The Chandlery says I'm not allowed to buy paint.

[Alan de Enfield]

20 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

If you put soap in it it's not as runny ...

 

Alternatively, Styrofoam and a bit of Nitrogen Fertiliser, a bit of petrol and you have a powerful napalm bomb (sticks and keeps burning)

[TheBiscuits]

7 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Alternatively, [mix of common household ingredients] and you have a powerful napalm bomb (sticks and keeps burning)

 

I stopped talking about common liquid fuels and common garden products after it became a criminal offence to post it online ...

Edited September 2, 2020 by TheBiscuits

[Alan de Enfield]

1 minute ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

I stopped talking about common liquid fuels and common garden products after it became a criminal offence to post it online ...

Ooops !

[TheBiscuits]

 

I'm not sure I should mention cheaply available radio receivers and short lengths of scaffolding tube either!

[Alan de Enfield]

Just now, TheBiscuits said:

 

I'm not sure I should mention cheaply available radio receivers and short lengths of scaffolding tube either!

Best not 'JIC'.

 

 

O' didn't we have a great childhood free to roam and enjoy life - non of this namby-pamby nanny state

[TheBiscuits]

2 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Best not 'JIC'.

 

 

O' didn't we have a great childhood free to roam and enjoy life - non of this namby-pamby nanny state

 

We voluntarily stopped doing it during one of the IRA bombing campaigns, as it was starting to get a bit silly.

 

At that point we could easily dig a 20 feet wide crater about 8 feet deep in a fraction of a second from a couple of miles away ...

 

I blame our chemistry master!

[Laurie Booth]

I had a problem with buying from a firm that would only deal with  "Trade" So I went back home and on my computer printed out a lovely headed note paper "Captain Pugwash Marine Services" and they sold me the item I wanted.

[Laurie Booth]

5 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Alternatively, Styrofoam and a bit of Nitrogen Fertiliser, a bit of petrol and you have a powerful napalm bomb (sticks and keeps burning)

You also need 10% sugar. Best way to set the pipe bomb off is to use a penny banger. Jet X fuses are ok but to get a better bang for your money, you need to detonate the mixture. You must be very careful filling the scaffolding tube as it could explode if too much pressure is applied.  

Edited September 2, 2020 by Laurie Booth

[dor]

13 minutes ago, Laurie Booth said:

You also need 10% sugar. Best way to set the pipe bomb off is to use a penny banger. Jet X fuses are ok but to get a better bang for your money, you need to detonate the mixture. You must be very careful filling the scaffolding tube as it could explode if too much pressure is applied.  

Ah yes Jetex fuse.  The timer of choice for all young bomb makers.   Having an oast house nearby meant a ready supply of sulphur, charcoal easy to obtain and bags of KNO3 from the agricultural merchants (used for curing sheepskins I believe).

[Laurie Booth]

2 minutes ago, dor said:

Ah yes Jetex fuse.  The timer of choice for all young bomb makers.   Having an oast house nearby meant a ready supply of sulphur, charcoal easy to obtain and bags of KNO3 from the agricultural merchants (used for curing sheepskins I believe).

When at school, I used acid to detonate the pipe bomb to blow up trees, the acid would burn its way to the bomb. This would give me plenty of time to be away from the explosion. In the end I managed to be in the school assembly when it went off so I was "Innocent" when the tree fell down.

[DandV]

6 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

I stopped talking about common liquid fuels and common garden products after it became a criminal offence to post it online ...

"Lock him up"

That common garden fertiliser here is always heavily diluted with gypsum except for a specialised supply chain to quarries etc.

I think to them it is transported as a slurry.

[Bee]

Crumbs! I thought it was just me that blew things up! There was a small bridge, just a couple of sleepers really over a ditch that was never quite the same again near my home after an experiment. Jetex fuse eh, haven' seen that for years. They were the days, kids today, no idea how to rub two sticks together to light fires, mend punctures in bikes, blow things up, all useful life skills.

