[Henly's Formulas]
    It is from about 1925 but is still
    in print and sold mostly as a novelty book.

    [Also Davis "Chemistry of Powder and Explosives" (1941)]
    [Also Weingart "Pyrotechnics" (1947)]

One should keep in mind that processes and formulas that may have seemed
"safe enough" some 50 years ago are NOT considered safe into todays more
densely populated, urban, paranoid, lawyer-infested society.  A moderate
accident (one requiring a trip to the hospital) that might have gotten to a
"tsk tsk, serves you right" from the doctor in 1950 might now get you jailed
and facing a list of charges ranging from "reckless endangerment", to
"construction of a destructive device", to "manufacturing explosives without
a license" to "terrorist activities."

That said, look at http://www.skylighter.com/books/ for more modern
literature.

I don't normally mind off-topic discussions, but this is getting WAY far
away from PICs, and there ARE two newsgroups and several mailing lists
that cover pyrotechnics, amateur rocketry, explosives, and so on.

BillW