So, congratulations. You've just finished milling and screening some BP, or you've got a bit of MEKP on a filter paper. Now what?

Well, you're gonna blow it up, obviously, but how will you do that?

You need to choose your firing mechanism based on what the situation for the shot is. Personally, I use e-det in damn near everything, partially because cannonfuse is impossible to get in Aus, but also because it's much mroe reliable. We'll start at the top.


SPARKLERS

Sparklers are not safe. They throw hot burning fragments everywhere, greatly increasing the risk of premature detonation. Luckily, they have a predictable burn rate, guaranteed ignition, and are very, very cheap. In order to use a sparkler as a fuse for (generally, a thermite charge, black or flash powder - Don't trust high explosives to something this unsafe!) your munition, decide how far you want to bury it into your explosive. Generally, about an inch, to two inches is acceptable, and very reliable. Wrap the rest of the length in a few layers of alfoil, to catch the white-hot sparking fragments, leaving only the darker-coloured primer tip open.

SAFETY FUSE

Brilliant stuff. Cheap, reliable, and comes in dozen-metre rolls. Commonly used in nearly every commercial firecracker. Simple to use - Plug it into your powder, ignite, and, well, sit back and watch the fireworks. Often available waterproofed, to light submerged charges. The downside is that it's not readily available in several countries. Common brands/synonyms are Visco, Cannonfuse, etc.

You may have also heard of 'flying fish' or 'falling leaf' visco, this is NOT to be used for traditional fusing. They are a special, coloured, sparkling fuse which is chopped into pieces a few inches long and packed into your star, to give a crazy, slow-burning coloured falling trail effect when blown.

A related fuse is Thermalite - Real old-school stuff, you need to strip the fuse for however much you want to burn, if unstripped it burns slowly, and the various different kinds of fuse burn at different stripped rates. Usually fired by e-match or flashbulb.

BLACKMATCH

Blackmatch is several cotton threads twined together, moistened, and rubbed with black powder then left to air-dry. It burns quickly and unreliably because of the non-intimate nature and shonky preperation, and should not be relied upon to safely ignite charges, or for any kind of timing.

QUICKMATCH/PIPEMATCH

A quick match or piped match is a type of black powder fuse that burns very quickly, some hundreds of feet per second. They consist of black matches covered with a loose paper wrap (pipe). When lit, the flame propagates quickly down the paper pipe from the hot gases produced by the burning powder. Quick matches are used in professional fireworks displays to pass fire nearly instantly between devices that must be physically separated while firing simultaneously, such as a finale rack. Devices which should fire in sequence can be branched from a single master fuse, consisting of quick match spliced onto Visco fuses of various length for time delays. The easiest way to produce it is to lay a length of masking tape, sticky-side up, and carefully pour black powder down the middle, then fold over on itself and twist. The final product is fragile, so don't handle roughly or your shells might not fire at all. The tape method is better referred to as stickymatch.

SLOWMATCH

A slow match is a very slow-burning fuse consisting of a hemp or cotton rope saturated with an oxidizer such as potassium nitrate. Slow matches are used as a source of fire for manually lighting other devices, such as matchlock guns, or fuses on black powder cannons. Before percussion caps, slow matches were most suitable for use around black powder weapons because it could be roughly handled without going out, and only presented a small glowing tip instead of a large flame that risked igniting powder supplies nearby. Today's punks (wood splints covered with ground plant pith saturated with nitrate) used for lighting consumer fireworks are a type of slow match.

ISFE/E-MATCH

An Igniter Safety Fuse Electric (ISFE) lights a main fuse or device when activated by an electrical current. They typically consist of a pair of wires leading to a thin resistance wire that heats when current is applied. The resistance wire is covered by a dot of first fire that ignites from the wire heating, providing enough fire to reliably ignite the main fuse via a mechanical connection, or the device directly. Estes model rocket motors are lit by a type of electric match. Large fireworks displays are launched with complex timing sequences using a computer that energizes electric matches connected to the individual device fuses.

STANDFUSE/SPOOLETTE

# A spoolette is a delay fuse consisting of a hollow wooden dowel rammed full of black powder. A spoolette is glued into the wall of a fireworks shell and ignited by the lift charge that launches the shell into the air. The spoolette, after a delay that allows the shell to reach its top of trajectory, ignites the shell's main effect(s). The tough wood construction ensures that the fuse burns reliably despite the explosive force and acceleration of the launch.

I'll take some pics of the various types today, and when I get back from going for a smoke and a jog I'll talk about HE det methods.

Great info. Question, is there any advantage to be gained from rolling the ordinance end of cannon fuse, or sticky fuse in hot glue and then magnesium shavings? I have been doing this for the perceived added reliability, but if there is none, it will save me some prep time.

I've never heard of that, and I wouldn't see why it would help as cannonfuse doesn't burn hot enough to ignite magnesium turnings.

Ouch, I guess that wasn't the first or last thing that will end up being a waste of my time. Now don't get too smug, when the sun comes up, I'm off to the local supplier of nefarious toys to pick up some fffg and some more fuse. This time I'll do the experiment without the charge. I'm not thick, I just like to see things for myself. Thanks for the info, I'll get back to with the humble pie.

PS, I didn't see magnesium tape on your list, is it unavailable there, or is there some other reason? I know there is a reliability issue around moisture, but I find it reliable and predictable. Thoughts?

It's very unreliable, compared to cannonfuse, difficult to light and expensive.

Lotsa gewd info. (BTW gewd = good XD)

You are right about the fuse not being hot enough to ignite magnesium filings. Although the glue burnt, I was still able to ignite the magnesium with a striker. Waste of time, thanks.

i have created a shoddy, albiet possible contraption for lighting a powder bomb of some sort. (havent figured out what yet). i soldered one end of a speaker wire to a 9volt battery, and (on the same end) connected the other wire to a momentary switch, then connected that to the battery. on the other end of the speaker wire i will (and have tested effectively) wrap steel wool around the two wires, so that when the button is pushed the circut is completed and the steel wool burns. my only question is; if i were to wrap a little bit of whistle mix in a tissue (to make a little ball of powder) and put that in with the steel wool, and use the small powder charge to ignite a short fuse, would that have any probability of working at all? do i even need the powder charge to ignite the (safety) fuse, or would steel wool alone light it? actually...fuck that ill go find out myself.

i know a 9 volt probably isnt optimal, but its basically the best i can get. (for cheap, at least)

edit- after a little testing, the steel wool only burns if there isnt too much on the end of the 2 wires, which might hinder my ignition. would doing the same circut but adding another 9 volt to it work? so it would be like speaker wire A to battery,battery negative to 2nd battery positive, 2nd batter negative to switch, switch to wire B

That's the basic theory of an e-match, or b*****wire ignitor, yes - Current flows through a wire, heats it up and sues heat to ignite your charge. Generally, it's always best to use the b*****wire to ignite a firstfire, and then line a fuse from there. But if you're e-matching anyway, fuck the fuse. just rig a 555, or a mechanical timer.