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A CHARCOAL FOUNTIAN

MATERIALS:

1/2" dowel rod

Wooden base

Saw

Wood Glue

Kraft paper, or 1/2"ID

Paper tubes.

Non-sparking hammer

Clay, kitty litter works great.

Mortar&Pedestal, or equivalent

Grinding equipment

Weighing papers

Scale

1/4" drill bit

Window screen

Zip-Loc Bags

NewsPaper

Tape

~12" long wooden stick

Visco Fuse

Chemicals:

15g KNO3

3g Charcoal(fine)

3g Charcoal(course)

2g Sulfur

TOOL&TUBE MAKING:

To begin this project, you will need a 1/2" dowel rod. First cut off a 1/2" segment from the 1/2" dowel, and glue this to a piece of wood. This will act as a nipple to ram a clay plug against. Now, you will need to roll a casing from the kraft paper, if you don't have suitable tubes on hand. The casing must be rolled with 1/4" thick walls. Make sure that it is strong. This will help prevent tube burn-through, and a possible accident. When EVERYTHING is dry ( the tools, and the casing) you need to ram a clay plug. To do this, you place the tube over the 1/2" 'nipple' you made earlier. Get some kitty litter and powder it. You must powder it up really fine for it to stick correctly. You can do this with a M&P or by whacking it with a hammer. Pour a bit of clay into the tube then, you take your 1/2" dowel ( cut to a comfortable length) and place it into the tube over the clay now, take your hammer, and hit the dowel rod, compacting the clay. Repeat this step until you have a sold plug 1/2" thick. Now, leaving the tube on the nipple, set this a side for a while. aside.

MEASURING AND MIXING:

You will need two different sizes of charcoal. The smaller size, will be a main fuel in the compo, while the larger size will be for sparks. You'll want to pass the course charcoal through a window screen, and use what falls through. Once done, place in a Zip-Loc bag for later use. Get out your KNO3, and powder it REALLY fine, as fine as baby powder if you can. Remember, the finer it is, the better it will work. Here is how the compo is mixed: Take a cup cake paper, and put it on your scale. then measure out 15g of KNO3. Now, get a NEW cupcake paper, and measure out 3g of FINE charcoal. Now, get a NEW cupcake paper, and measure out 2g of S. The next step is to get your M&P, or other non sparking grinding equipment and begin to grind the chems together. this is an okay operation of this formula, however, extreme caution must always be used.

!*!*!*!*!*MAKE SURE YOU FACE IS NEVER OVER THE MIXTURE WHEN YOU ARE GRINDING IT!!!!!! and wear thick leather garden gloves when you grind*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!
Grind the chemicals a little at a time and keep adding chems until all the chems are mixed. Keep grinding until the mixture is VERY fine and all the same color. Don't forget, there should be NO lumps in it. Once the compo is mixed, get a sheet of newspaper, and spread it out on a clean surface. Pour the compo onto the newspaper and spread the compo out evenly. Then, add about 3g of the coarser charcoal. "Diaper" mix the compo and the coarse charcoal together.

LOADING THE FOUNTAIN:

Get your tube, that is still on the nipple pour in a bit of compo and ram with the dowel. If you have to use a metal hammer, wrap it with some cloth to prevent sparks. Repeat the last step until you have about 3/4" space from the end of the tube, OR you run out of compo. It all depends on how tall you make your fountain. Ram another clay plug for the remaining 3/4". Also, mark the top of the tube ( the end on the nipple with the 1/2" clay plug)

DRILLING THE NOZZLE, AND FUSING:

Remove the gerb from the nipple, and get your 1/4" drill bit using __ONLY YOUR FINGERS ( NO POWER DRILLS!!)__, drill a hole in the center of the 1/2" clay plug. You will need to go about 1.5" into the fountain compo. It is important for you to only use your fingers, that way you can judge how much pressure you are using. Now, get about 5-6 inches of Visco fuse( remember, Visco is cheaper then an ER visit!). Insert the fuse into the nozzle and make sure the visco is at the bottom of the core you made in the compo.

LIGHTING:

Burry the fountain into the ground, with only about an inch sticking out of the dirt. Make sure the dirt is free of rocks and sticks, and trash .