When I was 10......

[LUBEDUDE]

I still have the evidence of my stupidity when I about blew my finger off almost 50 years ago.

I made a cannon barrel on the lathe in 8th or 9th grade metal shop, still have it too.



When I got the cannon home, me and a neighbor kid decided to load and shoot it. We went out to the workbench where my Mec 600 JR was mounted and dropped some Red Dot and then funneled it into the cannon. I would guess it was 70-90 grains worth. Having watched plenty of TV we “knew” the gunpowder HAD to packed before adding the projectile. I stick a Philips head screwdriver down the barrel and hold both the cannon barrel and screwdriver vertically. Then the neighbor kid starts whacking the handle of the screwdriver with a hammer. Just as the word “STO...p” was coming out of my mouth, you guessed it, KABOOM!

The kid started crying and immediately bolted for home as fast as that shaft from the screwdriver blasted through the plastic handle and through the ceiling. The kid wasn’t hurt, just scared to pieces. Meanwhile my hand feels like a combination of numbness, intense stinging and burning. The base of my middle finger looked like blackened hamburger. The opposing fingers had superficial wounds.

We went to a new hospital close by, but they couldn’t handle it, so they sent us somewhere else. I just remembered the intense pain that lasted for days (and back then they didn’t give pain pills to kids, even in later years when I broke my wrist twice). I don’t know how they repaired without stitches, there was nothing to stitch. But it healed eventually with permanent black stains tattooed that looked like buckshot for over 30 years. Then the color faded to a light gray the last 15-20 years.



There was some neurological damage. When gripping tight water skiing, playing baseball, golf and such, the middle and ring finger would become paralyzed until the grip was released. I learned to live with it and adapt, what else could I do?

[Tom W.]

I had a friend in upstate N.Y, that did the same thing. He lost his whole thumb.....

[Traffer]

Lubedude, We would have been good friends. lol Never had one that bad with home made cannons and rockets and bombs but there even other things kids do that can maim them.
I had some near misses almost shooting myself with shotguns. Once way out in the boonies and no one knew where I was. Would have never made it back to the car but I missed my foot by 1/2"

[LUBEDUDE]

Sorry to hear about your friend Tom.

I’m glad you avoided bodily harm there Traffer!

Like a lot of us, there are more stupid escapades, but I’ll keep those to myself for now.

I truly believe that God watches out for kids, drunks, and idiots/fools.

[Walks]

I made my own slingshots too. Rubber inner tubes and 36cal lead balls from My Dad's Ancient Colt .36Navy. I had to dipper cast them from a 1cav mold. Sitting on a milking stool over a Coleman stove.
I figured 5 for Dad, 1 for me. Never had enough ammo.
Started at 8yrs old. Lasted 'til 11yrs old.
Got a Red Ryder and then a Savage 24, .22LR over .410bore, slingshots lost their allure as Girls gained theirs.

[john.k]

I had a home made cannon go up too......it was made with a 3foot length of 2" ammonia pipe,and had bicycle wheels borrowed from a bike at home.....I was .unharmed in a massive explosion that turned some of the 2" pipe inside out,and blew the wheels apart......Started out with blackpowder ,ran low on that ,so made a concoction of chemicals my brother "borrowed from work"......a industrial chemical warehouse.He used to bring home drums of stuff that they dumped cause the drums got knocked open in transport.....Survived the explosions stage,then went on to motorbikes,lot more deadly.IMHO.

[Mr_Sheesh]

I used to do a lot of "fun" things, till I turned 18, decided it was time to stop then. Never got hurt from chemistry stuff, had a wood arrow crack as I fired it (arrow went all OVER - I was wondering what in the WORLD had happened till I noticed that the web of by bow hand was numb, looked and there was a 1.5" piece of arrow shaft still sticking out of there... Oops.) Had my own dog bite me as I oopsed and tried to break up a dog fight. And lots of cuts from pressure and percussion flaking Obsidian, that dang stuff throws sharp flakes that cut well - But you don't feel it for a while then it just starts to itch a little... Clean cuts at least!

[john.k]

the law has gone crazy now for junior experimenters......when we blew up old car bodies,it was just a hoot......now the cops want to make it a terrorist attack.....all to make them look good at budget increase time............even my nephew got busted for just shooting into a old car body.......cops all think theyre in nazi germany now,and they are the bosses.......no tolerance of anything.....all trying to get the weekly quota of busts for their promotion.

[RED BEAR]

I still have the evidence of my stupidity when I about blew my finger off almost 50 years ago.

I made a cannon barrel on the lathe in 8th or 9th grade metal shop, still have it too.



