Is it time for my little story about......

[ageingstudent]

I can neither confirm nor deny that I may or may not have attempted similar things, up to, and including 2" Sch80 PVC, canon fuse and black powder. I can also neither confirm nor deny that my life may or may not have flashed in front of my eyes when that incredibly ill-conceived toy did its thing

I learned that it's gas vapors that burn by pitching lit matches into an empty metal gas can in a sort of death-wish meets tiddlywinks game when I was like 11 or 12. When I finally scored a wink my life did indeed flash before my eyes. Thank God that little voice told me to stay back. Lotta potential in gasoline vapors...

 

[ZigZagZeke]

The stuff we did as kids and survived !

Like making rockets (we thought) out of expended CO2 cylinders. We were about 13 at the time. We mixed up our own black powder from drug store ingredients and used Jet-X rocket fuse. We discovered that they were not rockets at all, but were more like hand grenades. Once we made this happy discovery we moved on to larger and larger models. There was eventually the 6 inch section of 2" steel pipe with a cap screwed on each end. That took a 6" limb out of an oak tree a block away and seriously scared us. We then moderated our behavior.

 

[P7M13]

Like making rockets (we thought) out of expended CO2 cylinders. We were about 13 at the time. We mixed up our own black powder from drug store ingredients and used Jet-X rocket fuse. We discovered that they were not rockets at all, but were more like hand grenades. Once we made this happy discovery we moved on to larger and larger models. There was eventually the 6 inch section of 2" steel pipe with a cap screwed on each end. That took a 6" limb out of an oak tree a block away and seriously scared us. We then moderated our behavior.

Oh to have seen your faces when that one came down....

 

[Flopsweat]

Like making rockets (we thought) out of expended CO2 cylinders. We were about 13 at the time. We mixed up our own black powder from drug store ingredients and used Jet-X rocket fuse. We discovered that they were not rockets at all, but were more like hand grenades. Once we made this happy discovery we moved on to larger and larger models. There was eventually the 6 inch section of 2" steel pipe with a cap screwed on each end. That took a 6" limb out of an oak tree a block away and seriously scared us. We then moderated our behavior.

Those CO2 cartridges can blow a padlock right off its shackle. Or so I've heard.

 

[Mikej]

Some of youse guys did some really dumb stuff, and then did it some more! See, I learned on the smaller stuff and stopped at that point.

Dad used to go up to Wyoming where fire crackers were legal.....Back when Black Cat and Zebra fire crackers could be had in, 3" I think. Stick one in and apple or green tomato. light it and time it right to go off at the highest point when you threw it in the air. Good times there, and safer than that crazy crap you guys were doing.

 

[FullMetalJerk]

BB gun wars in the back forty. This was before airsoft and none of us owned paintball guns.

 

[Mikej]

BB gun wars in the back forty. This was before airsoft and none of us owned paintball guns.

We used wrist rockets, for a VERY short time. Like I said, I think we were smarter than that.

 

[Slobray]

We used wrist rockets, for a VERY short time. Like I said, I think we were smarter than that.

Wrist rockets did WAY more damage than my old Red Rider ever could, then again the Red Rider's accuracy made up for it's lack of power.


Ray

 

[FullMetalJerk]

We had these... who needs velocity or accuracy when you have FOOT POUNDS!!!!

 

[P7M13]

BB gun wars in the back forty. This was before airsoft and none of us owned paintball guns.

Or safety glasses...

 

[FullMetalJerk]

Or safety glasses...

