The joys of pyromania

As you thoughts turn to family during the holiday season imagine the joy of having this young man as a son-in-law. Here's a kid who could bake your turkey from across the street or cook roasting ears while they're still on the stalk.
I think most boys go through a pyromania stage. I certainly did but it was pretty much out of my system by the time I entered high school. In those days laser beams only existed at Aberdeen Proving Grounds or in science fiction. A grade school friend and I built some really good bombs using carbide. Carbide was available at most feed stores and was used to power lamps for those who needed a reliable source of light for a long period of time, people such a coal miners and coon hunters.



Carbide lamps such as the one above were usually mounted on the user's hat which allowed both hands to be free. Carbide, which looks like limestone gravel is placed in the lower chamber and water in the upper chamber. There is a small hole in the upper chamber which allows the water to slowly drip into the lower chamber causing a chemical reaction which produces acetylene gas. Obviously the gas is quite flammable so if it could be trapped in large quantities and ignited it produced an explosion. But what to trap it in? That was always a problem for us. Years later when plastic trash bags became available maintenance men at a local factory would fill trash bags with acetylene from a cylinder, allow them to rise in the in the night sky and then detonate them with a flaming arrow fired from a sling shot. Just imagine the fun they could have had if they had a laser gun like such as the one in the video.