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Thread: Any Flash Powder users?

  1. #21

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    Re: Any Flash Powder users?

    Very short, as I contributed to a previous thread with similar minded experimenters!

    Don't try it.
    People really did get badly burned - and they had been using the stuff regularly for decades!
    And you can't send it through the post.

  2. #22
    Tin Can's Avatar
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    Re: Any Flash Powder users?

    Steven, you are very knowledgeable. I will not try it. It was sent to me USPS and that's why I expected a knock on my door.

    I'll just put it away in my trophy case. Nobody lives with me and no one has access until I pass. I will put a note with it, to be disposed of only by my police friends.

    Good idea, to just forget, a bad idea.

    Quote Originally Posted by Steven Tribe View Post
    Very short, as I contributed to a previous thread with similar minded experimenters!

    Don't try it.
    People really did get badly burned - and they had been using the stuff regularly for decades!
    And you can't send it through the post.

  3. #23

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    Re: Any Flash Powder users?

    You can exist in your safety bubble all you want. But thats Not for me.

    Flash powder can be used safely, people just hear horror stoties about it and become scared for no reason.

    The flashpans from cress are a bit over my budget, luckily I dug up enough info in them and can prob have ine made to suit.
    Signature deleted as to not offend certain people

  4. #24
    Tin Can's Avatar
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    Re: Any Flash Powder users?

    I don't jump out of airplanes either, but many of my friends do.

    The wise pick their battles. Tactically.

    Quote Originally Posted by Shootar401 View Post
    You can exist in your safety bubble all you want. But thats Not for me.

    Flash powder can be used safely, people just hear horror stoties about it and become scared for no reason.

    The flashpans from cress are a bit over my budget, luckily I dug up enough info in them and can prob have ine made to suit.

  5. #25

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    Re: Any Flash Powder users?

    Some of the first wetplate photos taken in dark mines used burning magnesium ribbon. I've had some of that, it's very bright and burns as long as you want it to. Not a quick poof. That would probably be the method to try.

    http://thispublicaddress.com/tPA4/ar.../th_osullivan/

  6. #26

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    Re: Any Flash Powder users?

    Notice it's called 'smokeless'!

    In Ansel Adams' autobiography, he describes his brief career as a portrait photographer. As I recall, he was asked to make a group portrait in a classroom---using flash powder. Apparently, for the first time...and discovered that in a closed room you necessarily have to get it right on the first shot, or wait until the smoke clears for another try.

  7. #27
    Tin Can's Avatar
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    Re: Any Flash Powder users?

    That does sound good and better than burning an entire VW bug engine, which I have seen done.

    Quote Originally Posted by goamules View Post
    Some of the first wetplate photos taken in dark mines used burning magnesium ribbon. I've had some of that, it's very bright and burns as long as you want it to. Not a quick poof. That would probably be the method to try.

    http://thispublicaddress.com/tPA4/ar.../th_osullivan/

  8. #28

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    Re: Any Flash Powder users?

    Quote Originally Posted by mdarnton View Post
    One man's safety concern is another's safety hysteria. There's a lot of that lately, the expectation that any safety level below an unobtainable 100% is unacceptable, combined with the willingness, no eagerness, to implement draconian restrictions to attempt to achieve that. I am cynical.
    My words exactly. Zero risk with any endeavor is only an ideal. If you want zero risk then don't drive because risk of injury is far from small.

    If you employ sensible safety precautions with flash powder and work systematically the risk is small. But you need to understand the mechanics of flash powder explosives. There are a lot of potential mixtures and the oxidizer, fuel material and proportions determine the degree of gas expansion usually quoted in meters/second.

    Believe me that it is possible to use mixtures that are very explosive when uncontained as well as mixtures that are slow burning. In order to get a decent color temperature one would typically use a metal as fuel (aluminum dust or magnesium is common) both can produce a 4000 to 6000K flash. With the right oxidizer the flash is explosive (what you want) and very dangerous and can cause burns as vicious as from Thermite. Some oxidizers result in a percussive powder so the mixture should never be ground finely using a mortar and pestle, even as a slurry. The WW1 explosive Amatol (Ammonium Nitrate and TNT, 50%:50%) became scarce during the war so in some instances Aluminum dust was substituted for the TNT. Alternately aluminum dust can be mixed with any of several oxidizers such as Potassium Chlorate, Ammonium Nitrate, even Potassium Permaganate. I used Potassium Permanganate with aluminum dust and a touch of sulfur.

    Nate Potter, Austin TX.

  9. #29

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    Re: Any Flash Powder users?

    Sounds like fun. What chemicals do you need to make flash powder?
    You can kludge together a pretty efficient rolling mill using lead musket balls and a rock tumbler, but it takes a lot of large musket balls (.50-.69 cal. IIRC)

    John "Don't you be sneaking up on my blind side Lefty" Kasaian
    "I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White

  10. #30

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    Re: Any Flash Powder users?

    Some Moderator close this thread. We don't need a "how to make explosives like Hitler did in church" guide on our forum to make that happen do we?

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