Nah, we were just bored country kids. You know you grew up in the country if you've ever done something like jumped a Hyundai Excel 4-5 feet in the air at your friend's equestrian center. Just because you grew up with tv shows like the Dukes of Hazzard and the A-Team. And because you didn't like foreign cars and wanted to see what would happen (looking for a reason to sell it). It held up surprisingly well, except for the front end alignment. After that little incident, it pulled to the left, if you let go of the steering wheel you'd find yourself in the other lane with oncoming traffic. Or ever found yourself on the highway with no helmet on the back of your neighbor's dirt bike... cutting through someone's front yard and had your boneheaded pal jump the bike with no forewarning. That was a close call, good thing I saw that one coming and grabbed on or else I would've fell off the back. Or have ever taken a road bike with slick tires offroad in the mud just to slide around, for something fun to do. Or have ever had the farmer next door help pull your El Camino out of his field because you were being stupid AGAIN. Or if you've ever reduced a Port-a-Potty to a smouldering black square for the 4th of July. Oops. Too many stories to list here. City kids miss out on all kinds of good clean (mostly) fun.

 

[Flopsweat]

Some of youse guys did some really dumb stuff, and then did it some more! See, I learned on the smaller stuff and stopped at that point.

Dad used to go up to Wyoming where fire crackers were legal.....Back when Black Cat and Zebra fire crackers could be had in, 3" I think. Stick one in and apple or green tomato. light it and time it right to go off at the highest point when you threw it in the air. Good times there, and safer than that crazy crap you guys were doing.

Hey, that crazy crap is going to be some of my best stories once I get too old and slow (and wise?) to do crazy crap anymore.

Nah, we were just bored country kids. You know you grew up in the country if you've ever done something like jumped a Hyundai Excel 4-5 feet in the air at your friend's equestrian center. Just because you grew up with tv shows like the Dukes of Hazzard and the A-Team. And because you didn't like foreign cars and wanted to see what would happen (looking for a reason to sell it). It held up surprisingly well, except for the front end alignment. After that little incident, it pulled to the left, if you let go of the steering wheel you'd find yourself in the other lane with oncoming traffic. Or ever found yourself on the highway with no helmet on the back of your neighbor's dirt bike... cutting through someone's front yard and had your boneheaded pal jump the bike with no forewarning. That was a close call, good thing I saw that one coming and grabbed on or else I would've fell off the back. Or have ever taken a road bike with slick tires offroad in the mud just to slide around, for something fun to do. Or raced a VW bug through an orchard full of trees or have ever had the farmer next door help pull your El Camino out of his field because you were being stupid AGAIN. Or if you've ever reduced a Port-a-Potty to a smouldering black square for the 4th of July. Oops. Too many stories to list here. City kids miss out on all kinds of good clean (mostly) fun.

LOL, I have had a car towed out of a front yard with a tractor. True story. And I didn't know the owner of the yard or the tractor. Tractor owner said it would be best to be gone before yard owner got home. So I was.

 

[Crohnos01]

Lol... man, these stories got me remembering "the good Ole days".... I managed to do some pretty dumb azz stuff and survive...mostly by luck.

One year around the 4th of July, I had bought a bunch of these sparklers that were wrapped in a paper type stuff. The problem was, they would burn, but not all the way down to the stick you held them with. I figured out that I could take the left over pieces apart and scavenge the powder out of them... but now what to do with it? I tried creating a small pile and touching a match to it, but it wouldn't burn. I tried a little larger pile...still no go... the stuff just wouldn't burn that well. Finally, being desperate to get something for my effort, I piled all of it on a paper towel and lit the paper towel on fire.... That worked.... the powder ignited and created a column of fire about 10' high... The only problem was, I had decided wind may be an issue for why it wasn't igniting and I had moved the paper towel I to the garage with an 8 foot high ceiling before I ignited the paper towel. It only burned for a short period of time, but left a nice big scorch mark on the sheet rock ceiling ...
Of course my folks had foolishly left me at home alone when I was conducting my little pyromaniac experiment and I knew they wouldn't be home for hours yet.... I dug around in the supplies my dad had in the garage and found a can of white paint that matched the garage and paintedthe scorch mark... but the paint didn't EXACTLY match and stood out like a sore thumb... I then realized that I had to paint the entire inside of the garage... I did it with time to spare and cleaned up the brushes and rollers, had the all put away before mom and dad came home.... They never figured it out until I told them.... YEARS later of course