Charley stored all the fireworks he made in a big chest-type magazine.
Right out in the middle of his backyard.
It was the middle of a nice July afternoon in 1996. And Charlie was in the mood to tell some secrets…
And I was a fireworks newbie itching to find out whatever I could from this old fireworks pro.
“I hate working with chlorate,” he said.
“I know people say it’s impossible to get a good green star without barium chlorate. Been hearin’ it all my life.
“You bleeve ‘em?”
“Of course,” I said, pretend-falling into his trap.
I watched over his shoulder as he lifted up the wooden cover of that big cinderblock chest, and started rustling around in a stack of old Goex boxes, marked with shorthand for different stars… “R/G,” Gr–>Sil,” B/R,” etc.
“That’s it…” he said, as he opened up a box, and reached inside.”
This really isn’t really about Charlie, by the way. Although I think you might wanna know the secrets he gave me that day.
It’s actually about Charlie’s connection to green stars. And what a HUGE problem green star colors have been for Skylighter.
See, we have not been able to ship green color oxidizers during this century!
But last night my ace warehouse detective, Lori, figured out a way to ship ‘em to you again. Hooo-ray!
So, I figgered you might put this green little tidbit I’m passing along to you to some good use.
Charlie held a little black square in his hand, “Now, I know it’s the middle of the afternoon but look at this green even in daylight. I call it the Emerald Green Illuminating Star.”
He lit the star and tossed it into the air by hand.
Damn! Even in daylight it really was the deepest, brightest green I had ever seen! I was impressed.
“Now, you know what, Harry? That’s a barium nitrate green, NOT barium chlorate.”
And the rest is history. Charlie shared his green formula and some others with me that afternoon. I carefully chicken-scrawled his formulas down on this piece of 30# virgin kraft, which I have carefully preserved.
Don’t worry if you can’t make ‘em out. We couldn’t either. But here they are as best we can make ‘em out, 15 years later.
| Chemical | Emerald Green Illum. Star (parts by weight) |
Yellow Star (degn) (parts by weight) |
Excellent Blue* (parts by weight) |
Silver Glitter (% by weight) |
| Potassium Perchlorate | 15 | 35 | 50 (or 35?) | 55 |
| Barium Nitrate | 65 | 40 | ||
| Aluminum Flake Dark |
10 | |||
| Aluminum Flake Bright |
7 | 8 | ||
| Parlon | 16 | |||
| Red Gum | 5 | 10 | 10 | |
| Airfloat Charcoal | 2 | 3 | 8 | |
| Dextrin | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 |
| Boric Acid | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
| Potassium Chlorate | 25 | 20 | ||
| Cryolite | 15 | |||
| Copper Carbonate | 8 | |||
| Sulfur | 8 | |||
| Antimony Trisulfide | 12 | |||
| Totals: | 120 | 142 | 92 (or 77?) | 101 |
I have only made the green, so beware of the others. In particular, the yellow and blue formulas look funny to me.
I have made the green many, many times and love it. It’s my standard green.
My favorite green star is to roll the Emerald Green on top of 1/8″ “silver spin” cores (but that’s another secret that I can’t let you have yet).
Tell me what you think of the blue and yellow formulas. The blue perchlorate parts may be 50 or 35-it’s not clear. And the yellow Cryolite is either 15 or 1.5-my bet’s 15.
Charlie’s green is so good, that I think, despite these questions, the other colors oughta be given a try, too. (And, oh yeah, ALL of the ingredients are available at the fireworks chemical page at Skylighter.com and can be shipped to you anytime you need ‘em.)
I’m sure they can be cut, rolled, or pumped.
What do you think, star makers? Please give me your comments below.
Harry Gilliam
well I decided to make some and WOW can we say throw out all those recipes for green only need this one.have to my mates on APC forum they can wait to see a rocket with a green header ontop,me to!
[Reply]
Harry Gilliam Reply:
January 31st, 2012 at 9:10 PM
Hey, Jeff,
Thanks for the note, man. How about making a little video of that greenhead rocket, and sending it to us so we can post it on our YouTube Channel and Facebook pages for everybody to see?
[Reply]
I just tried Charlies new green he posted…. Its well above what I expected! This is an excellent green I’ll pass down to my kids. Again, thankyou guys!
[Reply]
harry, first off, thank you for all the info you have contributed to the pyro world! I had a thought…. you know those dragon eggs? how would those work for a star core? And more important…. could I press a crossette half way, add a dragon egg in the center of each breakaway, then finish filling and pressing the crossette? I think it might work and give a nice crackle finish to a crossette! I can buy a bunch of crackling balls very cheap around the 4th and save the time of making dragon eggs. a buck would give me about 500 star cores!!! what are your thoughts? thanks…. w.b. knox
[Reply]
At first glance that green comp had me wondering. I’d never seen 65% barium nitrate in a green comp. Then noticed it totals 120 parts rather than 100. The best green comp I’ve found is Klumac green. This is a deep green star that’s very bright too. This or majdali purple has to be my favorite colored star comps. Here’s the comp for anyone intrested.
