Homemade Senko Hanabi Sparklers

[41Zman]

i was able to buy some commercially made ones. ive found you need a really steady hand for these to work right

[AkaiVash]

i just saw these in Yankee-Kun & Megane-Chan and thought.. what the hell is the bulb on the end... and now i know.

[2Lazy2ThinkOfSomthin]

I have made these before with a somewhat reliable success rate and I have found that extremely fine hardwood charcoal works well for longer sparks. Hope I help, cheers.

[joetjoebfred]

Check out the senko's I made by searching on this site for 'gemini senko hanabi'. I was able to make this standardized device work 5 times in a row! And with pine-soot sparks!

Pyrotechnical Greets,

Frederick

[busyhands94]

i made some today!

[Vr6godlike]

wau :) thatˇs nice

[nightcreep20]

u should put some smaller ones in a shell

[MrStein10]

how do you make thoese

[Nighthawkinlight]

A guide is on my to do list for the somewhat near future..

[emitman85]

@Nighthawkinlight

exactly how far in the future?

[Nighthawkinlight]

@emitman85 Further than I intended. I have experimented many times with these and am yet to find a way to make them simple enough to make a tutorial.

[Heliman96]

@Nighthawkinlight 2years later.. Is there a tutorial yet? Please reply

[Nighthawkinlight]

@Heliman96 No, I've forgotten about them. I put weeks of work into trying to make them consistent enough for a video and never figured it out. I may try again in the coming months.

[ChemXu]

Ok....

I am failing at my sparklers. I followed the recipe on your website, and when i tried to burn it, it burned rather odd. It bubbled and then burst into sparks. So, i took a small strip of a napkin, and made a line of the composition. It burst into flames and just burned away. But when it finished burning, thats when the little ember ball formed.

[ChemXu]

So then, i tried many times to place an amount of composition on a piece of napkin, and then, left a little blank spot and then added more composition. This way, it would burst into flames, go out, form the slag ball, and then react with the remaining composition.i tried this many times, and failed. everytime i tried to modify it a bit, but it still wont work. any tips?

[Nighthawkinlight]

The ratio needs to be tinkered with over and over again to get it right for the exact chemicals you are using. For me, I had to often let the composition burn, then blow on the remaining red core for the ball to form. I plan on doing many more experiments and refining the ratio for an upcoming video.

[ChemXu]

Alright, thanks! I look foward to the video.

[japanesepoptart]

@Nighthawkinlight

I actually read that they are much more reliable when using realgar, but who wants to risk their health to make and burn a few sparklers?!? I mean, If it were an ariel shell, that's one thing... but I'd rather not risk my lungs to arsenic poisoning just to see a few sparks. Still, I read that when they DO work perfectly, They are reguarded as one of the most beautiful sparklers in the world...

[marine12320backup]

I don't know what i am doing wrong. I take a small piece of normal facial tissue, insert the composition as described in the skylighter newsletter, and when i light it, it goes "whoooosh" and then its done. I tried changing the composition a bit and i also tried changing the amount of composition i use in each sparkler, but i still cant get it right! Could someone please help me?

[Nighthawkinlight]

Both the composition and the design are very hard to get right. I changed the composition shown in the Skylighter newsletter more than 100 times before it worked for me. I used MUCH more sulfur than the original. Nearly to the point where it wouldn't burn. If I remember correctly I also added a pinch of sodium bicarbonate to slow the burn. A tutorial for sparklers is on my to do list, I may throw in one about senko hanabi's as well.

[marine12320backup]

Ok, i'll try adding more sulfur and adding a tiny bit of NaHCO3. Thanks for all of your help!

[MadBassist1432]

I read about these in Shimizu's book too--very interesting art form. Nice to finally see one in action (even if it isn't performing as you want.)

[Nighthawkinlight]

Yes I quite like these. Though I never took the time to make them as reliable as I would like, I have had more spectacular results than any others I have seen.

[MadBassist1432]

Very, very cool!

[TheUnforgivn17]

What ratios did you use for this? Is there a website that tells what i need to make them?

[Nighthawkinlight]

Look in the Skylighter newsletter archive.

[pyrogeniuses]

nnuuuuurrrr,i tried it and came up with a pretty bad result,for one i put in way to much composition making the glob always fall off,for two,i made my own sort of design and replaced those pops and strems at the end with all charcoal composition

[Nighthawkinlight]

Sulfur is a crucial part of the reaction.

[pyrogeniuses]

i meant the compoistion wasnt normal,it had sulfur in it,what i meant by "all charcoal"was that it was all charcoal sparks,if you see what i mean,i will place it up in a coupla minutes

[Swervedriver71]

Gotta admit, those are pretty neat there Nighthawk. I was reading shimizu's book on how those work, interesting chemistry going on there. good job

[Nighthawkinlight]

I only vaguely remember the chemistry. Something to do with the charcoal reacting with what would be molten potassium sulfide? Thanks for your comment

[vess25]

hi night ! did you used the thick tolet paper for the rolling ?

[Nighthawkinlight]

No I use the paper from a party streamer. It is nice because it is fire retardant and the flames will not continue up it to burn your fingers.

[TTEREVE]

how do you make it?

[skaterboyyo]

What is the bigest shell or firework u ave ever made

[Nighthawkinlight]

My 5" sun and planets shells are about the largest I've made so far.

[TTEREVE]

can you make a tut on these?

[Nighthawkinlight]

You an find a good tutorial about these in the Skylighter newsletter archives.

