Slow Match

[Double D]

I finally made up some slow match using stump remover.  I used 3 table spoons in 4 cups cold water.  For fuse body I used 1/4 in braided cotton sash cord with synthetic insert.

I cut a 10 foot length of  and pulled the synthetic core out.  I soaked the cord over night in the stump remover solution. I layed it in the yard to dry.   The left over solution I put in the freezer for futrue use.

I just completed a burn test and it burned 13 inches in one hour.

Now to make some quill.

   

[Terry C.]

3 table spoons KNO3 in 4 cups water is the same concentration I use, soaked overnight.

If and when I get a couple of free hours, I'm going to experiment with making my own quill straws using tissue paper and the celluloid laquer I made from the ping-pong balls.

I've tried making quills with Post-It notes, but it's hard to hard to get them wrapped tight enough to fit my vents. I'm going to try to make a straw with a smaller diameter.

I'll post if I have any success.

[seacoastartillery]

     Gentlemen, if speed of ignition is the goal, would one of you please explain to us WHY you are still using the Quill method of charge ignition.  Mike and I both used Quills back in the dinosaur days of our cannon firing experience BEFORE we discovered Black Match.  The unwaxed paper straws we used were charged with 3F BP and were very fragile, absorbed moisture easily,and generally were a pain to use.
After ignition they burned very well and were sure fire in their ignition task, but they were not real fast and produced a six foot torch-like flame.

     Since about 1979 we have been using Black Match which is simply a cotton string saturated with a BP and water slurry, (thick like porridge) and hung up to dry.  Black Match is what you wrap with Kraft paper to make Quick Match which provides almost instant ignition like 100 feet in two seconds FAST!  Now the size of the Black Match is about the only critical thing you must figure out.  It must not be larger than 2/3 the vent size(usually about .200"), or a little smaller, like 1/8" (.125").  This is to provide air-space which allows PRE-HEATING of the portion of the Match ahead of the flame.

     We found, by actual use, that the vent's metal acts just like the Kraft paper in Quickmatch and reflects some of the heat from the burning Black Match ahead to pre-heat it which makes it go really fast, about two to three times as fast as a powder-loaded quill.  By pinching the Black Match just outside the vent you can light it with anything, even the most wimpy slow match which nobody here owns, but we have seen a few of. 

Help us understand what there is to love about quills,

Mike and Tracy

[Double D]

Made correctly quills provide almost instantaneous ignition, black match has a hesitation.

Quills are made with 4F sprinkled on a scotch tape that is then rolled and slide down a straw that is cut so less than a inch sticksout the vent. 3F is to course and won't go down the straw.   Quills are not straws packed with powder.  The tape provides airspace between grains and allows the for the faster burning. 

Fuse and black match burn rates are both slowed down as the fire passes down the vent

[seacoastartillery]

     Thanks DD,   Well, I guess if we were to abandon our packed with powder, super pryrotechnic, 6 foot flame quills for your "Built just like Quick Match quills", we probably would get almost instantaneous ignition as well.  Our speed is slower than that of quick match, probably 1/10 second rather than 1/150 or 1/200th of a second.

     However this statement below still makes us ask WHY?  Both have their own oxygen in the potassium nitrate, KNO3.  What factor would cause this slow down?  Besides the Black Match is just regular fast fuse out in the open at about 2 to 3 inches per second.  Not until it is enclosed by the vent does the pre-heating effect occur and the rate of burn increase.  Possibly the Black Match you used was a bit larger and prevented most of the pre-heating ahead of the flame just like our completely filled, end-burner quills did?

Fuse and black match burn rates are both slowed down as the fire passes down the vent

T&M

[Terry C.]

I just want to try something a little different. And I'm a tinkerer by nature.

As far as convenience and speed, my "Vis-Quills" made with the Vis-Quick fuse from cannonfuse.com, primed with my ping-pong celluloid solution and FFFFg, are about as fast and convenient as anyone could want.

My experience with homemade black match is that it needs plenty of airspace to get really fast ignition. Wrapping it tightly kills it.

Been there, done that. Maybe my string was too large, but I wasted a lot of time and ended up tossing out the results. At least, unlike the white glue fiasco, no one was watching.

But of course YMMV.


M&T, your powder-packed tube mimics the results I got with the priming powder down the vent (assuming I did manage to actually get the powder into the vent). Slow burn and a big jet of flame.

[Rickk]

My "quills" used to always be BP saturated cotton string inside of a paper straw. I guess one could just use the saturated string without the paper straw but the paper straw made the whole thing stiffer and easier to insert into the hole.

I first saw a "scotch tape covered with 4F inside a paper straw" quill at a cannon match. The team that was using them was run by a girl oddly enough. Everyione else using BP saturated string. Some used a paper straw over the string, some just used the string with no paper straw.

I was watching the girls's team shoot, and when she hit the quill it looked totally different from everyone elses. It just went "BANG"... instant and violent ignition. I asked what she was using and she showed me the scotch tape coated with BP, rolled up inside of a straw.

I made some when I got home and played with them. If you want to compare string verses scotch tape, make up a couple of each. Make the straws about 6 inches long, and make both the cotton strings and the sctoch tape about 8 inches long. Lay them down on something non-flammable and light them one at a time with a slowmatch held with a linstock. You really need to use the linstock. You don't want your hand anywhere near them, especially the scotch tape versions. Rather than tell you what happend, I'll just say that you gotta try it.... you really gotta try it.