50% barium nitrate
15% potassium perchlorate
12% parlon
8% red gum
10% magnalium (I use the cheap 200-325mesh)
5% dextrin
2% boric acid
[Reply]
Gary moore Reply:
October 1st, 2011 at 3:10 PM
What is Majdali Purple Star formula, please!
[Reply]
Burton Reply:
October 3rd, 2011 at 7:54 PM
The Majdali purple comp is actually a blue comp. It’s the deepest blue I’ve seen without using chlorate. The comp is
50% potassium perchlorate
8%strontium nitrate
13% copper oxide black
15% parlon
3% magnalium (200-325mesh)
7% red gum
4% dextrin
[Reply]
JJ Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 1:34 AM
What are the solvents?? 75% water 25% alcohol?? Can this be rolled? Please reply, thanks!
[Reply]
Burton Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 2:53 PM
75% water 25% alcohol will work, or just plain water is what I usually use. Yes it can be rolled, just about any star I make is rolled, and I’ve never had a problem rolling this. I have tried making 1.5″ comets out of this and it don’t take the lift to well. Might want to try substituting sgrs for the dextrin if making fairly large comets with it.
[Reply]
Harry Gilliam Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 6:23 PM
For them what don’t know, “Klumac” is Al, an old pyro pal who I don’t see much of any more, but is out there somewhere. “Majdali” is first-named Steve, a king-hell left coast pyro and toolmaker. These are mainstream, actual living pyros who know their stuff, so their stars are most likely pretty damned good.
Harry
[Reply]
Burton Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 8:59 PM
Steve Majdale can be found on passfire, which also is where his comp is listed. I had to ask him about this purple comp after seeing it, because it sure looked blue to me. This is one of those things that depends on an individual persons perception of it. Steve happens to like a purple that’s more on the blue side of the color spectrum than red. So what looks blue to me might be purple to others.
As for that green comp of Al Klumac’s, that can’t really be mistaken for anything but green. For an equally great red star, just swap the barium nitrate for strontium nitrate.
I have noticed in posts above questions and answers about binders. In most cases if the comp has 4% or more dextrin binding with water or water with alcohol is best. Adding alcohol will make it dry faster and in the case of comps containing red gum it might even help it bind alittle better, also when it comes to high in charcoal stars like tiger tail it’ll help the water actually penatrate and wet the comp. For stars containing red gum with no dextrin, or sgrs I have best luck using strait denatured alcohol. For strobe stars and others containing magnesium or ammonium perchlorate I use 1.5 ounces of cellulose acetate desolved in a quart of acetone.
Burt
[Reply]
JJ Reply:
October 8th, 2011 at 3:37 PM
for klumac comp? what prime should i use? other question? for those comp, it has magnalium. i was told dnt use water bec it attack the maganalium but it has dextrin so water alc is ok? please reply i really need this information. thank u aloha
[Reply]
Burton Reply:
October 8th, 2011 at 6:04 PM
Water is fine to use with magnalium. It’s magnesium you can’t use water with and have to coat it. These days magnesium isn’t used nearly as much. Strobe stars are about the only thing I use magnesium in. Magnalium has replaced magnesium in quite a few star comps because it doesn’t oxide really easy the way magnesium does.
The way I prime this comp is using a hot prime, then black powder over that. The hot prime I use denatured alcohol to roll it with since it contains red gum and no dextrin. The prime comp is:
potassium perchlorate 65%
barium nitrate 10%
red gum 8 %
aluminum ground 40-100 mesh 7% (sold by firefox use whatever similar you have)
airfloat 6%
red iron oxide 4%
boric acid 1%
This is the way I’ve been priming them and have had no ignition problems. I haven’t tried priming with just plain bp and no hot prime, but that could work only one way to find out. All my burst is bp on rice hulls coated 5:1 in shells from 3″ to 6″ with just a touch of 70/30 flash added. For 8″ and 10″ shells I use bp coated on cotton seed 1:1 no flash added. These stars primes like this with these burst charges have worked great for me, hope they do well for you too. Let me know if you need to know something else.
Burt
[Reply]
jj Reply:
October 13th, 2011 at 2:27 AM
hey burt thanks for yur reply and yur information. gona try these star comp soon waititng on some chemicals come in. here how i do my 3-4” plastic shell. 3-1 bp to rice hull with 5-6 grams whistle mix. got huge breaks. never did 6” shells yet but gona try it for new years. well thank u again iam sure u will hear from me soon with more question if u dont mind. thank u aloha
[Reply]
Burton Reply:
October 13th, 2011 at 10:38 PM
I’ve never tried using whistle mix as a boster. Once I got the 70/30 flash dialed in I pretty much stuck with that. I have tried whistle mix coated 5: 1 on hulls in a 6″ shell. It really broke the shell too hard and alot of the stars didn’t light. I find 6″ plastic shells to be about the easiest shell to make and have perform great everytime. It seems I can throw about any tipe of star in a 6″ shell, fill it up with 5:1 bp coated rice hulls and it’ll work perfect everytime. If I want a harder break I add alittle flash, but the 6″ shells hold enough burst so I don’t really have to add flash unless I want a really hard break. Another thing great about 6s is that there big enough to use a 3″ shell to make a pretty good inner petal.
