OT: How many were "Basement Bombers" as Kids ?

[DixieBoy]

The thread on cannon balls got me remembering when we were kids and I got into pyrotechnics around Junior High School age. This was in the middle 1960's, before anyone had ever heard of "terrorism" and certainly never heard (or imagined) that we'd have a dept. of homeland security that would be investigating some little kid putting an M-80 in somebody's mailbox.

I always figured that I was a pretty typcial kid back then, but have realized as I got older that alot of boys never enjoyed the fun that my friends and me did in those days. We ordered "underwater fuse" from the back of Popular Mechanics and Popular Science magazines, in the classifieds. We'd save up some money from mowing lawns or our paper routes, and order chemicals which came in cardboard cyliners, and also ordered casings which were typically used to make either M-80's or "Aerial Bombs," which were really meant to be put inside of Roman Candles.

We had formulas that we'd bought from the same ads, and we learned how to make really great smoke bombs, along with some pretty neat low-end explosives. My Dad even was in on this with me, and I had to promise him that I would show him all of my latest doings. I think he wanted to make sure that I was being safe with my fun and wouldn't lose any fingers.

We knew not to bang on Potassium Perchorate in a mortar and pestle, but to screen it, and certainly to never bang on any of our completed recipes. Never had an accident, and never caused any serious harm to anyone or anyone's property. It was simply FUN.

Today, all of this kind of thing has completely vanished, and boys who light off anything more than a firecracker on the 4th of July are hauled off for a psych evaluation. I really feel that the kids of today, especially the boys, don't have it nearly as good as we did back then. Too much "mommyism" from society and the government.

So, how many of you guys (or gals ?) enjoyed this fun stuff when you were kids ? - DixieBoy

[Beaker]

I did, we used to shoot malted milk balls out of a conduit canon in the backyard using firecrackers and what not. Used to set off fireworks in the basement when the folks were gone. My brother nearly lost an eye detonating a shotgun primer in the basement once.

On the good side, doing things like this in my childhood was one of the reasons I majored in chemistry in college.

Due to securiy and incriminating evidence I will not touch on all of our escapades. But I would have an absoute cow (but not be surprised) if I caught my children ever doing some of the stuff we used to do.

[Old Ironsights]

5th Amendment...

[Rimfire McNutjob]

Wow ... and we're both from Central Florida too.

I remember my neighbor and I would tear the small explosive pieces out from the middle of a roll of caps. We would take two large bolts and a nut and put them together with the caps in between. We would take care to tighten the bolts slowly and firmly but not too hard. Then we'd toss it into the air such that it would land in the middle of the street. It was always a challenge to find the pieces afterward so it could be done again.

I was particularly good at making powder for smoke bombs but that was back when Potassium Nitrate was sold at the drug stores for use as a diuretic. I toned that down after I had a quart of it ignite in the garage on top of the clothes dryer. I was testing the burn as I usually did by putting some on a wooden match stick. I had not ground the charcoal down far enough or consistent enough and I had an ember of that float over into the open container. It left a massive scorch mark on the ceiling of the garage and left the melted plastic container all over the dryer.

We also made small entertaining "cherry bomb" type explosives using the small plastic Easter egg shells that you'd get with candy in them. They were the little ones that would hold a dime. We would unwrap Estes rocket motors and grind the propellant into a powder. We'd pack it inside the shells and snap them together. Then we'd roll them in glue, then in sawdust, over and over building up a thick shell. After they dried, we'd drill a hole and insert some fuse. They make a good bit of smoke when they'd go off.

I moved on to packing small expended butane cylinders with flake style smokeless powders recovered from shotgun shells. I would crimp them in a vice with a nail left in which I would pull and replace with waterproof fuse. They would really do a number on mailboxes. Eventually though, that caught up to me ... literally. I took a piece of shrapnel from one when I was 15.

I toned it way back at that point.

So I was not nearly as safe and responsible as you were. Fun nonetheless. Fortunately, my kids know none of this.

[jeepnik]

I did, we used to shoot malted milk balls out of a conduit canon in the backyard using firecrackers and what not. Used to set off fireworks in the basement when the folks were gone. My brother nearly lost an eye detonating a shotgun primer in the basement once.

On the good side, doing things like this in my childhood was one of the reasons I majored in chemistry in college.

Due to securiy and incriminating evidence I will not touch on all of our escapades. But I would have an absoute cow (but not be surprised) if I caught my children ever doing some of the stuff we used to do.

And yet they do. Heck, our fathers probably said the same thing.

And in response to the OP. Heck yea, had an uncle that was a welder. Can any one say acetylene cannon? But that was his fault, as he taught us how. We did find out that you could only get off a couple of shots before we had to hide the evidence and scoot over the back fences before the sheriff showed up. By the way, did you know that if you break a window with a chunk of high (well more or less) dry ice, that it doesn't leave any evidence as to how the window broke. Not that I ever did such a thing.

