Ashtray Re-Do

[Captain Obvious]

the first Pepsi/Coke 16oz resealable bottles with the styrofoam label.  You could slide the label down an inch or so and hit the bottom with your hand and make a loud "POP".

 

Yeah Yeah Yeah!!! We (kids) did that too!!  Awesome. It's those kind of tricks that you wonder if it was a regional phenomenon or if other people were doing the same thing. Clearly it wasn't that regional!

 

Ahhhh.... The good old days. Stupid kid tricks.

 

Popping the Styrofoam labels on the soda bottles. Popping leaves on your hand by slapping with the other hand? Building lighter fluid powered tennis ball cannons out of soda cans. Making little match rockets with tin foil over the match heads. Making firecrackers out of cap rolls with a needle and scotch tape. Had to be real careful when you pulled the pin out? Harvesting the black powder out of your dad's shotgun shells for... well... for whatever you needed gunpowder for, which could be anything!! Heating hot dogs through electrocution with an extension cord.

 

Some of it was clearly Darwin in action.

[Captain Obvious]

Ummm... Why does it seem like so many of my stupid kid tricks involved fire or explosions?

[siteunseen]

We used three tennis ball cans tapped together when I was a kid then as a "grown up" we made potato cannons out of PVC pipe.  Progression!  As an adult (hehehe) we filled a large trash bag with Acetylene from a friends welding business then tied 5 or so feet of toilet paper around the tied off bottom of trash bag for the fuse.  We should have used 20 feet and got the hell out of there.  Scared the crap out of us!  Somebody called the police department to report an explosion, they laughed when they finally found out it was the welding shop.  Dry ice in a 20oz bottle with about a half cup of water is a pretty good crack but that bag of acetylene was a real surprise.  It was like a bomb had gone off, never did that again.  In the old days they made those fire balloons by folding the corners of newspaper and setting them on fire and they would float off, that caused a huge fire in New York back then, I read somewhere.  We took Dry Cleaners bags and made hot air balloons by making an X out of cattail stems and molding aluminium foil around the bottom of a cup for holding Ronsonol lighter fluid for the heat.  Awe man I miss those days.  Kids now days, I have four nephews within 7 years of each other  , that have to get there dad to put the chain back on there bikes but he's so stupid he won't tighten the thing.  Oh god I just thought about Mumbly Peg!!  I'll quit now.

 

Ashtray trivia?  I've got pictures but as usual "1st Mate Oblivious" can't keep up with "Captain Obvious", very confusing.  But I do have some pictures to look at.  First is the 280 ashtray in the 240.

next is the 240 ashtray in the 280, fits good

[Captain Obvious]

Oh yeah... I completely forgot about Mumbly Peg!!

 

I've got a buddy that did the acetylene in the trash bag. Strung it up on his Ham radio antenna and set it off with a ignitor coil from an oil burner. I myself wasn't there, but I am aware of that trick.

 

I intend to do the dry ice in a soda bottle. The last time something very cold got shipped to the house I was going to mess with that the next morning, but by that time the dry ice had sublimated. I still intend to show that one to the kids though.

 

 My one kid was positive he could get the cap on the bottle of Diet Coke before the Mentos geyser started. (He didn't.     )

 

So tell me you're not familiar with the little match rockets made with tinfoil or making a firecracker out of an accordioned roll of caps?? If not, I'll hook you up.

 

This thread is about ash trays, right?

[Patcon]

Ah fire and explosions... once burned my eyebrows off with a homemade device. Made from fireworks, wouldn't light. Blew on it a little... It lit...

Charles

[Oiluj]

As kids, we also did the gunpowder recovery from old shotgun shells.

 

We also made "powdered magnesium" for our home-made fireworks by grinding those science class metal strips using bench grinder.   We poured ice water on the grinding wheel and caught the magnesium "bits" in a coffee filter.   We did get a course powder, that actually worked pretty well.   However, my friend did get in trouble with his dad after the grinding wheel caught fire next time his dad used it!

 

Amazingly, we all survived that summer of home-made fireworks with all our fingers and eyes intact...