Sticky Match

[displayfireworks1]

As I was making a video about Pyrojoe and his recommendation to use Dime wrappers to connect Quick Match I found some Sticky Match. It got me thinking, you just don't hear much about sticky match lately. I made this video for the forums.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUCSAWAfY7I
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_INF3Qbp85E

[PyroJoeNEPA]

Dave Al at FireArt stocks the sticky match in both the fast and medium speeds. There was a time about two years ago when it was almost impossible to get--I think it had something to do with the manufacturer discontinuing it and then a time lag until someone else came up with a source for it. Al might know better the back story on that. I believe it is made by Precocious in MN.
I have only used the fast speed but have seen some lance work done with the medium speed and it looked great. I am going to pick up some of both from Al in Dec & I will send you a close up pic of both pieces to compare them. My initial guess is that the granule size of the powder is finer in the faster speed compared to the medium. Smaller grains would burn faster since there is less air space between the grains.
The Quick Match burns so fast because of the gas created in the paper sleeve. You have shown Albert's [LBS] method of slowing or delaying quick match by tying knots in the sleeve--basically you are restricting the flow of the gases released from the black match burning in the sleeve. For some reason this works well with the paper sleeve quick match but not so good with the waterproof plastic coated quick match. We did a bunch of burn tests at a CrackerJacks shoot last winter comparing different types of quick match & different methods of choking [string clove hitch, zip ties, folding over in a loop, etc] and basically came up with the conclusion that paper works and plastic doesn't.
Quick Match can be slowed down some by cutting small slits in the jacket with a razor blade knife--but the down side is that it weakens the run of match and very likely will blow it apart where the slits are. I did try it with some foil duct tape on the back side of where the slits were and it held it together--but I don't see any practical application for it--just an "I don't have anything better to do" experiment.
Also--if you look back at my "Watermelon Deconstruction" video you will see I used sticky match to light the string of ground bombs--quick match would have been too fast for the effect I wanted.

[Fire Art]

Thanks for the props Joe. We do have both the medium and fast versions of sticky match and they are categorized as 1.4, something that the manufacturer (Precocious Pyrotechnics) was able to accomplish.

[ilovecrackle]

I got some sticky match many years ago. Way back before i really got to where I am now in the hobby.
I didn't really know how to use it so just put it in storage and forgot about it till last year. I ended up giving it away to a buddy and he used it to make an American flag set piece with it. I'm not sure how he did it but he said it worked great.

[Champak]

I watched all your videos admin especially the one when you were offering fire crackers to Halloween costumed children.I liked it very much.

[PyroJoeNEPA]

Well, I got some Sticky Match from Al at FireArt...both Medium & Fast types. I have to say that I was surprised when I looked at them side by side. I was expecting to see a difference in granule size of the black powder--but I was wrong. Same size powder in both--very fine--looks like a 7FA fuse powder. The difference between the two was the AMOUNT of powder. The fast sticky match has twice as much black powder as the medium speed. I guess the greater amount of powder gives it a hotter burn rate--thus a faster speed. http://www.pyrotalk.com/bulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=1704&stc=1
Fuse on the left is Medium Speed. Fuse on the right is Fast Speed.
http://www.pyrotalk.com/bulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=1705&stc=1http://www.pyrotalk.com/bulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=1706&stc=1http://www.pyrotalk.com/bulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=1707&stc=1
When it gets warmer out I will cut a couple feet off of each roll & ignite them at the same time to see what the difference in burn rate is. Right now it is TOO COLD here in PA for these old bones to do outside pyro experiments!!!
---To be continued------

[displayfireworks1]

Joe is that white thing a thread? It looks untreated or is it treated with black powder? The original Sticky Match did not have that thread.

[PyroJoeNEPA]

Joe is that white thing a thread? It looks untreated or is it treated with black powder? The original Sticky Match did not have that thread.

Yes Dave--it is a piece of thread--it appears to be untreated.