spitfire Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 Most stupid thing that was pyro related... 3 actually. First one: made 50/50 zinc powder and sulfur. Got it from some obscure cookbook that said it was a smoke powder... back in those days, without thinking, i lit 2 spoons full of it with a match.. *BOOM* and my hand was burned BADLY. Thank god the hospital didn't raise any questions but what stuff was involved to get it disinfected. I have slept for 2 nights with my hand in a bucket of cold water, that painful. The blisters where as thick as my fingers itself, but it healed great. 2nd one: in a lack of quick fuse i lit 6'' shells with just 3'' visco, and a tapematch fuse running to the lift charge. I always covered the tapematch with loads of paste, but this one must have had a leak somewhere. The shells where top fused because i just learned it was a more reliable way.... Lit the fuse, threw the shell in the tube and as i turned my head BOOM... it was gone. What was i thinking??!? I could have died right there, if i was 1 inch closer to the mortar with my coconut. All i remember is a blinding flash and massive heat, combined with a deep ''THUMM''.Third: ...making 6'' shells loaded with vitamin F 70/30, as a ground salute and lit one just outside the village... it shook my pants, the village, and left i massive crater on the soft swampy ground. This event reminded me this was the last time EVER i am going to make a noisy device. Shaking hands and sweating everywhere i drove back home. Thinking about how dumb that idea was. Only positive thing i get out of this story, i learned what not to do with the knowledge we have as pyros.Now, 10 years after the last stupid thing, i am more cautious of the materials we work with than ever before. I got away with it with only minor injuries but what will other people do who can just order KClO3 and black aluminium for a few bucks on the internet... it just has to go wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drthrust Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 testing 3lb motors after a very dry spell (a very unusual occurrence here in the uk!) anyways.. said rocket went up, flew well ,header worked fine then " rocket comes down again", lands in a field a good 300 yards away, and from my view point i can see the gentle flicker of flames. so.. im off like a scalded cat to do the right thing a stamp out the fire, running as fast as i can down a small slope to then run back up another, unfortunately for me as this is all in the dark of the night , and i didn't see the barbed wire fence ... yep ran into it full steam and cut my arm real bad blood every were, still got the five inch "L" shaped scar four years on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 testing 3lb motors after a very dry spell (a very unusual occurrence here in the uk!) anyways.. said rocket went up, flew well ,header worked fine then " rocket comes down again", lands in a field a good 300 yards away, and from my view point i can see the gentle flicker of flames. so.. im off like a scalded cat to do the right thing a stamp out the fire, running as fast as i can down a small slope to then run back up another, unfortunately for me as this is all in the dark of the night , and i didn't see the barbed wire fence ... yep ran into it full steam and cut my arm real bad blood every were, still got the five inch "L" shaped scar four years on That's where you learn ''the right thing'' isn't always the best thing. At least, not for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lampare Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 That's where you learn ''the right thing'' isn't always the best thing. At least, not for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eb11 Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 i am a newbie at this and i read in one of the posts saying not to put pyro chemicals in the trash you should burn them off. so being the good new pyro i had some leftover hot prime mix that i used on my red parlon stars. I figured it was contaminated with the red color so i was not going to use it on my other stars, so i took a little bit of the prime put it on a metal pan. I did not put a fuse to light it i figured i could light it with my torch and run away fast enough, when it lit all i felt was this increadible heat on the side of my body luckily i was not burned but i will use a fuse next time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taiwanluthiers Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 I tested quick match, had stars in a cupboard at one corner with a loose fitting room. I read about making matchless quickmatch by making a paper pipe so I took a strip of paper, put double sided tape inside, stuck it with granulated bp and capped both ends with visco fuse. Well I taped the entire thing to the table to keep it from moving. I lit the fuse, and once the fuse reached the granulated bp it burned in seconds. Somehow a spark had shot behind me and lit the stars and other comps in the cupboard. The whole thing shot out with 3 foot flames, instantly filled the shop with smoke, I was able to put out any fires (thank God houses in Taiwan is made from concrete) but had to answer questions from the fire department. I told them it was a paint fire and thank god they did not look further. Everything in the cupboard was vaporized, container and all... So now all comps are stored in a separate room, small scale tests done in another small room with a fume hood, and no pyro materials in the main work area. It was scary for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
val77 Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 once with a cake of shit I almost caused a fire ...bombette one is not up high enough is is falling in the grass and start a fireI had the reflex to take off my t shirt and hit the fire with I managed to turn it offSince that day, I always bring a bottle of water in case I put the fire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 Ground testing 32mm C8 comets and didnt bring enough blackmatch for the last one. Instead of trudging 100ft to the shed i decided to light it at arms length with a lighter. Good thing i had the reflexes of a cat that day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFeve81 Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 I was testing 3/4" crossettes. Made a 6 shot cake to test them with but didn't have it secured down as well as I thought. First one shot skyward and jetted, THEN the cake fell over. Next shot bounced off the side of the house, second and third shot went somewhere behind me. Next two shots went off in front of me somewhere and the final shot went skyward again. Breaking into a perfect cross. Kind of ironic huh? Didn't get hurt or burn anything down, thank god, but learned to go overboard on the securing items down and to move away from the house a little more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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