37 replies to this topic

[cooperman435]

Lol

I think plenty of you all out there have had the same experience as me by the looks of it.

Finding out at a young age that the process of making smoke composition of oxidiser and sugar caramelised together that hardens into pellets has a tendency to be EXTREMELY flamable when hot and that dreaded low hiss that grows very quickly.

No injuries if you ignore the tent on the shelf above that ended up very draughty by my valuable lesson in safety.

Ive since invested in an electric hob for outdor use.

[EnigmaticBiker]

I've got a few, first one with a commercial firework.
One bonfire night many years ago I had bought an airb0mb repeater, a big fat one that promised to be really exciting. With the whole family assembled in the smallish suburban garden, we watched a few more pedestrian fireworks glow and spit sparks.
Then the airb0mb came out.
It was supposed to be a three shot one and having lit it I retired to the patio about five metres away.
A few sparks then the whole lot went up lift, delay, shots, the lot; in an enormous boom I still remember today.
Tiny bits of paper slowly drifted down as the whole family picked themselves up to a mass ringing of ears...
Hilarious.

[BrightStar]

This one is not strictly pyro, but a home chemistry related experience I will never forget....

When I was about 13 years old, during one of those long hot summer holidays, I decided to try solvent extraction of some or other obscure substance (probably based on botanicals I had gathered in the garden). I inadvisedly decided to try using Ethyl Ether, sourced from a can of car engine starter. The experiment went well, and I poured away the excess solvent into the large ceramic sink in my 'lab', feeling quite pleased with myself.

Suddenly, there was a flash and a column of flame erupted in front of me, seeming to fill most of the wall. As I dived for the door, I remembered I had left a small spirit burner lit on the far side of the room. The fumes from the Ether must have rolled down the long work surface and found their way to it...

Thankfully, such were the ferocity of the flames, they burnt themselves out fairly quickly. There was nothing flammable in the concrete outhouse so no real harm was done... Very scary at the time though, seeing an experiment that you are in charge of transform instantly into a situation where you have no control at all. It has made me treat flammable solvents with great respect ever since...

Edited by BrightStar, 13 March 2007 - 12:04 PM.

[Frozentech]

Thankfully, such were the ferocity of the flames, that they burnt themselves out fairly quickly. There was nothing flammable in the concrete outhouse so no real harm was done... Very scary at the time though, seeing an experiment that you are in charge of transform instantly into a situation where you have no control at all. It has made me treat flammable solvents with great respect ever since...

This reminds me of a fellow I know of, who I will not name.

He was working with NC/acetone solvent, when the air along the top of his workbench burst into flame. It caught some drying stars, and most unfortunately, some crossettes he was in the process of priming the bottom of. The crossettes popped, strewing flame all over the shop, including a 2nd workbench ~3 meters across the room. On that bench were bags full of whistle mix and KP on rice hulls. (By this time he had exited the room! )
The burst mixes blew, filling the entire room with a torchlike fireball. the flame was fast, and as soon is it died down, he went back in, and used his fire extinguishers to put out the residual fires.

He escaped with "only" minor burns, but there were 10,000 Euros damage to the room, and he was evicted from his home.

Since I learned about this incident, acetone and other volatile solvents scare me more than flash does.

[pyrotrev]

This reminds me of a fellow I know of, who I will not name.

He was working with NC/acetone solvent, when the air along the top of his workbench burst into flame. It caught some drying stars, and most unfortunately, some crossettes he was in the process of priming the bottom of. The crossettes popped, strewing flame all over the shop, including a 2nd workbench ~3 meters across the room. On that bench were bags full of whistle mix and KP on rice hulls. (By this time he had exited the room! )
The burst mixes blew, filling the entire room with a torchlike fireball. the flame was fast, and as soon is it died down, he went back in, and used his fire extinguishers to put out the residual fires.

He escaped with "only" minor burns, but there were 10,000 Euros damage to the room, and he was evicted from his home.

Since I learned about this incident, acetone and other volatile solvents scare me more than flash does.

Seems to me this is a good example of why it's considered good practice to only work on one thing at a time and return finished items to your store as soon as they've been completed!!!!

[EnigmaticBiker]

Having worked in labs for years, I made my own chemicals.
One day I decided to make 50g of a thermite mix using FeO rather than Fe2O3. Having made my FeO, drying it at a low temp, it seemed a little "fluffy". I thoroughly mixed it with atomised Al and rammed it into a tube, followed by Mg/KNO3 primer.
While preparing a suitable fuse I picked the tube up, it was hot!
Within seconds it was transported outside on a tray and left to cool.

I reckon residual moisture caused it (silica gel is your friend )

Brightstars' ether story was scary, if the vapour had filled the room first there would have been an expl0sion.

[Caramanos2000]

I have never had a close call with pyro. But I have had one with spudguns. I had primed my combustions chamber, and closed it off. A friend was standing behind me and when i fired the end plug shattered, scattering pvc. Somehoew it missed him. Another close call with spudguns is, I USE to hold it like a rifle until... I didnt seal it correctly so when I fired the hot explosion gases vented out the back instead of the front and welded a nylon t shirt to my chest. I will probably always have the scar from this dididi event of mine.

