Pyro Confession box

[Cookieman]

I know it isn't easy admitting to mistakes especially when we are all extremely carefull and practice safety on a daily basis. But i'm sure that some of us have done at least one dumb thing in pyrotecknics that we regret. Hey we're all human. I guess I'll be the first to start since I started this thread. A few years ago I launched a 6"inch D1 shell into the air and as I watched it accend and decend, it hit the ground without it bursting open. Like an idiot, I started to move closer to it to see that the timefuse was still lit. I turned away from it and ran. 3 seconds later, it went off and showered the ground with D1 stars. It caused two brush fires which I put out as I always carry a fire extinguisher with me. luckily,no one was hurt but I still have nightmares about it.

[AdmiralDonSnider]

I once tested a batch of CIA powder against a hand-ground BP I had made earlier. The latter was contained in a glass (!) jar. On ignition of the test quantities a spark hit the jar, which stood closely and was open (!). Thank god that the powder in there was slow and not granulated, but it still made a jet of fire several feet in height and burned one sqm of grass. The glass broke due to the heat, but did not explode.

 

Avoid glass, separate test and storage area, never carry large quantities to the test area, don´t be impatient etc.

[dagabu]

See my post on Flash Safety, stupid x2!

[Pretty green flame]

Coffee grinder and black powder. Ended badly....Don't do this

[Seymour]

Oh no, I'm sure that would have been very unplesant!

 

Worst case I have is probably being one of those people that tested stars by throwing them, stupidly holding a handful of stars at the same time.

 

They all lit of course. Deep burns.

[jwitt]

Yikes...I've always done 'em one at a time- I guess my fears were valid?

 

I had a bit of a surprise with a larger-than-usual sheet of paper that I used to catch screened whistle mix (was windy, so needed a decent size sheet)...there was only a little whistle dust stuck on it from the humidity, but when tossed in the fire *BOOM*

 

Heh...well, hey, it wasn't a "ground salute"

 

Since I'm fairly paranoid, this wasn't totally unexpected, so everything was generally safe. I figured it would just sizzle though- it couldn't have been more than 2g, but it went off with a nice, deep report. Didn't throw burning embers from the fire, but the sheet of paper jumped out of the fire ring and onto the ground- not even smoldering.

[Mumbles]

I don't know if this is really a pyro no-no or just lack of common sense, but I just got in from pressing comets outside in a thunder storm. On the plus side, the rain should clean up the lampblack-y mess I left.

[pyrochris732]

started out being interested in Kewl bombs. It got old pretty quick though. At least I researched it enough to do it as safely as can be.

 

I also dropped a finished shell on the ground because i was rushing around.

[Twotails]

well, i was making the S, Chlorate, ground glass mixture for crackling balls, and decided to use it as a pellet rifle target(in small quantitys, i knew it was powerful) shot it a few time nothing happened, went over took the target off the peice of wood with a wood-hook and set it on the ground. i took a small stone, MABY 50 or less grams in weight. stepped back and tossed it on the powder..... next thing i heard was a crazy loud sharp crack, and my ears were ringing, and me head felt distorted. nothing hit me, but it was scary as hell.

 

also in an attemp to make a "Super" sparkler i wrapped a bunch of fuse's around a stick, added some various powders(Mill dust, diffrent star comps, chlorate turbo flare) wrapped it in paper stuck a fuse in the top, lit it outside in the ground, and kaboom! a collum of fire shot at me, i was left eyebrow-less(left eye only) and left arm hairless. Not a good thing havent made sparklers sence! its on my youtube as a super sparkler.

 

God, i think back and damn, what was i thinking!

[50AE]

 

One of the dumbest things I've done is pasting shells at work. Well, I'm just a security sitting on a chair, so I have to do an activity to make time pass faster. It was on December 2009, I had to hurry for the NYE. When people where passing by, I was hiding the shell and I was still doing my job, hehe.

