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Blackpowder accident
- Thread starter Many Klatch
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somewhere along the line, i came to realize several essential points of light:
there is death after life; don't encourage it to come any faster than is necessary.
explosives (the most common in my house is plain old black powder) can really EXPLODE, and this can hurt you.
if you mess up, there is no reset button.
OK- that's the 03.30 philosophy lesson
there is death after life; don't encourage it to come any faster than is necessary.
explosives (the most common in my house is plain old black powder) can really EXPLODE, and this can hurt you.
if you mess up, there is no reset button.
OK- that's the 03.30 philosophy lesson
Comrade Coffin
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I was also witness to a nasty BP explosion, whose cause was less easy to foresee. We were at a week-long event, where we were all living under canvas (including Martin, the powder officer). Now Martin had brought a week's supply of paper cartridges in a lockable wooden chest, which he had lined with black plastic sheeting to make it more waterproof.
After the last public display he removed all the unused cartridges and emptied them into a bucket of water to dispose of them.
He then took out the polythene, screwed it up into a ball and dropped it into a nearby fire.
There was a large explosion and a cloud of smoke about 30 feet accross, and Martin staggared out, looking like something out of a Laurel & Hardy scene - smoking hair & clothes, & blackened by powder residue. He had severe burns to his hands (the skin came off like rubber gloves) and he was hospitalised for several weeks while he had skin grafts.
Obviously powder had leaked from the cartidges into the liner over the course of the week.
Martin was no amatuer either - he worked at an arms proofing house.
Looking back with 20-20 hindsight, this accident should have been avoidable, but I think it could have happened to anyone.
After the last public display he removed all the unused cartridges and emptied them into a bucket of water to dispose of them.
He then took out the polythene, screwed it up into a ball and dropped it into a nearby fire.
There was a large explosion and a cloud of smoke about 30 feet accross, and Martin staggared out, looking like something out of a Laurel & Hardy scene - smoking hair & clothes, & blackened by powder residue. He had severe burns to his hands (the skin came off like rubber gloves) and he was hospitalised for several weeks while he had skin grafts.
Obviously powder had leaked from the cartidges into the liner over the course of the week.
Martin was no amatuer either - he worked at an arms proofing house.
Looking back with 20-20 hindsight, this accident should have been avoidable, but I think it could have happened to anyone.
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Doc Coffin said:
I beg to differ. As we say 'Bogásach Múineann ceacht crua' - 'Complacency teaches hard lessons'. For instance, it would never have happened to this boy.
tac
Comrade Coffin
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Good for you tac!
hawkeye2 said:
He should have been treated for severe idiocy. :youcrazy:
OK, my story about dangerous behavior with stuff that goes bang.
First, my excuse: I was just a kid doing this from about age 6 to 11. No parental direction and less common sense.
We lived in Chicago. Punks and hoodlums were known to carry and use 'zip' guns. These were cobbled together affairs made from scrap and loaded with whatever could be made to go bang. They were also deadly at close range.
Trying to emulate the punks I started making zip guns with parts from junk piles. I forget (thankfully) what I mixed up to make the propellant but do remember the recipies were readily available, many decades before Internet. The hammers were powered with springs or rubber bands. Igniters were toy caps, strike anywhere matches or made up stuff from those 'recipies'. Projectiles were marbles or ball bearings. We (myself and other equally foolish friends) shot rats, bottles cans and whatever in vacant buildings and alleys with them. Somehow, nobody ever got hurt. Remember, we were grade schoolers making guns that shot. :shocked2: Did I hear someone saying something about gun control? Or is that
ff ?
First, my excuse: I was just a kid doing this from about age 6 to 11. No parental direction and less common sense.
We lived in Chicago. Punks and hoodlums were known to carry and use 'zip' guns. These were cobbled together affairs made from scrap and loaded with whatever could be made to go bang. They were also deadly at close range.
Trying to emulate the punks I started making zip guns with parts from junk piles. I forget (thankfully) what I mixed up to make the propellant but do remember the recipies were readily available, many decades before Internet. The hammers were powered with springs or rubber bands. Igniters were toy caps, strike anywhere matches or made up stuff from those 'recipies'. Projectiles were marbles or ball bearings. We (myself and other equally foolish friends) shot rats, bottles cans and whatever in vacant buildings and alleys with them. Somehow, nobody ever got hurt. Remember, we were grade schoolers making guns that shot. :shocked2: Did I hear someone saying something about gun control? Or is that
ff ?
bobthemotorcycle
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Good story, I enjoyed it.
In those days things were simple. Now days the kids in the same neighborhood have Tec 9's and Glocks with 20 round magazines. What is it that has changed..............Dope. Dope has destroyed the American spirit. All of our rights are going to be destroyed because people want to get high.
