boys being curious, and adventurous, which is their nature.
We made cannons as kids, but they were made from used soup cans and the propellent was lighter fluid or gasoline. This boy took it to a much higher and more dangerous level.
Sad. One should be able to survive somewhat dangerous experimentation.
It seems the difference between a cannon and a pipe bomb is the presence of an effective exit hole, which serves as a pressure release.
Ban Cannons! ( sarc.)
Actually that would make a great name. “Ban Cannon,” the extraordinarily redundant super hero of the anti 2nd amendment ,puling left!
Condolences to the family of this poor kid!
3 or 4 soup cans.
Completely remove the top lid using a standard can opener.
Perforate the bottoms of all but one using a can punch
Tape them together making sure the unperforated can is the bottom.
punch a 1/8 inch hole in the side of the bottom can right near the bottom.
Stick a tennis ball in the top opening
Squirt a good blast of lighter fluid in the bottom hole and shake it vigorously for a few seconds.
Aim
Stick a lit match in the bottom hole
Good for about 10-20 yards.
Sad.
Just from the lousy description of the device by the NYT, it sounds like this thing was a whole lot closer to pipe bomb than it was to a cannon.
Sad story. Darwin, again.
PVC potato air cannons are pretty common. Compressed air with schedule 80 pvc is pretty safe (but no BOOM). Targeting 100+ yard shots at a floating milk jug on an empty lake is fun (2 with reservoir, rated fast valve, 60-90 psi air).
Sad
As a boy but for Gods hand I could have died too many times
Falls
Accidental gun discharge
Water moccasin nest
Huge fat southeastern diamondbacks
After on of course comes fast cars or motorcycles or booze and drugs or that women thatll stab ya
God bless that boy and his family
RIP
Now you look back and youre old and go damn...poor kid
We used to make “carbide cannons,” using calcium carbide and water. Putting calcium carbide in water produced Acetylene. Nothing ever blew up on us.
My brothers and I survived our cannon. Nobody knows why.
Just another reason you tube is not for real information
Instead of a canon they made a pipe bomb.
The story reminds me of a short story written by outdoor writer Patrick F. McManus.
The story is called “Poof, No Eyebrows!”. In it, he documents his childhood adventures in experimenting with gunpowder. The last experiment was a homemade cannon, and it exploded. However, he and his friend in the story, Retch Sweeney, were not killed. It’s an interesting and funny read.
I remember finding some nitric and sulfuric acid in an old building that I was helping to clean out. I just had to make some guncotton with it. I was too scared to make nitroglycerin.
I made about a pound of guncotton that a friend and I used to blow up some items in the woods, far away from any houses. We packed the guncotton with gunpowder to ensure ignition. We waited for a morning after a hard rain. We lit some long fuses and watched from a vantage point about a half mile away with binoculars. They were powerful explosions. The police came, but we were long gone. We didn’t tell anyone for years after.
Notice the subtle 14 year old “boy” versus the 12 year old “child” descriptions the NY Slimes uses?
My kind of curious kid, but he should have been yelled at to pay attention to safety 1st. Then go blow stuff up.
How about a trash bag full of acetylene?
Fun tines