How to make fireworks fuse

The simplest form of a fuse is the burning fuse, believed to date back to the 10th century and originating in China, this simple fuse consisted of lightweight paper filled with loose gunpowder and served as a means of delaying ignition in fireworks. This simple form of the burning fuse can still be found today in much modern pyrotechnics. A version of this simple fuse is called Visco fuse and consists of the burning core coated with wax or lacquer for durability and water resistance. The commercial and military version of a burning fuse referred to as safety fuse (invented by William Bickford) is a textile tube filled with combustible material and wrapped to prevent external exposure of the burning core. Safety fuses are used to initiate the detonation of explosives through the use of a blasting cap.

A Black match is a type of fuse consisting of cotton string coated with a dried slurry of black powder and glue. This acts as a simple pass-fire and was used to fire ancient cannons. They are used today in fireworks construction.

A quick match or piped match is a type of black powder fuse that burns very quickly, some hundreds of feet per second. They consist of a black match covered with a loose paper wrap (pipe). When lit, the flame propagates quickly down the paper pipe from the hot gases produced by the burning powder. Quick matches are used in professional fireworks displays to pass fire nearly instantly between devices that must be physically separated while firing simultaneously, such as a finale rack. Devices which should fire in sequence can be branched from a single master fuse, consisting of quick match spliced onto Visco fuses of various length for time delays.