I am happy I am getting involved into black powder. I can give up the hate of complaining about the current political situation and enjoy the sport again.
In those days things were simple. Now days the kids in the same neighborhood have Tec 9's and Glocks with 20 round magazines. What is it that has changed..............Dope. Dope has destroyed the American spirit. All of our rights are going to be destroyed because people want to get high.
I am happy I am getting involved into black powder. I can give up the hate of complaining about the current political situation and enjoy the sport again.
I didn't live in a bad neighborhood, but we did do many similar idiot things involving explosives as kids. Stuff that was very inocent in intent and dangerous. Stuff that today would get a kid a one way ticket to juvinile hall and the DHS on their butts.
ya no how kids will retell the stories of things they did a few years back as if its ok now like they have some kind of amnysty? it goes like this whenever one of the guys found a bullet anything centerfire they would tape it on the end of there BB gun , hold it up vertical and pull the trigger.He said it most of the time it went BOOM. I wanted to reach back to that time and slap him.
zimmerstutzen
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Most kids in the 1950's and 1960's did a fair share of stupid stuff. My buddy shaved match heads for a week to fill a piece of aluminum tv antenna to "make a rocket" It did a lot of property damage to the back of his parents house. started the lawn on fire and shrapnel broke two windows. Hey he was 12. My Brother and I fooled with making a cross bow and put a half inch bolt through a basement door. A year later we built a go kart direct drive, push the cart to start. What brake? Isn't that what the neighbor's hedge was for?
some of us lived through our "adventures" and learned from them. Some didn't learn, and a few didn't survive.
some of us lived through our "adventures" and learned from them. Some didn't learn, and a few didn't survive.
Sperit de bois
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When in doubt "Google Earth" then you can "visit" the area without leaving home....
I can remember as a kid a friend of mine down the road from my folks place made a tennis ball mortar out of beer cans and duck tape, M80 fuses and BP he snuck from his dad's reload room. Well he came down and we went out to the middle of the pasture and set it up to fire. he lite it and we took off about 20 yards to watch. About that time the bull came up to see what we had done. It went off the bull lite out and tore out the fence and 128 cows followed. The tennis ball went flying and it hit and cracked the windshield of my dads NEW John Deere tractor. Well 2 hours later gathering up the cows and fixing the fence my dad lit into the both of us with a razor strap and took him home and his dad lit into him as well. The summer of 1969 was a lot of work and no fun for the two of us.
Pinole, California :wink:bp junky said:
Although it wasn't black powder or match heads I had my fun with some dry swimming pool chlorine.
Seems this stuff is not only a strong oxidizer but it supports combustion (producing poisonous gasses in the process).
A friend and I, being young and foolish found a broken quart size thermos jug.
In a vacant field we placed this, open end up and filled it with about 3/4 of a pound of the granules.
Dropping a lit match down the hole we expected to see it catch fire and roar to life like a solid bottle rocket. (We had done this several times using a old clothesline T pole.
Rather than roar to life it seemed that nothing was happening so I went forward and looked down the hole.
I could see the surface of the chemical bubbling but that was all until....
My friend (?) came forward and dropped a handful of the powder down the hole.
Suddenly, there was a mighty explosion. It blew me backwards over 10 feet and I landed on my back.
My friend was likewise blown about the same distance in the opposite direction.
After regaining our senses we realized we were both uninjured (except for a few scrapes from landing on the hard Arizona dirt which by the way is so hard you have to use a pick to dig into it) so we started looking around.
With all of our looking, we never found a trace of the thermos bottle top or sides but the bottom was imbedded over 1/2 inch straight down into the hard dirt.
Seems this stuff is not only a strong oxidizer but it supports combustion (producing poisonous gasses in the process).
A friend and I, being young and foolish found a broken quart size thermos jug.
In a vacant field we placed this, open end up and filled it with about 3/4 of a pound of the granules.
Dropping a lit match down the hole we expected to see it catch fire and roar to life like a solid bottle rocket. (We had done this several times using a old clothesline T pole.
Rather than roar to life it seemed that nothing was happening so I went forward and looked down the hole.
I could see the surface of the chemical bubbling but that was all until....
My friend (?) came forward and dropped a handful of the powder down the hole.
Suddenly, there was a mighty explosion. It blew me backwards over 10 feet and I landed on my back.
My friend was likewise blown about the same distance in the opposite direction.
After regaining our senses we realized we were both uninjured (except for a few scrapes from landing on the hard Arizona dirt which by the way is so hard you have to use a pick to dig into it) so we started looking around.
With all of our looking, we never found a trace of the thermos bottle top or sides but the bottom was imbedded over 1/2 inch straight down into the hard dirt.
