making stars ( red gum)

[cds13]

Hi all

I would like to know if i can get away without using red gum in stars as i cant get that in my country or do i have to have it. can i use anything else?

Thank you for your help

[PyroJoeNEPA]

The Red Gum is a binding agent & it is used both in the Parlon based stars & most of the Shimzu formulations. It dissolves with alcohol--not having it or another binding agent will not hold your stars together. I am going to go out on a limb here & make a suggestion: Gum Arabic is a common binder used in many commercial applications such as making glue to repair book bindings. It is a water soluble binder. If you can get a small amount of that it might be worth a try--this is merely a totally "off the wall" guess since I have never tried it. But if you can't get the red gum you still have to have a binder in the mixture.
Red gum is made from the eucalyptus plant/tree and is not that odd of a chemical to get compared to some other things. I am surprised that of all the pyro chemicals--that one is difficult to find. Good luck & let us know how you make out.

[displayfireworks1]

I know most of the chemical suppliers in United States will not ship outside of the United States. I do not see this Red Gum as a particularly hazardous material for shipping purposes. Problem is shipping from United States to New Zealand is expensive. I shipped one of the pyrotalk hoodies there and it is very costly. Maybe someone in Australia can help you.
http://pastimepyrochemicals.com/itemimages/86.JPG
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F6aDfnirHTs/TdSQGL59DzI/AAAAAAAAAHE/iSkIdBJOVKg/s1600/world%2Bmap%2Btexas%2Bnew%2Bzealand.jpg

[Chris H]

Red gum is primarily an organic fuel. It's actually not a very good binder, at least compared with standard things like dextrin. You can probably get away with using shellac, rosin, phenolic resin, or maybe even some sugars. Using some of the sugars would be a huge stretch.

You might just want to get started using things like charcoal streamers and glitters which use no red gum. This will provide some entertainment and experience along the way while you try to find viable alternatives or a supplier.

[cds13]

Aluminium powder, bright flake 625 mesh
Ammonium Nitrate (Prilled)
Ammonium Perchlorate
Barium Carbonate
Barium Nitrate
Bismuth Trioxide
Black Copper Oxide
Magnalium Powder 200 mesh
Magnesium Ribbon - $5/m
Parlon 68% Chlorine content super fine powder Potassium Nitrate
Potassium Perchlorate
Potassium Permanganate
Red Iron Oxide
Sodium Benzoate (Prilled)
Strontium Carbonate
Strontium Nitrate
Sulfur
Titanium 80-100 mesh
Titanium 100-120 mesh
Zinc Powder
/m
Waterproof Visco fuse
Green Flying Fish fuse
Blue Falling Leaves fuse
Red Falling Leaves fuse
White Falling Leaves fuse

hi all thank you for the reply this is what i can get in new zealand its really costly to get chemicals i have been making fireworks for about 3 years now ive made charcoal stars all of that stuff just wanting to look into geting some reds greens and some other colours thanks for your help

[Pyrocity]

First, scratch the potassium permangante off your list. Trust me, you do NOT want to use that for ANYTHING!
That said, parlon is an excellent binder, it's partially soluable in acetone, more so in other organic solvents like xylol. A laquer thinner may be used also . Try some experimenting, but the suggestion on gum arabic is a good one. dextrim also has much been favored in the USA over the years and is still widely used. If you can get your hands on some phenolic resin, it is an extremely strong binder. Just 5% dissolved in ehanol is em=nough to make your stars rock hard. Good luck and happy experimentation !


Aluminium powder, bright flake 625 mesh
Ammonium Nitrate (Prilled)
Ammonium Perchlorate
Barium Carbonate
Barium Nitrate
Bismuth Trioxide
Black Copper Oxide
Magnalium Powder 200 mesh
Magnesium Ribbon - $5/m
Parlon 68% Chlorine content super fine powder Potassium Nitrate
Potassium Perchlorate
Potassium Permanganate
Red Iron Oxide
Sodium Benzoate (Prilled)
Strontium Carbonate
Strontium Nitrate
Sulfur
Titanium 80-100 mesh
Titanium 100-120 mesh
Zinc Powder
/m
Waterproof Visco fuse
Green Flying Fish fuse
Blue Falling Leaves fuse
Red Falling Leaves fuse
White Falling Leaves fuse

hi all thank you for the reply this is what i can get in new zealand its really costly to get chemicals i have been making fireworks for about 3 years now ive made charcoal stars all of that stuff just wanting to look into geting some reds greens and some other colours thanks for your help

[cds13]

Thanks for that i will be trying for sure

[PGH_Pyro]

magnalium ! boom ;)