Herr Haber - 3-9-2019 at 04:18
Hey there,
Last Sunday I gave myself a good scare with a flash / illuminating composition.
After several days ballmilling almost 1kg of NaNO3 and drying it in the oven I began preparations to make some illuminating flares.
I dissolved incense (why ? because it's a resin and it smells good !) in IPA to bind the composition and began to think about ratios.
70% NaNO3 and 30% Mg sounded like a good starting composition since I would add more fuel(s) such as coarser Mg.
And there I was, NaNO3 bottle in hand, wondering what container to use and how much volume would 300 grams of Mg take.
I was stopped in my thoughts when I realized I was just about to mix 1 kilogram of flash composition.
What was I thinking ?
This gave me a good pause before finally proceeding to mix 10 grams of the composition. I was very surprised I did not think before of the nature of
the composition.
I used a chopstick for mixing, waited for the IPA to evaporate then lit the few miligrams on the tip of the chopstick.
As expected I was blinded for a few minutes that I spent wondering what could have happened.
Though no accident happened I was reminded that accidents usually happen when you become complacent.
j_sum1 - 3-9-2019 at 04:59
Close call.
So easy to overlook the properties of something you've gotten familiar with.
Thanks for the reminder.