Author Topic: quickmatch ( quill) expermients (Read 916 times)

Rickk · « **on:** March 30, 2006, 02:23:28 PM »

as Santa Dave plays with his slow match, I am still working on a quill recipie.

Nothing new... just a compilation of ideas found on the net, but the total sum seems to work nice so far. I have some finishing touches to work out, but here is what I found. Again, not all my idea... just stuff I found on the net and tied together.

The post-it paper seems a lota work, and I did already get this lifetime supply of paper straws, so they had to be part of the equation...

I mixed up a mixture of 5% dextrin and 95% black powder (about 1000 grains total). It doesn't matter what granulation you use. I desolved it in 25% isopropol Alchohol and 75% hot water... enough to make it a somewhat wet, goopy paste.

I put the stuff in a plastic bottle... about 6 ounces or so size probably... not sure.... doesn't really matter.

I drilled a 1/8 inch hole in the bottle cap and deburred it with an xacto knife.

Then I dropped about 3 feet of 3 strand cotton string that was about .090 or so diameter into the plastic bottle. I threaded the string up thru the hole in the cap and scred the cap on it.

I shook the bottle around a bit to saturate the string and then I slide the string up thru the hole. The black goop saturated the string nicely and the hole sized it perfectly.

I tied one end of the string to a nail in a basement floor joist and weighted the other end with a closepin and let it dry overnight.

When lit as is, it burns like a fuse.

When inserted into a .180 diamter paper straw, when it hits the straw it burns unbelievably fast, and blows some of the fuse out the other end... a perfect thing to happen.

The next experiement in the works is to see if I can use the BP paste to glue the fuse inside the straw so it won't fall out. I am going to goop a bit on each end to hold it in place. The goop on the bottom end should be blown clear and into the main powder charge.

I'll update with more details as I get them, and post a few pictures if succesfull as well.

O ya... don't try more than about 3 feet of string at a time as it tangles and gets messy.

Also, Dextrin: take some corn starch (baking supply isle of grocery store) and put it in a glass baking pan. Put the pan in an oven at 400 degrees F for 1.5 hours. It will convert from startch to dextrin. Dextrin is really stick when wet (postage stamp glue). It holds the BP together when it coats the string. If you do a 1 # box at once you will have a million year supply of Dextrin.

GGaskill · « **Reply #1 on:** March 30, 2006, 02:49:48 PM »

Maybe try to coat the inside of the straw and forget the string in the final product?

Rickk · « **Reply #2 on:** March 30, 2006, 03:12:30 PM »

I don't have a clue how to coat the inside...at least not neatly. The string was really easy to coat.

I just gooped up both ends of the string/straw assembly with some of the BP paste to hold the string in place... waiting for it to dry. The end that goes into the charge is really thickly coated, so it should really throw a hot flaming ball-o-fire.

I'll try them tomorrow... but it looks promising.

As a side note, I wandered upstairs and headed for the nice, clean bathroom sink with black crud all over my hands and got the evil eye from my wife. I reassured her by saying that it was not grease all over my hands (as is normal), but just gunpowder. Didn't get any reaction to that one.. guess she didn't quite know how to respond to that :-)

Evil Dog · « **Reply #3 on:** March 30, 2006, 03:41:03 PM »

Rickk..... the paper straw quills that I have seen were done very simply. Pour some 4F out on a piece of paper and pick it up with some 3/8" wide scotch tape. The now powder coated scotch tape is now rolled and inserted into the paper straw with approximately 3/8" left hanging out one end. In use, the exposed 3/8" is folded open giving the linstock a larger area to hit. Seemed to work quite well.

GGaskill · « **Reply #4 on:** March 30, 2006, 06:49:34 PM »

I would think drawing the goopy string through the straw would put enough coating inside to work.

Rickk · « **Reply #5 on:** March 31, 2006, 12:27:15 AM »

once it's on the string, it's nice to just let it dry and let the goopyness part end. Since the string is three strand cotton, the powder is not going to fall off very easily either. When it dries you wind up with these stiff 1/8 inch thick black "sticks" that are really easy to work with.

The nice thing about the string is that you can get a whole bunch of powder on it, and have some excess string hanging out the end. The excess becomes a huge flaming fireball that gets blown out the bottom under the pressure of the high speed burn. It is a pretty cool looking thing when it gets set off.

I'll have to try to get a short video of it.

Double D · « **Reply #6 on:** March 31, 2006, 04:08:10 AM »

So it burns like a very fast fuse huh? It's not instantaneous like the cellophane tape/

Rickk · « **Reply #7 on:** March 31, 2006, 05:50:43 AM »

Outside of a tube it burns like a fuse. When inserted into a .200 paper straw it is almost instantaneous. It actually sounds like a small explosion.

jeeper1 · « **Reply #8 on:** March 31, 2006, 07:18:55 AM »

Question, What would happen if the straw was totally filled with the wet mixture?
I presume that you are familiar with United Nuclears web site and this page in particular.
http://www.unitednuclear.com/quickmatch.htm

Powder keg · « **Reply #9 on:** March 31, 2006, 10:38:31 AM »

This might be to simple, But have you tried to just Glue it into the straw? It shouldn't take much glue to keep it from falling out of the straw. Please keep us posted on this. I might make some. I've got the straws already.

Later, Wes

Rickk · « **Reply #10 on:** March 31, 2006, 11:42:42 AM »

PowderKeg ... In effect, I AM gluing it into the straw... Just that the glue is made from BP/Dextrin mixture and highly flamable, which is very desirable. I lit one off this morning in the wood stove and it worked very good.

jeeper1... if the entire straw is filled with solid BP, rather than a coated string, it will burn slowly like a standard time fuse. The open air between the saturated string and the straw makes a place for the flame to be forced, and the burn rate is highly accelerated. The travel thru the straw covered section is almost instananeous.

For what it is worth, this thing was really easy to make. I made several, and they came out very consistant without any headaches. It is a bit messy coating the string... you will probably get black powder "mud" all over your hands if you make lots of feet of quickmatch. Other than that it was really painless.

A.Roads · « **Reply #11 on:** March 31, 2006, 02:52:44 PM »

I just get a piece of wire, smear it with PVA wood glue, put it into the straw, which coats the inside straw walls thinly with glue, & then pour some 4F powder thru, enough powder adheres to the inside so that , when dry, it goes off without any delay. I find this very quick, simple & not messy at all. Adrian.

Double D · « **Reply #12 on:** March 31, 2006, 05:21:19 PM »

Here's a thought based on my experience as a gunsmith repairing cracked gunstocks, unproven and modified from Adrian's idea. One of you guys might try it and report back on how it works.

Use the fine tip small wood glue bottle and prick a hole in the end of the tip with a needle or pin so a very fine stream of glue comes out. Fill one end of the straw with about an inch of glue. Get a can of air like what is used to clean computers and blow the glue. Hold the straw over the trash can when you blow the glue through.

Now pour the 4F through.

OOPs, mistake, I am in South Africa now, that's fill the straw with about 2.5 cm of glue, sorry.