thebajarunner
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3687
Registered: 9-8-2003
Location: Arizona....."Free at last from crumbling Cali
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Mood: muy amable
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Serious (I mean real serious) fireworks
Following up on the search for fireworks in Ensenada, etc.
If you really want to impress your fellow campers on a secluded Baja beach here is the recipe:
Get some extra large balloons.
Bottle of Oxygen
Bottle of Helium
Bottle of Acetylene
A length of household string
Matches
Ready??
Fill the balloon about 60% with helium (for lift)
Fill the balance with Oxygen and Acetylene
Tie off the end, leave a length of string (maybe 5 or 6 inches)
Light the string, let 'er go.
When the burning string reaches the balloon, you will have the entire Mexican militia searching the area for the aerial assault..... and you will be
miles upwind, smiling over the result.
Well, it does have certain drawbacks, like early detonation, etc. etc.
Be sure to inventory all your fingers (and arms) prior to attempting this.
Trust me, the results are terrific.
And, the best part, you can vary the mixture to achieve different levels of altitude and blast....
(a few months back the local sheriff called, said he had some bad guys with a garage full of stuff, including some of our tanks. the guy in charge
let me take our bottles, about $1,000 worth, and asked why the interesting combination which included helium. when I explained, all the cops in the
yard smiled and said, "well, that will help the mayor sleep better at night, those midnight aerial bombs are driving her nuts!")
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Bajaboy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4375
Registered: 10-9-2003
Location: Bahia Asuncion, BCS, Mexico
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Where is Bajabus when we need him?! That guy knows fireworks!
Zac
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thebajarunner
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3687
Registered: 9-8-2003
Location: Arizona....."Free at last from crumbling Cali
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Mood: muy amable
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Have I done it? Nope, still need all my fingers, etc.
(although we did discuss bringing the ingredients on our last trip to La Gringa- got voted down by a narrow margin, worried more about explaining the
bottles at checkpoints than bombs over the bay)
Do some of our flaky customers do it?
Just call the Oakdale PD and ask them about midnight aerial explosions!
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bajaguy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9247
Registered: 9-16-2003
Location: Carson City, NV/Ensenada - Baja Country Club
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Mood: must be 5 O'clock somewhere in Baja
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Way back in 1972, I investigated an several explosions in town. They sounded like a 155 howitzer round ....a local idiot was filling plastic garbage
bags with acetyline gas. he then placed a small candle on the shelf of a phone booth (tells you how long ago this was).....pushed the bag to the top
of the booth and closed the door.........nothing left but the wires hanging from the pole. His parents finally turned him in.
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surfer jim
Super Nomad
Posts: 1891
Registered: 8-29-2003
Location: high desert
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I have heard a few of these go off at Glamis....they are impressive....
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Pescador
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3587
Registered: 10-17-2002
Location: Baja California Sur
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We built one of those potato guns that uses PVC pipe, (had to use schedule 80 at least), put in elevation and windage screws to fine tune this bad
boy, and charged the whole thing with acetylene. Course we were a little worried so we built a bunker out of cement blocks to hide behind when we
torched this thing off. Kinda of a deep throated WHOOOMP when that potato gets launched but I swear it would go 400 yards at least. I'll bet that
would hold off the Mexican Navy for quite a while
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Bajabus
Senior Nomad
Posts: 892
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: Elias Calles B.C.S. or NC USA
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Mood: My friends..it's good.
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We have done this on several occasions including our wedding.....several words of caution are in order:
Static..this is a biggie. if you are going to do this and particularly if you are in a dry environment then please keep in mind this hazard. work on
wet ground, work barefoot, keep every item grounded and at the same potential.
Next, combinations of oxygen and acetylene can spontaneously combust under pressure. DO NOT combine the gases in the same balloon
fill separate balloons in the ratio of approximately 1 acetylene balloon to every 3 oxygen. if you want more smoke and less bang then increase the
acetylene component. Add a few helium balloons to give it some lift.
String will not reliably stay lit unless you do the following. in a coffee can make a mix of 75:15:10 saltpeter:sulfur:charcoal, wet the mixture into
a paste and grind as finely as possible. wet the mix a little more till it is a slurry. place about 10 ft of cotton twine in there and mush it up
real good till the string is thoroughly impregnated with the mix. Now take a block of wood and drill a hole in it that is ever so slightly larger than
the diameter of the string. feed the string into the hole and draw the entire lenght through it. Now hang the string on a line to dry. it has to
entirely dry. This will burn at about 1-2 inches per sec very reliably even in high wind depending on how well you integrated the components and how
pure the ingredients were to start. WARNING if you enclose the string in any type of tube or wrapping it will burn much much faster...on the order of
4-5 ft per sec instead so be carefully. This stuff is called black match in our trade
You can get potassium nitrate and sulfur at any Mexican pharmacy....you used to be able to get it at USA pharmacies but that era is long gone. or if
you want really good chemicals check out pyro chemicals.
