Ah...good times.
Was a Gilbert Chemistry set involved in preliminary ventures?
War movies inspired my cohort to create land mines from metal coffee cans, cherry bombs, and strike anywhere kitchen matches. Buried the can upside down, punched a nail hole in the bottom for the fuse, and covered it with a thin layer of dirt. Most excellent!
A later test with loose gravel resulted in a proof of concept, never to be repeatef but put in the Q archives.
Must have run out of magnesium powder. hmmm
Not at first.
Got lucky a few times when I near gassed myself.