! ! \! / -------------------------------------------------\- / / I G N I T E R S --- + * + --- -------------------------------------------------/- \ \ The Explosives Files II /! \ / ! \ by Flash Point ! (c) 1983, 1984 The Agency; Prism Industries Call The Agency (818) 794 - 8916 10 meg soon (I hope). These files may not be changed at all when posted on other systems. Please do not delete any of the credits. These files may be posted on other systems with the permission of The Agency. A small but major part of any explosive is how to ignite it. Some materials, like gunpowder, will ignite quickly when in contact with flame. But some explosives will not light by just a flame and hence they require some thing with some more power, maybe even another explosive. What follows is a list of your basic igniters. BLACK MATCH Black match is made with fine, soft cotton twine and meal powder. It is easily made by twisting 3 or 4 strands of the twine together and covering the resulting cord with a paste made by mixing the meal powder with water. The excess paste should be wiped off and the cord should be allowed to dry while stretched across a frame. A slower match can be made by twisting the twine and using a homemade black powder as the paste. This powder is made by mixing 6 parts Potassium nitrate, 1 part sulfur, and 1 part soft wood charcoal. This match and slight derivations are used on nearly ever firework available. Its cheap, reliable if made right, and easy. QUICK MATCH Quick match is black match inserted into a paper tube which does not need to fit tightly. When light, the black match burns through the tube at a extremely quick rate. MINER'S FUSE Miner's Fuse is also called Safety Fuse or Bickford Fuse. It consists of a central thread surrounded by a core of black powder enclosed within a tube of woven threads, which is then surrounded by waterproof materials, etc. It commonly burns at the rate of 1 foot a minute. When the fire reaches the end, a jet of flame about 1 inch long shoots out for the purpose of igniting black powder or lighting a blasting cap. DETONATING FUSE Detonating Fuse, or Cordeau, is a narrow tube filled with high explosive. When the explosion is initiated at one end by a detonator, the explosion travels along the tube with a high velocity which causes other high explosives in its path to explode. In America, cordeau is made from lead tubes filled with TNT, from aluminum or tin tubes filled with Picric Acid, and from tubes of woven fabric filled with Nitrocellulose or PETN ( yes, thats Pentaerythrite Tetranitrate ). BLASTING CAPS Instead of making a whole seperate file out of blasting caps, my first intention, I will just put the stuff here. Blasting caps were invented in 1867 by Alfred Nobel, who also first made Nitroglycerin, invented dynamite and blasting gelatin, and provided funding to start the Nobel prizes. What a cool dude. There exist 3 different kinds of blasting caps, varying from a simple fuse wrapped by explosive to a complicated waterproof cap involving an electrical detonation. There are also 8 grades, or strengths of caps, denoted by numbers ( No. 1, No. 6, etc. ). Usually the strength is marked on the cap. SIDENOTE : Electrically ignited caps are the most common type available. If you live anywhere near a quarry, try to get a tour of the place. Watch wherever you walk. blasting caps abound in areas like this. When nobodys looking, pocket a few. What follows is a generally useless chart, but here it is anyway. It shows a little about the strengths of each cap type ( see another file about mercury fulminate ). Weight of Mercury External Fulminate Dimensions ::::::::::::: :::::::::::::: grams diameter,mm length,mm ::::: ::::::::::: ::::::::: No. 1 .30 5.5 16 No. 2 .40 5.5 22 No. 3 .54 5.5 26 No. 4 .65 6 28 No. 5 .80 6 30-32 No. 6 1.00 6 35 No. 7 1.50 6 40-45 No. 8 2.00 6-7 50-55 Make sure you check out the next 3 files which are probably the best ones out of the whole group. !>Flash Point