Utah fireworks have limits on how high the sparks can go and how big of a boom they can make (and no flying things allowed), so a little creativity helps. That should end up being about $1 every two seconds for three minutes.
We’ll actually be lighting it off a night early on the 3rd to cap a busy day with extended family visiting. It should attract a few neighbors too. Ever listened to Whistling Petes lit in a chain? Imagine a dozen whistles playing a 3rd octave note, all out of tune with each other and changing pitch over time. The interference patterns are astounding.
Want a couple Quarter Sticks to put in there?? You should probably place them away from everything else… They have a tendancy of blowing other stuff up with them… But they are… loud
My son has several different ways of using Piccolo Petes.
One involves crushing them at a particular place, lighting them on the ground and launching them like a ground level UNCONTROLLED cruise missle. After a short, irratic flight the things blow up.
Another idea is to empty several (dozen?) into a piece of capped PVC (2 inch x 4 inch) with one of the pete’s fuses. The police said they found pieces of the mail box over 250 feet away. Yeah, he got in trouble for that one.
Hey! They use Nitro Glycerine as an ingredient… TNT is the wussy version You could beat on TNT all day with a hammer and it won’t blow up. Nitro will blow if you sneaze on it. First you take some good quality pork fat, and render it like you’re going to make old fashioned soap. After the fat has sepperated scoop out the glycerine and place in a glass bowl and place that glass bowl in an even larger glass bowl filled with ice. Slowly stir in an even amount of Nitric Acid using a glass rod and… oh wait… gonna get myself in trouble. Here’s an easier one. Take an empty 20oz plastic soda bottle with the lable still on. Spoon in some crytal draino until all the little “feet” are full. Fill up the bottle with water until the water level is even with the top of the lable. Drop in a little bit of aluminum foil and screw the lid on tight. Give her a quik shake and toss the whole thing away from you… the further the better… Wait. The lye in the draino reacts with the water and foil and creates hydrogen gas I might have paid attention in Science class once or twice… (didn’t pay attention in spelling class when I was in elementry school though) That and a Bunch of Dumbass teenagers were doing it using glass jars and then standing around until it blew up… DUH!
WARNING DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME! THE PRECEDING INFORMATION WAS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THE AUTHOR OF WHICH CAN NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR YOU BEING A GOOFBALL AND TRYING
I remember one 4th when I was about 12. AT the time i was into Model Roketry. Well my uncle had a few 1/4 sticks ready to go. I just happened to have a D12-0 Model Rocket engine. So a few minutes later I Had constructed a fully functinal rocket equiped with a 1/4 stick. Well the problem happened to be the weight of a real 1/4 stick is slightly more than the thrust created by a D12 rocket engine can carry. So I used the “safe” rocketry measures and used the electronic ignition box. The rocket flew up for about 4 seconds, then it slowly started to arch out over the corn field and toward the new housing developement that had just been built. Well the 12 in D-12 means how long the engine burns- and the 0 means that it burns right to the top of the engine. These are made for double stage rockets where the first engine ignites the second engine by shooting a nice flame out of the top. Well back on topic the Rocket flew over the corn field and about 3 feet over the roof of one of those houses… flash…BOOOM…
all the lights in the house turned on…what the f### was that came echoing across the field… Oops. That was the last time we did that.
You’re in Utah? If you’re near Salt Lake, I feel like I should come
watch the explosion. If you’re far from Salt Lake, I feel like I will see
it anyway…
Each member in my family pitched in a $100 each for fireworks. We compete with other neighbors on who has the best fireworks, it’s absolutely nuts! We also rate our fireworks so we know which ones to get for the next year!!
That display looks great! Let me guess, you were either in demolitions in the military, or you have a small shack in Montana I’m not allowed to display or even talk about fireworks at my house anymore after the incident that shall be known as, “the great Bass Ale Roman Candle Roof on Fire” episode
It’s a great sight from my balcony in Windsor, looking across to Detroit and the northeastern suburbs to watch the fireworks light the night sky to the horizon on July 4th.
To all my friends north of the border… and south of the border in the United States, have a great weekend and better Fourth of July!
When I was about that age my brother was home on leave from the Air Force one 4th of July. He went out and spent a small fortune on fireworks, including some big rockets that were supposed to be tube launched like those you see at “professional” displays.
We lived on a corner, and there was a big empty field diagonally across the street from us. We went out in the field about midnight to set off the big fireworks. We didn’t have a tube to launch the rockets so we were standing them up on a mound of dirt. About the third or fourth one he lit got blown over by the wind just as the rocket lit. It shot right over our heads and out over the housing complex, skimming along just about horizontally until it got about four or five houses down from ours, whereupon it blew up with all its pretty fireballs. The fireballs showered down and bounced all over two or three yards, as well as the street. Lights came on all down the block. It was a great show, but we slunk quietly back to the house instead of claiming credit for it
I suppose if I get any fireworks I’ll wait till the last minute, when the
folks at the stands start getting desperate and mark them to five for
the price of one, or better. Heh heh, that tells you something about
just how much dealer mark-up there is, in the fireworks business. Of
course, anymore as often as not they’re fundraisers for youth groups,
police departments, fire departments, etc. I believe I saw one up for
the local police department, and I know the local fire department had
one.
Thanks MarkB and maybe someday I’ll really come to a chiff-a-thon.
We have restrictions here in Michigan too on what the common pyromaniac can use on the 4th. However if you live near the Indiana border you can usually find people with enough contraband to make up for it. I have never purchased fireworks yet I have always been with someone else who has.
We used to gather on the Mississippi River Levee to see the fireworks display there. (Fireworks are illegal in the city limits of Baton Rouge)
But I recall one memorable Fourth, my family decided to do their own front-yard display. All was well until one bottle rocket took a wrong turn, made the street light turn off just before it lit the top of one of our pine trees, and all in the view of a patrolling cop car.
I don’t think anything came of it, but we did stop the fireworks that night after that.
I’m not allowed to display or even talk about fireworks at my house anymore after the incident that shall be known as, “the great Bass Ale Roman Candle Roof on Fire” episode 