75 parts potassium nitrate
15 parts charcoal
10 parts sulfur
10 parts yellow dextrin
All of these should be finely powdered.  Mix thoroughly

Stir in enough water to make a slurry, about the consistency of Elmer's glue

Moisten thin cotton string with water in which some potassium nitrate has been dissolved, one level tablespoon per cup of water should do.

Run the string through the slurry so that it gets well-coated with the black powder mix.  My favorite technique is to thread the string through a straw, insert the straw into the slurry, and pull the string through the straw.

Lay the string on an impervious surface and allow it to dry.

Black match burns much like a fuse, but cannot be relied upon to burn through a compressed juncture, such as the crimp of a firecracker.

Visco fuse is essentially black match which is reinforced with a woven covering of fine threads, then painted with nitrocellulose lacquer.

Quickmatch is black match in a thin, loose-fitting paper tube.  It is used for conveying flame in large set-pieces, as the flame shoots through it at surprising speed, reportedly over 100 feet per second.

I have sometimes used quickmatch for rocket engine ignition.  It is run from the nozzle all the way to the head-end, allowing me to place the electric ignitor at the nozzle, yet ignite the head end almost instantly.

Jimmy Yawn
jyawn@sfcc.net
8/27/01