How to make mines
by Sparky on July 8 , 2002.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Under no circumstances should you ever even pretend to almost think about doing anything in this document.

First of all, lets get one thing straight: this device has nothing to do with anything like a landmine. As a matter of fact, I don't know why these devices are called mines.

But anyway, they are an excellent beginner project for an amateur pyro. I would say they are about right above fountains in difficulty level. There are other sites on the net (notably Dan Williams' page and Practical Pyrotechnics) that tell about making mines, but this is the method that works well for me

A picture is worth a thousand words so lets start off with a diagram of a finished mine.


I'll give a description

  1. First, cut the cereal cardboard out. Make two or one disks depending on which method you will use to plug the end of the mine(keep reading for the methods). The disks must cover the hole end of the mine but they can hang over the edge of course.
  2. Next, plug the tube with a generous amount of clay. Make sure the plug is at least the height of the inside diameter of the tube. Then drill the fuse hole just above the clay plug.
  3. Put in the black powder lift charge. I don't know exactly how much you should put in but if you put in a proportional amount as in the diagram that should be lots.
  4. Put in the stars. Any kind of star (as far as I know) will work. Since you are probably just starting out and have the basic ingredients only here is a star that uses only charcoal, KNO3, sulfur and dextrin.:

    White comet #1
    Source: rec.pyrotechnics
    Comments:
    Preparation:
    Potassium nitrate.................................96
    Fine charcoal.....................................44
    Sulfur............................................15
    Dextrin...........................................10


    This formula is from the Practical Pyrotechnics formulae page. In that page there is also White Comet #2 that has the same ingredients but burns faster than White Comet #1. If you don't have a ball mill for the charcoal to make it fine then just get it as fine as you can with a coffee grinder. Don't put too many stars in the mine or they won't all light and the stars will have been wasted
  5. Now, once you have put the stars in there are two methods I have tried for plugging the end, both work well:
    a) Glue together two layers of cardboard and then glue that onto the end of the tube. The disks must be held down or the top one will curl up and not be properly glued to the bottom disk. I clamp it but I guess you could tape it down. This works well if you have a thick walled tube that gives lots of surface area to the disk to be glued to.
    b) Take one disk and duct tape it on to the end with at least three layers of tape. This works well for thin walled tubes or if you don't want to bother with glue and clamping.
  6. You could build a base for the mine but it is much easier to tape a stick to it. Bamboo skewers work well but any straight, pointy stick will do. Tape it to the side of the mine then when you are ready to use the mine, put in the fuse and stick it in the ground. Light and retire. If your mine does NOT go off then do NOT approach it for a long time. After at least 15 minutes you could dispose of it safely in a hole, then dump water on it. But lets be realistic, nobody want's to waste their mine so after a long wait you could maybe-almost-evenThoughYouShouldn't take out the fuse and fit another one. BUT I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS! You should of course keep the mine pointed in a safe direction at all times.
    Anecdote: I once had a mine where I thought the fuse went out. It went off about a minute after I thought it was dead. I was well away from it though.


You may want to set the mine off in an area where there is no fire hazard because I found that White Comet #1 has orange charcoal sparks that reach all the way to the ground. I don't know if White Comet #2 does the same thing.

There are old pyros,
and there are bold pyros,
but there are not very many
old, bold pyros.
-Author unknown

Back to the Spudding and Pyro page.