1 Basic history

1.1 The past to the present

I've been working with fireworks as early as 1990 when I was only 6 or 7 years old under close supervision of my parents. Every year on July 4 (Independence Day in the US), we get fireworks. Almost every year, no more than $25 could be spent so only little stuff could be bought like bottle rockets, firecrackers, smoke balls, and this sort of thing. Some years were a little higher while others were a little lower (based on today's prices).

As I grew older, I got into a little bit bigger stuff starting with artillery shells in 2003 as my first big ones. I gained an interest in it after reading an article on HowStuffWorks about fireworks. They were the first of the bigger stuff. It was only until 2005 that I got into the really big stuff and 2006 was otherwise almost the same. I still get the small stuff though.

It was only until around January or February of 2005 that I really focused toward saving up for fireworks. Unlike all other years before it, where maybe $40 was the highest, I had about $100 worth in 2005 and almost $200 worth (a big chunk as freebies though) in 2006, of which the bill was only $120. Given how much fun I have with them and how much I like them, it's definitely worth it.

The only year where I didn't light fireworks on July 4 was during the millenium changeover in 2000 (of which the millenium actually starts on 2001 given that there is no such thing as year 0). It was winter and otherwise very cold out with snow on the ground. This was the only time I lit fireworks outside of July 4, but I otherwise had very few.

1.2 The future

I'm likely to do the same a few times in the future, spending $100 worth. Next year, it'll very likely be much the same, but with the good photos I got in 2006, I'm likely to get more artillery shells for good photos.

2 The process I use

With blogs and things so common nowadays, I thought I'd share how I work with fireworks. There's not much to it either. For the photos, clicking on some of them will bring up the higher resolution photo. Not all photos have a high resolution version available.

2.1 Obtaining the fireworks

The first thing I do is, of course, buy the fireworks, of which I don't have any available photos of for this. Unlike the years before 2004, I went earlier because there's a bigger selection available without "not in stock" or "low stock" cases. From 2004 onward, I went a few days earlier, generally around July 2.

You can legally buy fireworks in my area, but, they cannot be brought to an area within the city limits (that is, no going to the grocery store with them). I had a close call this year because there were several burn bans around (due to a drought), but my area lucked out.

I then store the fireworks in an enclosed, dry area and leave them there until the day I start lighting them. Before storing them, I got a photo showing the various fireworks I had for 2006 grouped up:

Fireworks 2006 - the collection top view

Fireworks 2006 - the collection side view

You may notice a very big one in there (and you might recognize it from my July 2005 blog). To date, it is the the largest and most expensive firework I've ever used and that's just one single firework which is pretty much a 39-consecutive-shot artillery shell! Here's two photos showing a close-up of this firework (and the interesting notice on it):

2.2 Preparing to light them

2.2.1 Unpacking them

When July 4 comes, before I even start lighting fireworks, I unpack them, taking them out of the packaging and placing them in a container that I can more easily move around. Because I dislike cleaning up, I discovered that, if I unpacked everything while inside, the wrappers would get piled up in one area without the wind blowing them around in any way. When I clean it up, it takes but less than a half minute. If I did it outside, I'd be wasting time unwrapping them using up valuable lighting time and with the wind blowing them around, it's an even bigger pain to deal with. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the wrappers and things, but, to help comprehend how much in wrappers I had when finally done, they'd, uncompressed, take up about 1 1/4 cubic feet of space.

2.2.2 Setting up the launch base

Some fireworks, like the smoke balls, firecrackers, and the big one, don't require a launch base system. Things like bottle rockets and roman candles, however, do require it so that's the first thing I need to do once outside - set up the launch base. Prior to setting up the launch base, I got this photo showing where I keep the fireworks.

As you can see in this photo, of which has a high resolution version available, the cardboard box far away from the road stores the unused fireworks, or those that aren't going to be used soon. The two drink boxes contain some bigger fireworks and is also where I keep the fireworks that are almost ready to be used. The launching area is only about 5 feet from the road and even further out. It's, in the photo, just barely in the lit area.

I then take some big rocks that are usually flat and lay them so that they are near a 70° angle. I use one smaller rock so that I can seat a bottle rocket into so I get this approximate launch angle. The fourth rock is used to prevent the firework from going off the side. Here are some photos showing the launch base, neither of which have high resolution photos (as they were a bit blurry):

Fireworks 2006 - the launch base side view

Fireworks 2006 - the launch base side view

Fireworks 2006 - the launch base top view

2.2.3 Lighting the punk and fireworks

Before I can even start lighting fireworks, I need to light the punk. This photo shows how the punk gets lit. The punks are the objects on the bottom part of the photos showing the group of fireworks in section 2.1 above. It was rather tricky getting this photo to come out so I took the best-looking one of 3.

With the punk now lit, I can now start lighting fireworks. To do so, I make the hot part of the punk touch the tip of the fuse on the firework to be launched and when the fuse starts emitting sparks, it's lit and when it's lit, I get back and quickly. This photo explains it better:

See that little greenish-colored thing sticking out of the firework, one of the bottle rockets? The thing to the right of it in the photo is the punk. See the hot area of the punk? All I need to do to light it is make this hot part touch the tip of the fuse, the part of the fuse at the lowest point on the photo. I especially liked the clearity of the rock behind it so I use a higher quality JPG for the high res version than normal as it was so clear and nice-looking.

I then just keep repeating the process for each firework, even the big ones.

3 Photo gallery

	Extremely major event / Very good day
	Extremely major event / Very good day
	Major event / Good day


	Somewhat major event / Somewhat good day


	Normal event / Average day


	Somewhat minor event / Somewhat bad day


	Minor event / Bad day


	Extremely minor event / Very bad day
	Extremely minor event / Very bad day

Footnotes:
None