[Jwdrummer5]

I tried these (video to come soon) but I also failed. (although each failure is a step to success) It seems that I did get a ball to form right away, but too much comp (or not enough) often made it fall off. I ended up with about twice as much Potassium Nitrate KNO3, and about 25% more Sulfur than the published amounts in Skylighter #100. I think my tissue paper may contribute too much C12 to the mix. I did not use soot however and my sparks were few. Still working on it though.

[gobidee]

wats the comp for thes?

[Nighthawkinlight]

The starting composition is found in skylighter newsletter 100 which can be found on their website.

[joetjoebfred]

KNO3 54 S 28 Soot 12 Charcoal 6

[pyrofun3]

great 5* always

[Nighthawkinlight]

Did yours form a ball and start sparking before burning all the way to the end? Mine always seem to burn all the way up and then the ball will form after all the fuel is spent.

[KooKooCow]

ratios plz

[nirvanafan833]

I think you are using too much mix-I read somewhere that the optimum amount is about 90 milligrams of mix in a sparkler, more than that and it will slow down, less than that and it will burn in bursts. nice job anyway, good luck

[Nighthawkinlight]

That could be, however I thought of that when testing and tried a great variety of amounts. This is the only amount I've had success with.

[heffyjustin1]

ya know i could use sometin like that for a delay fuse how u make it?

[Nighthawkinlight]

It does not work anything like a fuse so you are out of luck there. Try black match.

[heffyjustin1]

i know its not like a fuse but im jsut sayin it would be cool if u could figure out a way to use one as a delay(was also wondering if u used any magnesium to make this, IM askin cuz someone told me that u ned a lot of magnesium to make but i cant get any right now)

[Nighthawkinlight]

It is to fragile for a delay. No magnesium isn't used in these.

[heffyjustin1]

ok thanks for the info anyway

[theartilerysheller1]

did you use the sulfur based comp or the realgar based comp

[Nighthawkinlight]

Sulfur. Realgar is far to toxic and hard to come by to warrant it's use in a hand held device.

[sarahtvnm]

Wtg !!  those are a Bi@#& to make and you did a super job. Fact is most fireworks manafactures in China wont make them because they are so hard to make.

Earl

[Nighthawkinlight]

Thank you

[progamerxt]

you should make one with diffirent colors that would be cool xD..

[pyrogeniuses]

skylighter,cannonfuse,and pyrocreations are all good websites cept cannonfuse dosnt have instructions on things

[etshim0]

actually cannanfuse is one of my favourite informational sites. just click 'pyro info' near the top.

[pyrogeniuses]

your right thx

[Nighthawkinlight]

That is the composition I began working with.

[pyrogeniuses]

what would you say would be the hardest firework ever to make?

[Nighthawkinlight]

A large girandola.

[pyrogeniuses]

what?lol

[Nighthawkinlight]

It is a large spinning assembly made of rockets. Look it up on youtube.

[pyrogeniuses]

k thx lol

[noodle1289]

5/5 great video

[danvidio]

lol they look like over sized joints ROFL/ but the sparklers are cool

[poprocz]

Looks like the slightest breeze might take away the Senko Hanabi effect but you did achieve that molten drop of slag Harry talks about.

Very nicely done.

[Nighthawkinlight]

That bead is only achievable with my current composition when you blow on the thing for about 30 seconds to get it going. I've been working all night trying to perfect the formula to no success. A lot of hours down the drain. My current formula contains both its fair share of iron oxide and baking soda, both as an effort to slow the burn. I came close but still it's not near perfect. Tonight I have been attempting to attain the effect using only the original ingredients, but it seems hopeless.

[MaTTdeluca14]

They're pretty good sparklers even though you're not that happy with them. These are the sort of fireworks that take a long time to get right.

[kno3dude]

calm down with the challenges:)no no, im kidding, they look cool even when you say your not that happy with the comp

[Nighthawkinlight]

I will be making a few more attempts tonight. We'll see how it goes. Consistency is the problem.

[BackjardPyrotechnics]

Try this ratio:

22g BaNO3

3g aluminium powder, fine

9g Iron powder

2g Mg, powdered.

Then bind it with red gum.

I have had the same problem with the sparklers we made in school, I addded some more iron powder and Mg, to make the reaction more hot.*

The Result was a very very big sparkler, with very dense sparks

[Nighthawkinlight]

That misses the point of these sparklers. The way these work is only compatible with high sulfur content BP type compositions. It is not just an everyday sparkler.

[pyroboytodumax]

there supost to do that

[simonmic001]

lol look nice

[kcnkickthecat]

Nice one, I'll have to try those. 5*

[dezenogniet19842006]

No disapointment to me.

5*

[zink905]

nice man

[frogy1752]

Ya. My formula is wayyy off from the one Skylighter advertised.... Though I still follow the rule of using more sulfur and coarse charcoal... Mine aren't the greatest either. Yours look pretty damn good though. Nice job!

[Nighthawkinlight]

Thanks. Yeah I have done the same thing with the ratios. You have to remember how many I held up at the beginning of the video, and how many I showed...just the one. I also tried 5 or 6 more that I do not show, though a couple did work pretty well but the camera wasn't focused right.

I find I need to blow on them from the bottom up until the ball is fully formed, then they have a better chance of working.

[MonkeyDog500]

stick those in a shell it would look so cool

[Nighthawkinlight]

Yes it sure would, unfortunately they need to be perfectly still to work.

[MonkeyDog500]

aww man that sux