So, I still use both versions, and sometimes just plain old cannon fuse as well. Each has it's own characteristics, and you can use whatever fits the need. The cannon fuse is going to give you a long delay...as long as you want.  Assuming an inch or so of sting is sticking up out of the paper straw the BP coated string is going to give you a second or so delay... enough time to take a step back. The scotch tape isn't going to give you any delay worth mentioning.

My gut feeling is that I think the scotch tape method would have fewer misfires. Try  the experiement I described above and let me know your feelings !

Rick

[Double D]

I finally made up some slow match using stump remover.  I used 3 table spoons in 4 cups cold water.  For fuse body I used 1/4 in braided cotton sash cord with synthetic insert.

I cut a 10 foot length of  and pulled the synthetic core out.  I soaked the cord over night in the stump remover solution. I layed it in the yard to dry.   The left over solution I put in the freezer for futrue use.

I just completed a burn test and it burned 13 inches in one hour.

Now to make some quill.

   

After using the above solution, I put the left over in the freezer and have used it a couple of time since then. 

I thawed the solution out a couple of day ago and cut up 50 feet of cotton rope to make  six 8 and 10 foot lengths.  When I put the first section in the solution it wasn't deep enough to cover the rope when it was weighted down, so I added water. 

Just finished drying the last one tonight.   Got to thinking. When I added water, did I dilute my solution?

I guess I will have to do a burn test tomorrow. 

Any body got an home brew idea on how to check the concentration of my solution?

[GGaskill]

Each time you impregnate some rope, you remove some nitrate from the solution.  It's hard to tell if you lost nitrate while frozen without analysis.  If it doesn't burn well, add more nitrate and soak again.

Sorry I can't be more definitive.

[0reo]

Gentlemen KNO3 is just a salt.  No need to freeze your solutions. Just put a lid on the container and shelve it somewhere out of direct sunlight.  There are two things that will naturally deteriorate your KNO3 solution: Algae, and anaerobic bacteria.  The algae are easy to avoid by keeping the container out of sunlight.  The anaerobic bacteria just aren't that much of a concern because they are difficult to cultivate in most cases.  If you do have a bacterial problem try adding a drop or two of bleach to your solution as a preventative measure. (glutaraldehyde might be an even better alternative to bleach but isn't as commonly available.  Google it.)  Solution stored at room temperature may develop a white crust above the solution but this is just the KNO3 crystallizing much like any salt solution would do.  Simply shake or stir to mix the white stuff back into solution.

As for testing KNO3 solution concentration... I would recommend purchasing a nitrate test kit from your local aquarium store.  These tests must be calibrated for any kind of real accuracy so make up a fresh solution of known concentration, test and note the off-set of the actual from the test results. Use this offset to adjust future test results.  Since it sounds like you're using a high-concentration solution that may be out of the range of aquarium test kits it may be necessary to dilute your solution for the test.  Whatever your dilution factor, multiply the test results by the same.  So, dilute one teaspoon of solution with 9 teaspoons of distilled water gives 1/10th the original concentration.  Test & multiply the results by 10 for the concentration of your original solution.

Finally, soaking & removing cotton string does not reduce the concentration of your solution.  When you pull the twine from the solution it removes both water and KNO3 in equal ratio to the solution in the jar.  The larger concern would be evaporation of water  while the solution is left uncovered.  In that case the solution would get more concentrated.

[Double D]

Thanks Oreo for the explanation.  Basically since I only added water I diluted the solution.  We will find out how bad when I do the burn test later this morning.  I did do a ignition test and it burned with a good ember. 

Reference your storage recommendations, you failed to consider Factor W in your equation-Factor W for wife.  I mix the stuff in one of those large semi disposable plastic containers.  I use the stuff once a year, so evaporation is an issue.   The wife won't allow the storage in her area in a liquid state and there isn't safe storage in the shop.  So the wife suggested freezing it.  Won't spill, and minimal evaporation.  Why not. 

[Double D]

This batch burn rate is 17 inches an hour, I can live with that.

[1Southpaw]

have you let it burn for an hour or are you pro rateing on a minutes burn ?

[Double D]

I let it burn for one hour.  I started with 121 inches and at the end of one timed hour, I had 104 inches left.

[brass cannon]

Get some 1/4" masking tape from an automobile paint supplier or cut some long thin strips of wider tape. Use the paper backed masking tape not the plastic backed.  It is cheaper and doesn't melt back from the slow match.   Attach a long piece of wire (about 6") to the strip of tape for a needle and drag the tape through a pile of 4F powder.  The powder will coat the sticky side of the tape.  Get a collection of coffee stirrers from Star-bucks, Jack in the box or 7-11, etc.  They are a thin plastic straw.  Slide them onto the tape strip via the wire needle.  Leave a space of about 1/2 " between the straws and cut them apart with a point on the end of the straw/stirrer.  They are practically instantaneous and really cheap.  2 guys should be able to make a couple of hundred an hour which is over kill.  I make a couple of dozen every few months and make more when I need them.   The plastic will occasionally stick in the vent but I have never had difficulty removing them. Most of the time they just blow out of the vent.

[Double D]

Thanks  Brass  Cannon. I got a large economy box full of a paper art straws for quill.  1800 straws will make lot a two and three inch quills.   Here's a post with four pages on making quills. More: quill. 

Why don't post you idea to the end of that post. The more ideas on how to do this the better.

[flagman1776]

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