[portfire]

I went to the display at roundhay park in leeds years ago (must have been 14/15) and i must say that it was truly spectacular (as they usually are there and infact i think shell shooter man had somthing to do with last years,loved those heart shells BTW) but after looking in to the sky for a good 45 minutes i noticed what must have been a 5ft rocket stick complete with motor, (which was buried a good 3inch in to the ground) 2ft away from me.doesnt bear thinking about if i was 2ft to my right.




regards
dean

Edited by portfire, 13 March 2007 - 06:14 PM.

[pyrotrev]

A couple of years back I was clearing up after a Bonfire Night display for a local school, when one of the adjacent houses started up a display in their back garden next to the field. As I bent down to pull out a candle rack there was a SWISH in my right ear and I looked sideways to see a large rocket stick stuck in the ground. Pulling it out it had gone at least 6" in, hardly suprising since the burst charge (too much bl**dy flash) had blown the head off leaving a needle sharp end ..... this is why I never use rockets in shows unless we have oodles of space.

[fishy1]

This one is not strictly pyro, but a home chemistry related experience I will never forget....

When I was about 13 years old, during one of those long hot summer holidays, I decided to try solvent extraction of some or other obscure substance (probably based on botanicals I had gathered in the garden). I inadvisedly decided to try using Ethyl Ether, sourced from a can of car engine starter. The experiment went well, and I poured away the excess solvent into the large ceramic sink in my 'lab', feeling quite pleased with myself.

Suddenly, there was a flash and a column of flame erupted in front of me, seeming to fill most of the wall. As I dived for the door, I remembered I had left a small spirit burner lit on the far side of the room. The fumes from the Ether must have rolled down the long work surface and found their way to it...

Thankfully, such were the ferocity of the flames, they burnt themselves out fairly quickly. There was nothing flammable in the concrete outhouse so no real harm was done... Very scary at the time though, seeing an experiment that you are in charge of transform instantly into a situation where you have no control at all. It has made me treat flammable solvents with great respect ever since...

Kinda reminds me of when I tried to distill acetone from nail polish remover. First, I filled a flask up with nail polish remover, then put a (plastic) straw in it and sealed it with sellotape. The straw ran through water and I hoped to get some acetone at the end. I had nothing to hold the flask with, so I got my friend to hold it. We heated it over a candle. It began to boil, then the sellotape melted a bit( Dissolved). This was hot enough that my friend dropped it, but it did not break, and landed standing up. I jumped back, and the acetone vapour ignited. Pretty pathetic flame, like a candle, rushing out the top of the flask. My friend, being intellegent, thought the logical thing to do would be to push it over. So, without warning, he booted the flask on it's side, boiling acetone ran out, and we did get a flame (At least 6 feet high). Neither of us were hurt at all. Be careful with it. I can see loads of things we shouldn't have done in the distillation. I now buy acetone off ebay and know better.

[BigBang]

About 6months ago, my youngest mentioned to their chemistry teacher, that dad made this 'great powder' that made a big bang from a tiny pile. At that time the school was doing a series of interesting chemistry demos to encourage kids to select this subject, and thought it would be a nice end to his demos...a huge bang from this tiny pile of powder. He asked me if i would do the demo, so i agreed.

I wanted to fire it with an ematch, but didnt have any, and couldnt get any in the short time i had, so i did it the way i normally do it, with touch paper. I compacted the pile inside a small ring of paper and put in the touch paper as ive done several times before with no problems. As i lit the touch paper and stepped back, some idiot opened a nearby window to let out the smoke from previous demos, and due to the extractors going at full pelt, there was a rush of air....and you can guess the rest! The touch paper was blown over and BANG!! All i could see was this white flash for several minutes and my ears were ringing for hours. Needless to say, i haven't done that since It would have been much worse had the window been opened a second earlier. I would probably only be able to count to 8-9!!

Im making light of it now, but at the time it was no joke...not sure what was worse, the pain in my ears, or the embarressment!

Just goes to show, that it doesnt matter how safe you think you are, there are always things you dont think about...like the actions of others!

This, after over 30 years of relatively incident free pyro!

[ITCHI]

Great thread.
I am learning alot from reading what not to do. I do alittle street magic and love to use flash paper. Sometimes people are more amazed by the flash than the trick. I know the recipe to make flash paper but after finding this forum and also this web page http://members.shaw....nsequences.html Warning! Graphic content.
I am playing it smart and continuing to buy it pre-made. Those pictures stirred me to the point of using fuse in a simple kno3 and sugar smoker.
Keep the stories coming folks, I'm learning alot.

Edited by ITCHI, 29 March 2007 - 04:23 PM.

[dr thrust]

that was graphic,i am lost for words.

[MMMMMM Pyro]

I think that, graphic is a *severe* understatement... But thats what you get for pipe b**b building...
I apologise for the pointless post...

Regards,

Mike

[BrightStar]

I apologise for the pointless post...

Not at all, I have said it before and I'll say it again; Whatever the intentions of the author, in my opinion that link is disgusitng and disrespectful to the dead and injured (some of whom were clearly mentally ill and suicidal). The content is of little relevance to our safe and responsible hobby, yet the connections that could be made by others are clearly damaging.

Frankly, I wish this link would just go away.

Edited by BrightStar, 30 May 2007 - 11:10 PM.