 

I still do pyro work on the job, but only paper work though. And it makes me nervous when people ask me "what are you doing?", because I can't say to everyone I do pyro. And maybe they think I have the mentality of a kid from the primary school or something. My last answer to one guy was "It's too complicated to be explained"

 

Edited May 27, 2010 by 50AE

[jwitt]

Ha! I cut some paper tape strips at work the other day. I do all my research and note taking here at the office too, when I'm not busy. I've thought of pasting up a shell, but even though it's safe, it's not a good idea.

[Miech]

I once made a small nice sparkler. I thought because it was so small I could hold it in my hand while lighting it. It turned out to be a bad idea...

[Peret]

Bless me pyros, for I have sinned. It's been about 40 years since my last confession.

 

When I first discovered flash powder, I decided to try and shoot a potato with it (I was very young and ignorant). My mortar was a six inch lenth of 1 inch steel pipe. I "cored" a potato with it to get a slug about an inch long, put a small amount of flash behind it, and stuck the pipe - unplugged - about 3 inches into the soft earth of a flower bed. Lit the fuse and retired about 15 feet. It went off with a kind of dull "whump", not a report. I didn't see the potato fire, so I thought it was a dud. Then after about three or four seconds, it started raining earth... I found the tube (with potato) at the bottom of a hemispherical crater about ten inches across and five deep. I still break out in a sweat when I think about what could have happened.

[Cookieman]

Bless me pyros, for I have sinned. It's been about 40 years since my last confession.

 

When I first discovered flash powder, I decided to try and shoot a potato with it (I was very young and ignorant). My mortar was a six inch lenth of 1 inch steel pipe. I "cored" a potato with it to get a slug about an inch long, put a small amount of flash behind it, and stuck the pipe - unplugged - about 3 inches into the soft earth of a flower bed. Lit the fuse and retired about 15 feet. It went off with a kind of dull "whump", not a report. I didn't see the potato fire, so I thought it was a dud. Then after about three or four seconds, it started raining earth... I found the tube (with potato) at the bottom of a hemispherical crater about ten inches across and five deep. I still break out in a sweat when I think about what could have happened.

 

Your pennance my son, is eating 5 baked potatoes.

[Cookieman]

 

One of the dumbest things I've done is pasting shells at work. Well, I'm just a security sitting on a chair, so I have to do an activity to make time pass faster. It was on December 2009, I had to hurry for the NYE. When people where passing by, I was hiding the shell and I was still doing my job, hehe.

 

I still do pyro work on the job, but only paper work though. And it makes me nervous when people ask me "what are you doing?", because I can't say to everyone I do pyro. And maybe they think I have the mentality of a kid from the primary school or something. My last answer to one guy was "It's too complicated to be explained"

 

 

I've done that, and still do.Having your own business has its advantages. I stepped out one time and left four 6"inch pasted shells on the table.When I returned, a lady was staring at them and asked me what they were. With my quick thinking, I told her they were mini pignata's for a kids party.She said to me "wow" what a great idea!! how much are they I want to buy some. I think my best story is when I had a batch of D1 stars drying and as I went to check my mail, a lady walked in while I was away and As I walked in, I was in shock, to see her munching on my D1 stars.She thought they were mini rumballs. I told her to spit it out and rince out her mouth as I told her they were smoke pellets for the BarBQ.

[Peret]

She thought they were mini rumballs. I told her to spit it out and rince out her mouth as I told her they were smoke pellets for the BarBQ.

Wow, quick thinking! Good recovery there. But they must have tasted foul, all salty and gritty.

[OneEyeCharlie]

Told my wife that pyro is an inexpensive hobby

[Cookieman]

Wow, quick thinking! Good recovery there. But they must have tasted foul, all salty and gritty.

 

 

That's exactly what she said!!

[50AE]

Speaking of munching, I remember when I was a beginner and I was angry because my C6 stars didn't break in perfect squares when I was cutting them, so I took some of the ugly squared C6 wet stars and munched them with anger. Next, I spat up everything in the sink

[Swede]

This is a good thread, and I'm surprised it hasn't had a better and longer life.