[TheBiscuits]

39 minutes ago, Bee said:

kids today, no idea how to rub two sticks together to light fires, mend punctures in bikes, blow things up, all useful life skills.

 

I think rubbing Boy Scouts together is frowned upon these days.  Still, they introduced me to the many uses of Potassium Permanganate. 

 

"No constable, it's for water purification so I can make a cup of tea when out hiking.  That's what the sugar is for too.  And the weak acid is mostly lemon juice because I like lemon in my tea."

 

It's not like there are any other possible uses for this portable brew kit is it? 

 

These newfangled water purification bottles and filters have spoilt all the fun!

 

[Up-Side-Down]

21 hours ago, matty40s said:

Well, I went to Swindling Swithlanders the other day and asked for a 4"flue pipe and a reducing collar and first got told no, not for Morso squirrels. I asked again and got told 3 times that they didn't recommend it, had I measured it correctly, didnt I mean 4 1/2".

No, 4" flue thankyou, you do stock them don't you??......yes, but we dont recommend them...

Arghhh, just give me the flue.

Right or wrong I'm glad that somebody in a position to influence a purchase actually cares. The way BSC looks at flues isn't going to do very much to reduce CO poisoning. It's just the fall back of a CO monitor at present that will stop fatalities.

[Chris Lowe]

39 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

These newfangled water purification bottles and filters have spoilt all the fun!

My fun is playing with that ancient stuff those dastardly Chinese invented black powder

[David Mack]

As a kid I found an old tin of lamp carbide in the garage. Drop a bit of that into a jam jar of water, wait a moment and apply a light, and you get a nice pop.

 

And down by the canal with a mate, one of us would poke the bottom with a long stick to disturb the decaying leaves so bubbles of methane came up, while the other had an upturned jam jar full of water and tried to catch the ascending bubbles. Once the jar was full of gas, turn it the right way up, allow a few moments for the gas to mix with air, then chuck in a lighted match...

[TheBiscuits]

8 minutes ago, David Mack said:

And down by the canal with a mate, one of us would poke the bottom with a long stick to disturb the decaying leaves so bubbles of methane came up, while the other had an upturned jam jar full of water and tried to catch the ascending bubbles. Once the jar was full of gas, turn it the right way up, allow a few moments for the gas to mix with air, then chuck in a lighted match...

 

The aforementioned chemistry teacher had a nice little demonstration using an empty syrup tin with a small hole in the top and bottom and a bunsen burner.

 

Fill the tin with methane from the bunsen, then turn off the gas tap and light the escaping gas at the top hole.  At first it burns slowly, like a small candle flame, then as the gas/air mixture reaches the explosive ratio the lid flies off with a satisfying bang.  The day he put the lid on a bit too tight was very memorable, but the lab got new ceiling tiles and he was asked not to do it again!

[Alan de Enfield]

52 minutes ago, Up-Side-Down said:

The way BSC looks at flues isn't going to do very much to reduce CO poisoning. It's just the fall back of a CO monitor at present that will stop fatalities.

You seem to be working on a misapprehension about what the aims of the BSS are - they are not to 'protect the boater' (as many think) but are to protect  3rd parties.

 

You are legally allowed to kill yourself if you want to and the BSS cannot implement rules to reduce, or stop the risk. The BSS 'Mission Staement' (Taken from their website) is :

 

The Boat Safety Scheme, or BSS, is a public safety initiative owned equally by the Canal & River Trust and the Environment Agency. Its purpose is to help minimise the risk of boat fires, explosions, or pollution harming visitors to the inland waterways, the waterways' workforce and any other users.

 

NOTE : No mention of the boat owner / skipper.

 

The BSS only managed to get CO monitors included into the requirements on some lateral thinking that if another boater was running a generator on the bank the CO could leak into your boat, having a CO alarm then protects you from the actions of others.

 

I have no issue with the use of CO alarms, Smoke alarms, LPG Gas alarms, or bilge alarms, any safety conscious boater would fit them voluntarily anyway.