Dang it was great being a kid back then. I know of one young fellow that was charge originally with a felon of setting off an explosive device for putting dry ice and a bit of water into a two liter pop bottle, which then went POP. Got it reduced to a misdemeanor and had to do community service. People these days have no sense of adventure or humor.

[AJMD429]

Those of us born in the 1950's would mostly be ashamed to admit it if we weren't 'creative chemists' in our young and tender years.

A society that discourages such things in the name of 'safety' and 'civility' and all that, is a hypocritical society (if it allows the driving of automobiles, and has either police or military), and will breed a generation of obedient wimps, if it isn't careful.

We didn't even try to get the 'good stuff' you could just buy off the shelf when I was a kid, when it came time to help our kids go through that phase (I do think it's nicer if a dad or mom helps their kid a bit, so hopefully, there are fewer mishaps, when it comes to this sort of thing). We did enough with dry ice, baking soda, vinegar, jello, and water to impress them that you could have fun and/or permanently maim or kill yourself with such things, and that the line was blurry at times (particularly if you get some of that stuff in your eye).

I wouldn't want a nation of kids (or adults) able to just get some stuff at the local hardware store and in a few hours come up with a 'weapon' capable of taking out an entire town, but if we 'trust' pretty much anyone to drive a car and buy gasoline, getting all upset that they may make a smoke bomb or even a dreaded pipe-bomb, is patently ridiculous.

There IS a book somewhere I saw about this very topic, and includes stuff you can do with your kid that IS considered 'dangerous' and politically incorrect, and what materials you still can get as an adult at least, which you can use for such projects. Looked like a cool book!

[Rusty]

As kids?

So when are we supposed to stop having this fun you're talking about?



FWIW when the Fla. levergunners got together a while back the range where we were shooting has an area off away from everything where full auto items are taken, as well as other things. They call the area "Area 51."

That's also where they hold their Appleseed training if anyone is interested.

[soon 2 retire]

Did you ever stop to think what becomes of all those budding young chemists when they grow old and retire? Here's an inspirational story pulled off the net about one:



As we get older we sometimes begin to doubt our ability to "make a difference" in the world. It is at these times that our hopes are boosted by the remarkable achievements of other "seniors" who have found the courage to take on challenges that would make many of us wither.

Harold Schlumberg is such a person:


Bob in NE Indiana

I've often been asked, 'What do you old folks do now that you're retired?'
Well...I'm fortunate to have a chemical engineering background and one of the things I enjoy most is converting beer, wine and scotch into urine. I do it every day and I really enjoy it.
Harold is an inspiration to us all.

[TedH]

As kids?

So when are we supposed to stop having this fun you're talking about?

+1

I will admit that I have grown somewhat more cautious with age. Well, that and a trip to the emergency room in 7th grade after an incident with a large quantity of BP.

[olyinaz]

Yes, all manner of cannons and bombs and mayhem of all sorts. As a rural kid it was expected and no one cared as long as no fingers were lost or eyes put out (which did happen from time to time).

There's still wilderness where I live so my family has plenty of fun even today.

Cheers,
Oly

[Sixgun]

Count some people I knew in.

One time in the sixties, a couple of buddies (was I there?? ) made a bomb big enough to blow a lawn mower 40 feet in the air.

We used to have forts in the woods and then we would have fights by throwing firecrackers and bottle rockets at each other. We even lobbed a few M-80's tied to rocks, pretending they were grenades. I did feel bad one time when I lobbed a big rock (no M-80) and split open Timmy Snyder's head. Oh well, he lived.

There used to be this big pond about a hundred yards wide or more and when some buddies were hunting small game, a couple of us....errr...them would choose sides and then shoot at each other from the other side of the pond with #8 bird shot. I never did these things.

Hey , you know something? I don't think we should be talking about this stuff, even if it did happen 40 years ago or more. Yea, I know, but why did we all write it and then post it. "Stupido" as the Italians say. ---------Sixgun

[octagon]

Like Sixgun, we had the standard firecracker/bottle rocket fights. We got "smart" and removed half the fuse from the firecrackers for faster ignition. This ended when cousin Steve had one go off in his hand. My favorite game was this: I had 18 first cousins (all farmers/ranchers) and we would sift through a pile of Milo, selecting the proper caliber for our BB guns - then we would scatter into a 30 acre pasture for a game of ambush - one hit and your out. The milo would not penetrate the skin, but would feel like a wasp sting and leave a good welt. This was like early redneck paintball. No, I have not shown MY kids this trick!

[Chuck 100 yd]

The names have been changed to protect the innocent ???

