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.
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.
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.
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
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/
Garrett
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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.
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.
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
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?
Garrett
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