[1st ade]

13 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

The aforementioned chemistry teacher had a nice little demonstration using an empty syrup tin with a small hole in the top and bottom and a bunsen burner.

 

Fill the tin with methane from the bunsen, then turn off the gas tap and light the escaping gas at the top hole.  At first it burns slowly, like a small candle flame, then as the gas/air mixture reaches the explosive ratio the lid flies off with a satisfying bang.  The day he put the lid on a bit too tight was very memorable, but the lab got new ceiling tiles and he was asked not to do it again!

Our chemistry teacher was sacked for filling a black dustbin liner with a hydrogen / oxygen mix and igniting it electrically from a safe distance.

 

It wasn't the explosion, nor even the cracked windows that got him sacked but asking all the pupils to lay on the floor motionless before the Headmaster ran in...

[MrsM]

I do hope the security services aren't following this thread or you will all be rounded up and given a stern talking to! ?

As a property restorer I had to register with the HSE to buy paint stripper - same stuff you used to be able to buy anywhere before. Many of these products can be bought/used without registration in an industrial setting but you need a certificate to show you are sensible to buy them as a professional. 

Edited September 3, 2020 by MrsM

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, 1st ade said:

Our chemistry teacher was sacked for filling a black dustbin liner with a hydrogen / oxygen mix and igniting it electrically from a safe distance.

 

It wasn't the explosion, nor even the cracked windows that got him sacked but asking all the pupils to lay on the floor motionless before the Headmaster ran in...

 

Our chemistry teacher explained that the reaction between hydrogen gas and chlorine gas is photosensitive. So on a bright sunny day, we were all lined up outside the science block, while inside, with the blinds down, he filled a baloon with gas from the hydrogen and chlorine cylinders. Then, on his shout from inside, someone opened the door, and he came running out holding the baloon aloft. There was a big bang. And presumably we were all showered with hydrochloric acid!

[TheBiscuits]

2 hours ago, MrsM said:

I do hope the security services aren't following this thread or you will all be rounded up and given a stern talking to! ?

 

Most of us wouldn't be able to hear them as we didn't tend to use ear defenders! 

 

[Jim Riley]

I did training as a welder, using the correct mix of oxy acetylene in a fag packet with a hole in makes a most impressive bang. Even more so when you use a small steel tube capped at one end with a "fuse" hole in. 

 

Edited September 3, 2020 by Jim Riley

[1st ade]

3 hours ago, MrsM said:

As a property restorer I had to register with the HSE to buy paint stripper - same stuff you used to be able to buy anywhere before.

I experienced this sort of "reverse H&S" the first day I had a proper job, over 36 years ago now. I walked into an electronic design lab and (apparently) they used to build the first prototype literally in the lab. If that worked OK they made rough sketches which allowed the next half dozen to be made, then "proper drawings" etc as the design was refined.

 

Anyway, our electronic lab had a couple of really nice workshops attached where someone such as me (degree in electronics and nothing else) could cut steel sheet, drill and countersink, weld, spray paint, etch printed circuit boards etc. The day I started the site H&S officer had been in and confiscated the grinding wheel as no one was qualified to use it and it was regarded as hazardous. Not a problem, many of those employed had home workshops (as they were into classic cars and the like) and had far more dangerous tools at home than they were allowed at work. Although I do wonder how much the Foreign Office realised that prototype No 1 of it's latest radio equipment had a chassis de-burred in a private garage...

 

 

[Machpoint005]

21 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Best not 'JIC'.

 

 

O' didn't we have a great childhood free to roam and enjoy life - non of this namby-pamby nanny state

 

16 hours ago, Laurie Booth said:

You also need 10% sugar. Best way to set the pipe bomb off is to use a penny banger. Jet X fuses are ok but to get a better bang for your money, you need to detonate the mixture. You must be very careful filling the scaffolding tube as it could explode if too much pressure is applied.  

 

In my teens, a lad of my acquaintance managed to blow three fingers off doing just that.

 

I thought he was a tw@ back then, and my opinion hasn't changed. My old man was a chemistry teacher, though.