much CMC slows the burn and as I recall it was in regards to 4% CMC, we are in agreement in everything that you have posted other then that. In fact, that is the same method sans the dex.

[KruseMissile]

I pull a single strand through a bucket of bp slurry. I'm going to start using the passfire method because when I do it this way, the bp can't coat it evenly due to surface tension. Edited September 3, 2010 by KruseMissile

[AdmiralDonSnider]

Thanks friends for your suggestions!

 

I still think that my string is suboptimal. So is the mercerized crochet string I used before (doesn´t take up the paste well). Untwisted 8-ply cotton would be good, even if it doesn´t take a lot of tension.

 

I wonder how they make the single strand match look that good commercially...

[dagabu]

 

I wonder how they make the single strand match look that good commercially...

 

Driven compression rollers. You can go to Precocious Pyrotechnics web site and ask Gary how he makes his, he make it commercially and there are a lot of guys that scoop it up by the bundle!

[WSM]

My Favorite match composition uses:

 

75 potassium nitrate, milled very fine

10 sulfur flour

15 willow charcoal

 

-all bound with par-boiled Argo laundry starch; the wetted match composition has the appearance of pudding when ready to use.

 

I mix the composition in a kitchen blender, set on high, with the starch solution first and the other three ingredients added one at a time in the order listed.

 

My match machine is a copy of a fellow pyrotechnist/machinist's match machine which runs the salient cotton strings (separate crochet cotton threads) through a water bath and then between each other before going through the die so the match composition is thoroughly coating each string. The starch makes for a good, stiff match which doesn't go limp in humid or damp weather. I've made 10-ply and 4-ply match. The 4-ply is excellent for cross matching and I've never had a failure with it. If two 4-Ply strands are used in quickmatch, it's as fast if not faster than the 10-Ply!

 

I prefer to make about 200 to 400 yards at a time and store it in a cool, dry SECURE place when ready.

 

WSM

Edited September 5, 2010 by WSM

[Fly]

I boil my cotton string in water & kno3 & let dry for a few days, before ever running it threw the slurry.

That way the kno3 never leaches out of the slurry into the string.

 

Fly

[dagabu]

I boil my cotton string in water & kno3 & let dry for a few days, before ever running it threw the slurry.

That way the kno3 never leaches out of the slurry into the string.

 

Fly

 

IMHO, that is a waste of time. A saturated solution used to prewhet the string that is then wrung out until it no longer drips from the loop is more then enough prevention. In your method, the dry string will pull out a large amount of water from the slurry leaving a dry and flaky crust that will chip off.

 

Try the wet method and your method, then make a simple overhand knot with both, untie them and see for yourself which one will keep the fire.

[FREAKYDUTCHMEN]

IMHO, that is a waste of time.

 

Beside that, it can even slow down your BM quite a lot because of the excess of kno3

[dagabu]

Beside that, it can even slow down your BM quite a lot because of the excess of kno3

 

I would be willing to take you up on a bet on that one. The best (and fastest) BM doesn't even light the string put pushes the flame envelope along the surface at terrific speeds as the outside of the BM picks up the flame. Unless you have another reason why the KNO3 would pull out of the core (its now dry at this state) when the string was dipped in the slurry.

 

If you are speaking about the wet dip, then I agree, it has to be wrung out before coating.

[FREAKYDUTCHMEN]

Besides the fact pre soaking is a waste of time, pre soaking your twine with kno3 can slow down your bm.

 

Fly, think simple, commercial manufacturers like to keep it simple too.

[50AE]

Soaking the string in KNO3 will result in a drossy burning BM, which will make the gasses transfer difficult.

[kiss]

that was a rather good you posted NHIL. i think i'll give this a shot myself.