what do you use for your cores

[TitaniumsalTDI]

just curious to see what everyone out there uses for cores if your rolling your own stars? and any good ideas for a roller. I use rice it seems to work good so far but its a pain by hand with an old coffee can

[St1dinoh]

try using primers ;)

[BJV1]

try using primers ;)

Pistol primers do work for cores for round stars. It gives a crackling effect.
I have used #8 lead shot for years as cores, they work great.
BJV1

[Ralph]

I use mustard seed or small star crumbs. I recommend against polluting the environment with lead

[whitepyro]

i use chick peas.they do the job.just store the chickpeas up high in a container because rats ate all mine

[SITHADMIRAL]

You can always try cut stars, you don't need cores for them, some say they ignite easier because of the corners.

[californiapyro]

I like to use very small cut stars, to give a sort of flash effect when the stars are almost done burning.

[PyroCreationZ]

I still haven't finished my starroller but what I have in stock to use as cores is rapeseed.
Very small round balls, ideal for cores!

http://www.fooducate.com/blog/wp-content/media/rape_seed.jpg

[pyros]

Hey! We use rapeseed too, since many years. Works really good. But on several mixtures just spraying water in the drum to get the stars rolling works good too, making coreless stars

[PyroCreationZ]

Hey! We use rapeseed too, since many years. Works really good. But on several mixtures just spraying water in the drum to get the stars rolling works good too, making coreless stars

Doesn't the comp just stick to the drum then??
Sorry, but I can hardly imagine this is a good method. I think pressing wet comp through a screen above the drum is better for making coreless stars (especially dragon eggs).

The rapeseed is also very cheap!
I pay $0,70 / kilo (1000g)

/offtopic
Why can't we edit posts?

EDIT: Just noticed posts can only be editted for a short time...

[Ralph]

Doesn't the comp just stick to the drum then??
Sorry, but I can hardly imagine this is a good method. I think pressing wet comp through a screen above the drum is better for making coreless stars (especially dragon eggs).

The rapeseed is also very cheap!
I pay $0,70 / kilo (1000g)

/offtopic
Why can't we edit posts?

EDIT: Just noticed posts can only be editted for a short time...

No some comps are fine to just add a couple sprays of water and cores form generally these compositions don't clump much and will often contain large particle size metals or charcoal

[whitepyro]

awkward moment when the shop owner looks at a 15yr old buying 2kg of chickpeas haha

[pyros]

Hello!

No, it works really fine with most compositions we use. There is no clumping. You have to "train" for that a bit of course, adjusting the level of water and how fine or coarse you get your water droplets. Granulating with screens works nice though when you are doing micro stars, for pressed comets or such, like strobe.

[PyroJoeNEPA]

7172

I've been using birdseed for years. It works great. You do have to pick out the sunflower seeds & pieces of cracked corn.

[arial-shellz-R-US]

I'v tried a couple different things I'll tell you how they did, I tried round plantfood which worked pretty well. I tried copper bb's once but the were to big and didn't stick. I tried mustard seed which works well. where can I get lead shot?