My "Vis-Quills" and how to make them

[Terry C.]

Part 1 of 2

I had to make a new batch of these fast fuses, as the last one was used on Pam's birthday. I decided to document the process. Trust me, the camera setup and photo editing/uploading took MUCH longer than the actual work of making the fuses.

I call them "Vis-Quills" which is a combination of "Vis-Quick" and "quill."

They aren't quills in the true sense, but they combine the fast ignition of the quill with the convenience of visco.

Vis-Quick is a very fast-burning visco fuse that I purchased from cannonfuse.com. This is the green that burns at 5 seconds per foot (.4 sec/inch), about six times faster than standard visco. Since I purchased this batch, they have introduced an even faster burning version, 2 seconds per foot! But I already have this and at the lengths I use it's very fast!

The drawbacks to Vis-Quick are that it can be hard to light with match, the powder tends to leak out of the cut ends, and it's not as stiff as standard visco. My prep takes care of all these shortcomings.


First I started gathering the necessary supplies. A piece of heavy duty aluminum foil (dull side up), a sheet of printer paper, FFFFg priming powder, scissors, Vis-Quick fuse, and my homemade NC lacquer (made from ping-pong balls).

Also used are long forceps, and clothespins, you'll see them later.

The first step is to cut the lengths of fuse. The key here is to cut them to fit the deepest vent you have. They're easy to trim, but very hard to stretch. I cut mine 2" long. If you need them much longer than that, then the new faster Vis-Quick will definitely be an advantage.

Then you need to pour a small pile of the priming powder.




Dip one end of the fuse in the NC, and then into the powder pile. It will be ugly, don't worry about it, it'll even out as the lacquer build up.






You'll need to keep the powder piled up deep in the middle, so that you can dip the tips and pull them out without disturbing it too much. The powder will stay clean, and you can save what is unused.




Cap off the jar and put away the powder and clear your work area while the tips harden. Only takes about 10 minutes. Fetch the forceps, it's going to get messy if you try to proceed with just your fingers.




Start dipping. Dip each fuse, head first, into the lacquer past halfway. Lay them out on the foil. It's going to drain, so move the fuses around as the excess drains off.










Continued in next post...

[Terry C.]

Part 2 of 2

Once you've dipped them all, start over. This time you want to turn them over and lay them out on the opposite side.




Keep moving them around. They'll stick a little as they get tacky, but not bad (as long as you remember to use the dull side of the foil).




Now that you have them all dipped, it's time to fetch the clothepins. It's probably a good time to thin your mixture too, as you've had it open for awhile now and it dries out fast. About a teaspoon of fresh acetone and a good shaking, and you're ready to proceed again




Now dip just the head. Then clip the fuse in a clothespin so it will stand up. When they're all done, rest and let them dry for about 10 minutes.




Now start dipping the other ends of the fuse, this seals the powder into the bottom. You can drop the dried heads into the holes in the clothespins and they'll stand up. Don't try to grip the heads with the clothespin, they're still soft and you'll crush them.




Once they are dry enough (not sticky) pull them out and dip the head end again, standing them up in the clothespins.




Let them dry for at least 15 minutes before handling them, while you put everything else away.

You're done. After they've dried overnight, you can put'em in a small medicine bottle.




It looks from the photos like this is a lot of work, but it took longer to type this than it did to actually do it.


A few notes. As you can see from the progression of the work, there is a lot more coating on the upper half, and especially the head, than the bottom of the fuse. This is the end you'll be handling. And it's not as much as it looks like. The first couple of dips are very thin, most of the lacquer drains off onto the foil. Only the last couple of dips, where the fuse is standing up, does it accumulate much. As it dries, it gets thinner and harder.

Before I do this again, I'm going to make a block that will take the place of the clothespins. That was the reason I only did a dozen in this batch, the clothespins take up so much space. I could put a dozen holes in a single block, and have several of them.

[Double D]

Making NC lacquer from ping-pong balls