If not for a rain drop on a fuse, I would have killed my horse that day... Enough said!

[Blaine]

Rockets, little pipe bombs, and combinations of same.....I've heard some kids around my neighborhood could make that kind of stuff.... Also, you could make little rockets, mount them to an arrow, and boosting said arrow at various angles with a bow, one could nearly give NASA a run for their money

[adirondakjack]

Old memories from before 1970.....

Old fashioned carriage bolts maybe 6" long, two bolts, one square nut, and several white tips carefully carved off "strike anywhere" matches (far better than roll caps, trust me). Dropped one out of the loft of a barn onto a concrete pad below, never found any part of it, but it left quite a divot in the concrete.

Glass aspirin bottle, filled to slightly overflowing with a mixture of steel BBs and the white tips off two boxes of matches. Top screwed down until JUST in contact with the contents. That one was dangerous, and was lobbed from behind the cover provided by a junker '50 Chevy in an old rock quarry. BOOOOOOOM! and shrapnel ripping leaves off trees 50 ft above, (but of course none of the shrapnel penetrated the "bunker" Chevy

Today they'd haul ya off to jail....

[Ben_Rumson]

Flame thrower conversion on Dads garden sprayer... Empty C02 pellet gun cartridges filled with homade BP..chuck 'em in the fire on the beach at night ..hide behind the dunes... The one that blew the fire clean out and made a fountain of high flying embers... Can a of sourkraut..

[Chas.]

Nope, never messed with that stuff...Well, except for that one time, and my lawyers have recommended I not speak of that until the statute of limitations expires in 2012. I was younger and more foolhardy then, and explosives were much easier to come by as well. I found out that when commercial stuff was mixed with home brewed "stuff" the increased results were exponential, not linear. What a rush!!!!

[pwl44m]

And everyone can still Type or dictate. lol Shoot !!! , what I did was Crib play.

[fisheadgib]

So none of ya'll made gas cannons with the old steel beer cans, duct tape, and a tennis ball? Oh, and some gas siphoned out of dads car.

[Thunder50]

This post brings back memories!!


I am not admitting anything!!!

[azzhandler]

we used to use co2 cylinders and underwater wick, nice bang, which lead to 1 lb propane cylinder and about 1 1/2 lb of pyrodex and long fuse, put under the arms of broken dish washer. run like h3!! <at least couple hundred yards > plug ears , after the smoke clears..... clean up mess...... shook windows in the house that was at least 600 yds from where the ( cough ) minor explosion went off.... then try to convince parents it was a accident

[adirondakjack]

So none of ya'll made gas cannons with the old steel beer cans, duct tape, and a tennis ball? Oh, and some gas siphoned out of dads car.

Hairspray powered potato guns with ignition cobbled from a grill lighter. I made up a few, one for me, and two for a couple of friends. One guy was amusing himself at camp, launching spuds over a small lake, seeing how far away the splash would be. Then one really good shot cleared the bay and thumped the aluminum siding of a house. He paid several hundred dollars in repairs, and surrendered his spud gun to the law.....

[DixieBoy]

Hey, Alright !!!

I've finally gotten all of my chores done and graded the kids' tests, and just now getting my first look back at this thread. I am SOOOO glad that I'm not the only one who flirted with juvenile delinquency, due to my enjoyment of pyrotechnics as a youngster.

If I hadn't started surfing when I was about 14 the whole thing would have probably gotten much more serious. One of our little crew from back then never did lose the bug, and he joined the Navy so that he could play more seriously with things that go bang.

I want to thank you guys. We really did have it so much better as kids in those good old days.

By the way, they really couldn't have a statute of limitations that runs longer than 40 years for this stuff, could they ? - DixieBoy

[Tycer]

When we were kids, potassium perchlorate and xxx was fun. Also, Calcium Carbide could go bang too!

[fordwannabe]

We made tennis ball cannons but used lighter fluid, worked pretty good too. I have heard that m-80's layered with bondo and then rolled in a box of shotgun pellets will cut down a hollowed out tree....and bring the local law dudes, but this is just rumor . I cannot help myself with this kind of stuff I was initiated at a young age by a devious,criminally minded anti-establishment underground group,....ok not really it was my Grandfather on my Dads side. He took me and my brothers out to an old field one day and said we were going to fire rockets. You have to remember at that time model rockets were IN, I thought he meant like ESTES rockets NNNNOOOO. He was a welder at the shipyard in Newport News Va and when MY DAD was a kid, my grandfather had made some rockets for them to play with. The dang things weighted like a pound and a half each, he made them out of tubing and welded a pointed cap on them and sheet metal fins. He powered them with gunpowder,I believe it was black but I am not sure. He'd filler up and place on a stand he had made light the fuse and WHOOSE. I was impressed but when Dad found out GF still had some of those left and he let us around while he fired them ,DAD was not impressed, something about being equivilent to an elephant gun or something all I remember is he was really MAD, but not at me this time WAHOO> Tom

[gamekeeper]

This post brings back memories!!


