Lift and delay scoop
Roman candles are traditional fireworks, and fun to make and light. Its almost a mini fountain and then a flaming colored ball of fire is launched from the tube. Here I explain a 3/4" candle. I am making 1-1/4" candles for the 4th of July though. First roll yourself a tube 3/4" ID x 11-1/2" long. Ram a 3/4" clay plug at the bottom.
I make my stars 5/8" in diameter which fit very good after a coat of star prime. I use a syringe that was used for injecting flavoring into turkeys. It works very well. Just wet the star comp and press the end into the wet comp until you get the desired length of star, then eject it.
Now you should prepare you candle delay composition. This is made with:
KNO3 54%
airfloat and 50 mesh charcoal 30%
sulfur 8%
Meal powder 8%
This is then shaken together in a zip lock bag, mix it well for a few minutes. I have made myself a few scoops to make it easy to get the right amount of lift and delay into the tube. The only trick is, with the lift you need to make sure to add 3/4 of the scoop for the bottom star and add more and more for each star until you get to 1-1/2 scoops for the top star. The delay scoop always stays the same. The delay scoop is a simple 2-liter bottle cap glued to a stick, and the lift scoop is a tube I cut to size to hold exactly 1 gram of my fine 4F lift powder. Now get another rammer which has a flat bottom, your stars, lift and delay along with your scoops and funnel. Add the first scoop of lift, then a star and a scoop of delay powder, then take your ram and ram the powder down. I use only a few light blows of a 16 oz deadblow hammer, you don't need much. Then repeat until you have all your stars in, but leave at least 3 inches space in the top. Now you can add one final scoop of delay and ram it into the tube with a fuse. I get between 6 or 7 stars into each candle. Your all done, light it and enjoy.
Lift and delay scoop
Candle star pump, gives me 5/8" stars