Sunday, June 20, 2010

Blow Up The World Report

A fun event for everyone, from the smallest kids, about 5 or 6, to the oldest coots.

Food turned out to be a large Styrofoam cup containing, in this order, mashed potatoes, beans, pulled pork, spicy sausage slices, Cole slaw, and barbecue sauce as topping. This combo works really well, and actually has a name, which I have forgotten.

Speaking of forgetting, I managed to forget the camera, the mortar chambered for the golf balls, my club badge, the box of clay birds, and extra applications of sunblock.

What was fun was thinking, as I load stuff into the truck, "How many of your guns require you to check the tire pressure before a trip to the range?"

Testing, testing. OK, start with a 1 quart oil bottle, with all the oil carefully removed. Drill a 1/8" hole through the cap, and push a 3 inch length of cannon fuse 1/4 inch through it. Seal the fuse with silicone goo. when dry, set the cap aside, and fill the bottle with water in a bucket. Invert the bottle, and bubble in a stoichiometric* mix of Oxygen and Acetylene from your gas welder**. Lift bottle from bucket, and quickly screw on the cap.

Take bottle outdoors, lay on ground, light fuse, and get away***.

So many of our nations traditions have been stolen from us by the nanny state, it's good to know how to get some of them back.

* Stoichiometric: A mix of chemicals, exactly sufficient to the expected reaction. In this case, set up your torch with gas, and only just enough oxygen to just barely get rid of the last trace of yellow in the flame.

** You don't have one? Were you looking for an excuse to get one? Here you go.

*** Minimum distance for these is 30 feet. Ask me how I know.

These things, when made from balloons, are static sensitive. If you make up a box full for someones football party, or some such, DO NOT transport the box in the back seat of your car. Click the link to find out why not.

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