[Joe 6-pack]

Where I grew up in Western PA, virtually every kid had dad and/or grandpap's carbide lamp and fuel in the basement. We knew it was potentially explosive and NEVER, EVER played around with it. You could've blown up a TV with it in a bright flash of light and flying glass shards, or launch a miner's helmet 40 feet in the air. Nope. We NEVER played around with that stuff.

[tacticalogic]

You used to be able to mail order carbide cannons and the carbide to go with them from the back pages of comic books. Missing all or parts of fingers wasn’t all that uncommon, but the ususal cause was carelessness around tractor PTOs.

[from occupied ga]

knew it was potentially explosive and NEVER, EVER played around with it. You could've blown up a TV with it in a bright flash of light and flying glass shards,

Actually calcium carbide is not the least bit explosive, but when you add water it generates acetylene gas which is explosive when mixed with air in just about any proportion. That's where the fun comes in.