Be safe. In our trade it's not if an accident will happen but when it will happen so be prepared. Gaseous mixes are one of the most hazardous
pyrotechnic mixes to fool around with. In fact many professional pyros look down on these types of effects and consider them way too dangerous for
the effect.
Good ground bombs with little bang but lots of flame can be made with the much safer powdered dairy creamer or calf feeding powder or other finely
ground lactose powders. In fact much of the Hollywood special effects of that nature are now done with that mix and some smokeless powder to set it
off.
Good luck and stay safe
"Preventive war was an invention of Hitler. Frankly I would not even listen to anyone seriously that came and talked of such a thing."
Dwight David Eisenhower
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Cincodemayo
Senior Nomad
Posts: 725
Registered: 3-7-2005
Location: Pacific NW
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Just stop by one of the Indian Reservation Fireworks stands in Washington...You would have been arrested with that stuff when I was with the Fire
Department...but they can sell it legally on the Reservation.
Nothing is enforced up here and the Indians aren't held liable if kids blow off fingers or hands. Rockets that go 300 feet up and blow 20 foot
diameter colorballs. Crazy to say the least. They will literally sell to anyone with greenbacks...minors or adults.
Don\'t get mad...
Get EVEN.
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Bajabus
Senior Nomad
Posts: 892
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: Elias Calles B.C.S. or NC USA
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Mood: My friends..it's good.
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We like making our own....have been for over 20 years and we still have all our fingers and such.
Worked for Grucci, Zambelli, Mayer and a host of others.
As with anything....it is the safe responsible use of pyrotecnics that needs to be emphasized.
Show me someone that has been hurt by a device and I will show you someone that was not thinking when they set it off or were the victim of some
idiot.
drunk drivers, irresponsible gun owners, jerks with fireworks they all fall into the same category as far as I am concerned.
"Preventive war was an invention of Hitler. Frankly I would not even listen to anyone seriously that came and talked of such a thing."
Dwight David Eisenhower
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jimgrms
Senior Nomad
Posts: 664
Registered: 9-30-2005
Location: oceanside ca
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Mood: its always good
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Had a guy that worked for me while i wsa in the navy ,he was filling a garbage bag wity a oxy acc mixture static elec lit it off , quite a sight
burnt his hair and clothes he was lucky it diddn,t kill him ,
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GeoRock
Nomad
Posts: 329
Registered: 3-7-2003
Location: Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Mood: Always have one
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I just want to know where you guys are going to be on July 4th? I'd like a good show.
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Bajabus
Senior Nomad
Posts: 892
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: Elias Calles B.C.S. or NC USA
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Mood: My friends..it's good.
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If you want to see the absolute best fireworks in your life then go to Appleton, WI, August 5th - 11th for the annual PGI convention where the top
pyros from around the world compete for several categories including the title of grandmaster. Much of the event and seminars are closed to non
members ( you can join )but at the end of the convention a public display is put on the likes of which you won't see anywhere else with shells
sometimes ranging up to 24 inches in diameter (they are lowered into the tube by crane and we request FAA clearance for the airspace). Some of these
shells take over a month to make from scratch and are true labors of love. It's fireworks up close and personal with many unusual effects not
normally seen. The last one I worked with my wife we were in on trying to break the world record for the largest number of simultaneously fired
mortars. The Guinness guys did not attend but we shot 770 mortars along a 2 mile front all within 20 milliseconds of each other, it took two full
days to set up and we used no-match shock tube. You will see some incredible stuff. here is a link to the last convention. Click on previews for an overview.
If you go I promise you will not be dissapointed but book rooms or campground space early
"Preventive war was an invention of Hitler. Frankly I would not even listen to anyone seriously that came and talked of such a thing."
Dwight David Eisenhower
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64480
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Good to see you having a bang up time posting on Nomad, Max!
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Bajabus
Senior Nomad
Posts: 892
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: Elias Calles B.C.S. or NC USA
Member Is Offline
Mood: My friends..it's good.
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I still check in every once and a while.
Here is a nice cremora bomb......much much safer than gaseous mixes Impressive and very easy to make.
"Preventive war was an invention of Hitler. Frankly I would not even listen to anyone seriously that came and talked of such a thing."
Dwight David Eisenhower
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thebajarunner
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3687
Registered: 9-8-2003
Location: Arizona....."Free at last from crumbling Cali
Member Is Offline
Mood: muy amable
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I met a guy last month at a board meeting in New York, told me he was the largest manufacturer of legal fireworks in the country. So called 'safe and
sane.'
I asked him how he could possibly afford insurance for his business, 'no problem' he said, it only runs 1% of gross sales for liability insurance.
I was impressed.... so, how about the insurance for the professionals who do the major fireworks shows, I asked... (remembering a really bad incident
up at Yuba City last year where a girl got her leg blown off at a pro benefit show)
13% of gross sales is the premium for the pros!
Ain't that a hoot?!
1% for us amateurs, 13% for the pros.
Guess we need to keep on mixing that oxy/acet/helium mix and sending those bombs over LABay...
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