 

I have two stages of Pyro to draw upon, a kewl phase that was over 30 years ago, and my current phase.

 

Kewl Dayzz: My buddy and I made "bombs" by pinching thousands of those red plastic "wasp gun" caps and gathering the powder. It was faintly red, mixed with glass or some grit, and probably a chlorate/red phosphorous mixture. A death mix. We'd wrap it tightly, pounding away to get good compaction, and wrap it with about 1,000 layers of duct tape. Then, we'd coat it with clay to make it look like a Wile E. Coyote cartoon bomb. These packed a powerful punch. Lucky to have all my digits.

 

A NG synth went VERY wrong in a back high-school lab, and put about a liter of mineral acid on the floor. I ran. Didn't get caught.

 

Modern days: I've been petty safe. The stupidest was my test of about 1.5 grams of flash left over from a build. I didn't want to store it, so I put it in a tiny ziploc bag and stuck in a fuse. Thinking I'd get zero report, and wanting a modest bang, I decided to set it on the ground and placed a standard building brick on it. The bang was an ear splitting, neighborhood-echoing boom. The brick was in several pieces, and one of them went by my head at a dangerous velocity. Since I didn't do FP in my youth, this was my first up-close and personal experience with this extremely potent comp.

Edited June 28, 2010 by Swede

[TheEskimo]

I once had my hand still held around a 1 pound cored BP rocket with an untested spindle, all the while a fuse was burning. The insurance company did not appreciate this. Thank god my thumb works just fine. Apparently I missed tendons and nerves by literally a millimeter or two. My scar leaves a line right down the middle wide spot between thumb and pointer finger, beginning near the base of the thumb, continuing towards the finger tips, and coming down my palm a bit. Now whenever I show people the scar, I say that I fought off a bear....

I'll post a picture if I get around to it.

[DanishPyro]

Must be a few years back, when me and a friend was real k33wlZ, we opened firecrackers to get flash, and made our own 'big' salutes from them.

I think there was arround 0.5-0.7g of standard flash, and, it had very short fuse.. It blew up in my hand, and i couldn't feel anything for a day, and my

ears were ringing for a week.. Damn, i got respect for flash now!

[50AE]

Many of us have done idiotic things in their k3wl stage. I remember when I synthesized an evil organic peroxide. It was fun lighting milligrams of it and watching it go POOF. I decided to bring some to school and make the others wonder what it is, but I've never told anyone. When bored, I was even lighting in class sometimes. Once I did it when the teacher was a few meters front of me, then the POOF went, she turned to me scared, saw the lighter in my hands and took it away from me.

 

I remember I brought screen granulated BP once. The same teacher took the small container once and asked me what it was. "Pepper", I replied. "Pepper? It looks weird, it doesn't exactly like pepper". Somehow I persuaded her that it was a special kind.

 

I'm not sure if I have done something "k3wlisher" than this. All I can do is thank to God that organic compounds with a few peroxide molecules attached didn't go high speed in the classroom.

[guntoteninfadel]

Errbody done something stupid thats for sure. On our last rocket challenge after I finished making my 16 "timed" salutes I had some grams of F left over. I put them in a small container and put a very substantial fuse on it. Of course I had to go get the neighbors to watch. Not wanting to light it flat on the ground (gravel ya know) I flipped a clay flower pot and put it on top to light. Once lit we all backed up a good 75 feet and waited and waited and waited, man that fuse was long. Of course when it went off it shook the windows of all the neighbors, people showed up out side looking around. There was only dust left of the flower pot, my son slipped the lighter in my hand and we all just stood there. When I saw my other neighbors all I could say was "Did yall hear that? What was that?" Fortunately the police did not show up and I have not done that again!

[spitfire]

Told my wife that pyro is an inexpensive hobby

 

Priceless!