I am not admitting anything!!!

+ 1

[Hillbilly]

I knew a guy who knew a guy who made a golf ball mortar, powered by Black Cat firecrackers...

Years ago we were wiring two mid-rise towers. 3/4 EMT conduit, some plumbers fittings, air compressor, drywall screws and cone shaped paper cups.... enough said.

We would shoot the "blow darts" across the way into stacks of wood, drywall or whatever targets of oppourtunity were across the parking lot in the other building.

Great fun... till they added the glass on the building across the lot.

[adirondakjack]

I once knew a very bored engineer who was installing a TV transmitter he'd built. One day, while waiting for the welding folks to get back from lunch and finish their part of the job, he had some time to kill.

It had been raining a lot, and a brand new 30 gallon metal trash can was standing their with maybe 6" of water in it. Nearby he spied an acetylene rig, and a garage type work light. He found a bottle of liquid soap used to lube cables before pulling them through conduit, and added some to the water in the trash can. After unplugging the work light, he carefully broke the glass bulb without breaking the filament.

The worklight was then suspended inside the trash can, along with the acetylene torch, with the acetylene valve open. He placed the lid on the can as well as possible, weighted it with a few rocks, then opened the acetylene tank valve (the tanks themselves positioned behind a pile of shale nearby to protect them from what was to come), allowing the gas to mix with the soapy water until bubbles oozed out around the can lid.

He'd rigged the worklight cord so he could plug it into another lead cord run behind the nearby transmitter building, a concrete block structure some 50 ft from the can. After a quick check of his work, he ducked behind the building, plugged in the cord, and BOOOOOOOM went the trash can.

The can itself was never found. He did end up paying for a new torch, as that got mangled pretty bad. Two weeks later, while driving up the mountain road to do some more work at the site, a coworker spotted the trash can LID glinting in the sunlight, wrapped around a tree limb about 500 yards from the site.


Stuff that makes ya wonder how some folks live to a ripe old age.....

[jeepnik]

Count some people I knew in.

One time in the sixties, a couple of buddies (was I there?? ) made a bomb big enough to blow a lawn mower 40 feet in the air.

We used to have forts in the woods and then we would have fights by throwing firecrackers and bottle rockets at each other. We even lobbed a few M-80's tied to rocks, pretending they were grenades. I did feel bad one time when I lobbed a big rock (no M-80) and split open Timmy Snyder's head. Oh well, he lived.

There used to be this big pond about a hundred yards wide or more and when some buddies were hunting small game, a couple of us....errr...them would choose sides and then shoot at each other from the other side of the pond with #8 bird shot. I never did these things.

Hey , you know something? I don't think we should be talking about this stuff, even if it did happen 40 years ago or more. Yea, I know, but why did we all write it and then post it. "Stupido" as the Italians say. ---------Sixgun

The statute of limitations has expired on all of my transgressions.

[madman4570]

Guys, being this is a site that can be viewed by about anyone-------------------
Be extremely careful what you say on here.

[airedaleman]

Do the ruins of the Canadian Car and Foundry works in Lyndhurst, NJ mean anything to anyone here? Lots of stuff was left over from the big 1916 explosion. My cousins and My buddy Kenny S madfe the most of it...

[KirkD]

Well, it is possible that on some Sunday afternoons, I and my friends had some fun with 33-0-0 (if I recall correctly) mixed with diesel fuel back when I was 17. I'm not claiming that I and my friends had some great fun with it ..... I'm just saying that it is possible. It is also possible that we just about sent a car sky high that happened to come down a seldom used bush road when we were not expecting it. We didn't stick around to see who was in it, but the only people who used that road were couples looking for a safe place to neck. By the way, no harm done to their car, but it was very close.

[Ysabel Kid]

5th Amendment...

Me too. Besides, if Y2K would read any response, I'd get the "you did it when you were a kid" speech!

[rjohns94]

Hmmm, I best not admit to any of this. But I vaguely remember potato and tennis ball cannons powered by lighter fluid, then there was the small shed fire that might have been started by a magnifying glass, same glass that I used to set off caps and other things that would go bang (and that i use today to still start fires in camp). Estes rockets thrown in the bbq put on quite a show when they cooked off and flew around the grill, throwing charcoal and dust way into the air. pretty mild stuff. then I lived in and around the city growing up and didn't even get to really fish till the 6th grade. Wasn't allowed a firearm (my parents were pretty smart) so I grew up with a longbow and slingshot and a belt axe and a dozen spring traps that I ordered out of outdoor life.