I’m pretty sure you’ll like those stars if you like real deep bright colors. It always sucks when having to wait on supplies. I was at a stand still for about 3 weeks while waiting for my drum of perchlorate, bag of airfloat, bag of dextrin, 22# of parlon, and copper oxide. It might be alot cheaper to buy in bulk, but it has the disadvantage of taking longer to get to you alot of times. For something that’s a hobby for me it’s kinda gotten out of control.
Burt
[Reply]
looks good without chlorate but my best and easiest to produce green so far is
Barium Chlorate 75
Red Gum 10
Dextrin 3
Water bound cut stars
but once again it is Chlorate
[Reply]
I willl certainly give it a try, What is the solvent?
I love the rubber stars that use acetone. I made a set of tools
on the lathe for the rubber stars that I use to pump rocket headings
out with. The headings are just big stars or comets with pointed tips
and are fitted with a small piece of yellow visco in the bottom.
All the colors are great to good but the green being my least favorite.
Wife says its green to her but seems more yellow to me.
Thanks
Ben
[Reply]
Harry Gilliam Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 6:18 PM
Ben,
Altho Charlie never gave me the solvent, any time you see dextrin in a formula, you can count on it being water bound. Water and alcohol will work, too. I like your pumped rubber star. Watch for a new project using rubber star mix to make a rocket in a very similar fashion to what you are doing.
Harry
[Reply]
For the green, is the solvent 75% alcohol 25% water?
[Reply]
Dennis Reply:
September 28th, 2011 at 10:40 PM
Oops, I mean the other way around 75% water 25% alcohol?
[Reply]
Lonny Reply:
October 4th, 2011 at 11:33 PM
Dennis,
It’s got dextrin in it so i’m gonna go with water alcohol solvent
[Reply]
Harry Gilliam Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 6:15 PM
Dennis,
It’ll work with or without alcohol. Alcohol will speed up the dry time, tho.
Harry
[Reply]
Not so different but better ‘kick ass green’:
Barium nitrate 42
Potassium Perchlorate 20
Magnalium 12
Parlon (or Saran*) 18
Red Gum 8
SGRS 3
deeper green with magnalium
[Reply]
Harry Gilliam Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 6:14 PM
Charley, Charley, Charley,
You sit out there silent for years, and then wake up from the dead to one up me! (I would say something nasty about Charley one-upping me, but he is usually right on the money, except his occasional choices in mixing bowls. But I won’t say anything about that here… unless Charley wants to share his experiences.)
Seriously, thanks, Charley. I was hoping we’d see some good greens emerge from this conversation.
Harry
[Reply]
ia the yellow out of the Westech Manual? If so I can look and make sure if it is 15 or 1.5 for you. That is one of my favorite books on fireworks and it just so happens it is also available at Skylighter…
Maybe you can reply with a link to the book here Harry.
I have been looking for a decent blue, I am always trying new greens as it is my favorite color (not because of money either : p). So I am sure to give those two a try out before Spring… not fond of using Potassium Chlorate though. Prefer to use Perchlorate but you do what you must now and then…
[Reply]
Harry Gilliam Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 4:31 PM
We looked in Westech and could not find it. Beats me. Most of my memory beans have long since evaporated since I took those notes.
[Reply]
well, you know I will give these a try Harry. I will let you know how I do too.
[Reply]
Gary moore Reply:
October 1st, 2011 at 3:23 PM
What mesh is Aluminum Flake,please?
[Reply]
Lonny Reply:
October 4th, 2011 at 11:39 PM
Don’t know, I have a pound of bright aluminum flake and it’s 325 mesh. Otherwise known as “TIN MAN” stuff is horrid to work with no matter what you do you will have a shiney chrome coat on you before your done.
[Reply]
Harry Gilliam Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 4:30 PM
325 mesh or smaller
[Reply]
Lonny Reply:
November 2nd, 2011 at 11:31 AM
hey Harry,
ever make any smoke stars?
[Reply]
bob Reply:
November 5th, 2011 at 4:40 PM
I don’t no if this would work for smoke stars but I think it would
50 grams salt peter and 50 grams sugar put it on the stove at about mediam stiring all the time until it is like thin honey then ad 10cc of baking soda stir it well and push it through a 4 mesh screen let dry 1 hour
this will make a small amount of flame and a tone of smoke
hope this works bob
[Reply]