Everyone is a child in the shower. What do children like? That's right, everything is popping and sparkling! After all, no holiday can be imagined without fireworks, and some manage to make them at home.
Fortunately, this is rare. Where more often we buy pyrotechnics on the eve of the New Year holidays. Unfortunately, often the quality of their manufacture is poor. This is especially true of cheap pyrotechnics, the wicks of which are sometimes indecently short.
And how to make a wick from improvised materials? Is this real at all? There is practically nothing complicated about this.
Simplest option
Surely everyone in childhood at least once, but dabbled with matches. Remember how beautifully nitrate burned from them burns? Before you make a wick, you need to scrape it with a couple of boxes. The resulting saltpeter is rammed into sticks from juices or something like that. Tight ramming is a guarantee of long burning.
Despite primitiveness, such wicks burn very stably, and with proper sealing, they are practically not afraid of getting wet. Ideal for the safe use of dubious pyrotechnics!
If there is such an opportunity, then before you make a wick, try to get some hunting matches. They burn excellently, easily withstand even getting wet, so that you can make just an excellent Bikford cord from them !
There is also a method involving the use of ordinary tape. Again, you will have to grind the sulfur from a couple of boxes of matches, and then cut off a narrow strip of adhesive tape of the required length. Put it with the adhesive side up, pour a thin strip of match nitrate on it.
On top of this entire structure, press the same strip of tape. The resulting ignition cord can be used even in winter time, as it is slightly susceptible to moisture. Since making a wick for firecrackers in this way is extremely easy, it can be recommended for pyrotechnic enthusiasts of all ages.
Attention! Strictly comply with all fire safety regulations, otherwise it is easy to set up a fire.
For city dwellers
If you have a little poplar fluff lying on your balcony in the spring since spring - great! One has only to fill the dry fluff into a newspaper rolled up in a tube to make a pretty good wick from it. Needless to say, all material must be completely dry.
The way for young chemists
To make a reliable wick according to this recipe, you will need ordinary potassium permanganate, Moment glue or the like, as well as matches. A small amount of potassium permanganate is taken, glue, and then these two components are mixed to a state of homogeneous mass.
Attention! We should not forget that “Moment” is not only extremely combustible, but also contains many substances harmful to your health. Be sure to ensure proper ventilation of the room when performing this kind of work.
You should not rush, it will take at least ten minutes to completely mix the components. Since the resulting mixture is too liquid, you should wait a few minutes until the hardening process passes.
After this time, the resulting puddle must be carefully formed, giving it a more compact look. When the composition acquires the consistency of plasticine, it must be rolled out, giving the appearance of a sausage. Thickness does not matter.
And how to make a wick from matches and the composition described by us? It's simple: if you need a wick that burns quickly and very reliably, then a certain amount of ground match nitrate should be added to the composition before it hardens.
How it works?
You didn’t ask yourself why such difficulties? The fact is that the wick resulting from our actions not only burns perfectly (and at an acceptable speed), but also withstands water and snow ingress. With it, you can easily start the fireworks from a safe distance, even setting it directly in the snowdrift.
Potassium nitrate is our choice!
If you ask the representatives of the older generation, then they will surely tell you about all the ways to get the wick that were used by children in the USSR. Among the main components,
potassium nitrate has always occupied an honorable place
. In those years, it was sold in all agricultural stores, so there were no problems with its receipt.
How to use it? First, saltpeter must be dissolved in ordinary water, taking one part of the active substance and three parts of the liquid. The easiest way to make a wick is to soak a regular newspaper in the resulting mixture. More precisely, it can simply be dipped in a jar and immediately removed.
After that, the paper should be thoroughly dried. Attention! Since products from evaporation of the working composition are not too useful for human health, it is advisable to do this outdoors.
And how to make a wick for firecrackers from the resulting material? We turn the dried newspaper into a thin tube, if necessary, tying it with a thread. Certain dexterity requires only bringing him into “combat readiness”.
To do this, set fire to the very tip of the "sausage", and then bring down the flame. A smoldering light is the goal of all our chemical experiments. It will easily tolerate even slight moistening, and the burning rate is such that it will reliably protect you from the premature operation of the pyrotechnics.
By the way, before making a homemade wick, be sure to familiarize yourself with the characteristics of modern products of this kind. Almost certainly what you see will impress you so much that you definitely will not risk approaching an extinct firecracker.
More serious way
The disadvantage of the above method should be considered the fact that a thin newspaper does not fit the role of a Bikford cord. It can quickly go out, and then burn out sharply in front of your bewildered eyes. The consequences can be very sad.
Therefore, it is advisable to get a high-quality cotton rope. It is also soaked in the above aqueous solution of nitrate and thoroughly dried. To make the construction as reliable as possible, you can lubricate it with a mixture of potassium permanganate and Moment glue. The recipe for the "infernal composition" we have already given above.
This ignition cord can withstand even significant moisture, which will not have any effect on its ability to burn. By the way, what can a wick be made of if you do not take into account the above methods?
And again potassium nitrate
Unfortunately, it will not be possible to refuse this substance, since only with its help it is possible to create sufficiently reliable wicks. So, we take about two parts of nitrate and one part of ordinary granulated sugar.
All this is ground in a porcelain mortar until a fine and uniform powder is formed. The resulting composition can be driven into tubes from under the juices (as in the method with match nitrate).
Important Notice
Before you make a wick with your own hands, do not forget about the responsibility for all your subsequent actions. It is possible to launch pyrotechnics only in the absence of a strong crosswind, outside of dense urban development. The use of such products in hot and dry weather, as well as their use by underage children, is unacceptable.
Here's how to make a wick without using expensive tools.