July 4th is coming up. I used to make oxygen bombs. I have oxygen cylinders in my garage.
Fill up a large garbage bag with oxygen, pour 1-2 ounces of gasoline in, tie it off.
For a fuse, rollup a piece of newspaper, stick it under the bag, light the end and run.
Makes one hell of a boom! I have a few other stories. Anyone else?

Not in todays world… I did play with Sulfer,Saltpeter, and Charcoal

Some friends and I use to do the same but with acetylene. Up until the time my friend was filling a bag in the garage, and it went off!! I'll never forget the look on his face coming out of that garage. The only thing we could blame it on was static in the garbage bag set it off.

In EOD school I recall the story of a young man that wanted to make some noise makers for his sisters wedding. Being a red blooded American man, he of course brought out the black powder (not smokeless). He grabbed some copper tubing and filled it with black powder. His next step was to seal the ends of the copper tubing to keep the powder from spilling out. Naturally he grabbed a hammer to "crimp" the ends shut. Unfortunately the friction set off the black powder and he lost some fingers. I don't recall if he made it to the wedding. True Story.

I prefer to keep my extremities.

I used to make "bottle bombs."

1. You take a 2 liter plastic soda bottle, poke a small hole in the cap & insert about a 5 or 6" fuse. (You used to get fuse by the foot at hobby stores, for rockets. I don't know about now.)

2. Take a baggie & push it into the bottle opening with your finger about an inch or so, then pour about a .45 shell full of FFF or FFFF black powder in.

3. Cap it & light the fuse, and throw it.

They make a big boom, but the sound is mostly from the plastic bottle exploding from pressure, and not from the black powder. They're probably much safer than fireworks, and don't damage anything but your hearing. They just don't make a big flash, if that's what you want.

Hold my beer.

[joke]
1) Have your buddy hold your beer,

2) stuff as many dry ice slivers as possible in an empty two liter soda pop bottle, screw the cap on,

3) trade the pop bottle for your beer and run.[/joke]

quote:

Originally posted by SIG4EVA:
I prefer to keep my extremities.

A guy blows off several of his fingers.
Guy: Doc will I ever be able to use my hand again?
Doc: Possibly, but I wouldn't count on it.

What could possibly go wrong?

When I was a kid in the 60's there were frequent stories of kids getting injured and occasionally killed from CO2 cartridges (the kind used in air guns) filled with match heads. Those things pack a punch when they go off.

quote:

Originally posted by RichardC:
[joke]
1) Have your buddy hold your beer,

2) stuff as many dry ice slivers as possible in an empty two liter soda pop bottle, screw the cap on,

3) trade the pop bottle for your beer and run.[/joke]

Did the same except used liquid nitrogen.

Not me. My grandfather carried a scar on his forehead from a homemade firework, a tin can stuffed with black powder.

Our kids made sparkler bombs by duct taping 50 or so sparklers tightly together leaving one sticking out. Light the one and run like hell. Extremely big bang.

At 13-14, I was using 93% pure ammonia from the local HW store, plus iodide crystals … A recipe my dad shared from his childhood.

Interesting and unstable stuff. Purple smoke!

Sounds like the perfect idea to awaken some Viet Nam vet’s PTSD. Not necessarily a good thing to do.

'Homemade Fireworks' are best enjoyed on YouTube...

quote:

Originally posted by wreckdiver:
Some friends and I use to do the same but with acetylene. Up until the time my friend was filling a bag in the garage, and it went off!! I'll never forget the look on his face coming out of that garage. The only thing we could blame it on was static in the garbage bag set it off.

Putting multiple acetylene balloons into a nylon bag may or may not cause your pants to turn into shorts. So I've heard.

quote:

Originally posted by snidera:

Putting multiple acetylene balloons into a nylon bag may or may not cause your pants to turn into shorts. So I've heard.

And igniting a length of PVC pipe full of black powder may or may not leave a divot in the driveway that really upsets your father.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

And igniting a length of PVC pipe full of black powder may or may not leave a divot in the driveway that really upsets your father.

Metal 35MM film cans full of black powder really screw up a front lawn and my father's patience.