When I got the cannon home, me and a neighbor kid decided to load and shoot it. We went out to the workbench where my Mec 600 JR was mounted and dropped some Red Dot and then funneled it into the cannon. I would guess it was 70-90 grains worth. Having watched plenty of TV we “knew” the gunpowder HAD to packed before adding the projectile. I stick a Philips head screwdriver down the barrel and hold both the cannon barrel and screwdriver vertically. Then the neighbor kid starts whacking the handle of the screwdriver with a hammer. Just as the word “STO...p” was coming out of my mouth, you guessed it, KABOOM!

The kid started crying and immediately bolted for home as fast as that shaft from the screwdriver blasted through the plastic handle and through the ceiling. The kid wasn’t hurt, just scared to pieces. Meanwhile my hand feels like a combination of numbness, intense stinging and burning. The base of my middle finger looked like blackened hamburger. The opposing fingers had superficial wounds.

We went to a new hospital close by, but they couldn’t handle it, so they sent us somewhere else. I just remembered the intense pain that lasted for days (and back then they didn’t give pain pills to kids, even in later years when I broke my wrist twice). I don’t know how they repaired without stitches, there was nothing to stitch. But it healed eventually with permanent black stains tattooed that looked like buckshot for over 30 years. Then the color faded to a light gray the last 15-20 years.



There was some neurological damage. When gripping tight water skiing, playing baseball, golf and such, the middle and ring finger would become paralyzed until the grip was released. I learned to live with it and adapt, what else could I do?

Thats a nice looking barrel. The ones i made were of brass and 3 foot long with a 1 1/2 and 2 inch bore . I could have cried when they made me cut them up. This wasn't the only reason but it was one of them why the temp shop teacher got fired.

[LUBEDUDE]

Thats a nice looking barrel. The ones i made were of brass and 3 foot long with a 1 1/2 and 2 inch bore . I could have cried when they made me cut them up. This wasn't the only reason but it was one of them why the temp shop teacher got fired.

Wow, you and John K. were making artillery! Mine was just toy comparatively at 6-7 inches.

[RED BEAR]

Wow, you and John K. were making artillery! Mine was just toy comparatively at 6-7 inches.

Samething different scale. My brother and i were messing with one and blew a hole in the foundation of our house.luckily it was under the pourch and wasn't discovered for over 20 years.

[LUBEDUDE]

Samething different scale. My brother and i were messing with one and blew a hole in the foundation of our house.luckily it was under the pourch and wasn't discovered for over 20 years.

Couldn’t help but laugh. Sounds so much like me and my brother!
I miss him dearly.

[Tom W.]

My cannon was made from a sawed off 12 ga. barrel that was threaded in the "breech" end, fitted with a bolt was was MIG welded. The base was a decent size of channel iron. I used some kind of metal strap to hold it down and a heavy L bracket to keep it from going backwards. That proved to be a poor choice. back then black powder was cheap, and you could find CVA cannon fuse almost everywhere. The fuse hole was placed just in front of the bolt that served as a breech. 70 grains of 2f or 3f with a toilet paper wads and a bunch of .25 inch aluminum balls did really well.

Then I tried 100 gr.
The first did really well, I was estatic. I always lit the fuse and ran and hid behind a big pecan tree.
The second load went off. I found the carriage, the straps were broken and the L bracket was sheared off. I looked into the hill that was a backstop, as I was in a gulley, and saw fresh dirt about thirty feet to the rear of where the cannon discharged. I had to go home and get a shovel to dig that thing out of the bank. I wasn't 10 then, more like 27, married and had three kids. I think I traded the "cannon" to a friend of mine for something that I can't recall anymore.

It's true, the older one gets the more dangerous are his toys......

[Traffer]

We used pipes. One of our friends (when aged 12 or 13) saw that we were making cannons and thought he would give it a try.This is how he made his. And this is the result:
He put a pipe in the vise in his dad's garage drilled a hole near the end for the fuse. Didn't have a proper cap for the pipe so he drove a bolt in the breech with a hammer. Loaded it with a half a box of powder from shotgun shells, wadded it nice and tight and poured in the #6 shot from the same shells. In order to keep the shot from coming out he had it in the vise on a slightly upward trajectory. (Remember in the his dads garage vise) He lit it. I went off. The shot went into a case of oil on the shelf (right where it was aiming) and punctured about 6 quarts of oil. Which obviously started running all over the back of the garage. The breech bolt exited the pipe. Went keyholing through garage door and hit his dads car just under the head light, making a nice deep dent. Poor kid. We laughed for weeks.

[LUBEDUDE]

Too bad we didn’t have our current wisdom when we were young.

Hopefully most of us gained much of our wisdom at the expense of other’s folly.

[john.k]

Me and a friend found huge piles of old magazines and newspapers in his grandparents barn in a sort of living quarters up high ........anyway ,we got the bright idea of firing a rifle into a big stack that would stop the bullets.......unfortunately ,that wasnt quite right.....we shot dozens of 303s into a stack as high as were were,but didnt realize the middle of the stack was turning into confetti,and down in the barn we were turning an old truck into a swiss cheese.....Dunno how we ever got away with that one.