

EXPLOSIVES AND INCENDIARIES by THE
RESEARCHER


INTRODUCTION: The trouble with text
books on chemistry and explosives is
the attitude with which they are
written. They don't say, "Now I know
youuwould like to blow holy hell out of
something just for the fun of it so
here is how to whip up something in 
your kitchen to do it". They tell you
how Dupont does it or how the anchient
Chineese did it but not how you can do
it with the resourses and materials
available to you. Even army manuals on
field expedient explosives are almost
useless because they are just outlines
written with the understanding that an
instructor is going to fill in the
blanks. It is a fun game to search out
the materials that can be put together
to make something go "boom". You can
find what you need in grocery stores,
hardware stores, and farm supplies. An
interesting point to remember is that
it is much easier to make a big e
xplosion than a small one. It is very
difficult for a home experimenter to
make a firecracker, but a bomb capable
of blowing the walls out of a building
is easy. The king of explosives for the
do-it-yourselfer is black powder. It is
easy to make and when properly confined
is capable of devestating power. CLOSEINFORM
ootable powder used for
spraying. It is cheap and works well.
Some drug stores sell sulfur under the
name Flowers of Sulfur. If you use
Nitrate of Soda, it will be in the form
of prills (little round beads). Bake it
in an oven at 250 degrees for 10-15
minutes to drive out the moisture. Then
dump a cup or two into a blender and
switch it on. It will do a beautiful
job of reducing it to powder. Buy a bag
of charcoal briquettes at a grocery
store. Put a few briquettes in a rag
and pound with hammer. Dump the result
into the blender, grind, then strain
through a tea strainer. Mix by volume:
6 parts potassium or Sodium Nitrate, 2
parts powdered charcoal, 1 part sulfur.
This mixture will burn if ignited and
will explode if ignited while tightly
confined. It can be greatly improved,
however, by processing it as follows:
Moisten with water until it will stick
together when pinched between thumb and
finger. Press it into a disposable
aluminum pie pan. Bake in a preheated
oven at 250 degrees for about 30
minutes--get it totally dry. Grind into
as fine a powder as possible. A mortar
and pestle is best. If you use a
blender at this point, there is a
danger of explosion. It is not very
sensative to friction or impact, but is
very sensative to sparks. If you
followed these directions, you should
have a fine slate-grey powder.

When baking black powder, remember to
preheat the oven. Place your pie pan
approximately in the center of the
oven. Do not set it on the bottom of
the oven. These warnings are to prevent
hot spots that could ignite the powder
causing a fire or explosion. Something
went wrong once when my father-in-law
was doing this and it blew the door
right off the oven. His training in
military demolitions included field
expedient explosives. The point is that
things can go wrong even when you know
what you are doing. Protect yourself at
all times. Use common sense. Wear
safety glasses; don't stand in front of
oven, etc. HOW TO MAKE BLACKMATCH FUSE:
Take a flat piece of plastic or metal
(brass or aluminum are easy to work
with and won't rust). Drill a 1/16th
inch hole through it. This is your die
for sizing the fuse. You can make fuses
as big as you want, but this is the
right size for the pipe bomb I will be
getting to later. To about 1/2 cup of
black powder add water to make a thin
paste. Add 1/2 teaspoon of corn starch.
Cut some one foot lengths of cotton
thread. Use cotton, not silk or thread
made from synthetic fibers. Put these
together until you have a thickness
that fills the hole in the die but can
be drawn through very easily. Tie your
bundle of threads together at one end.
Separate the threads and hold the
bundle over the black powder mixture.
Lower the threads with a circular
motion so they start curling onto the
mixture. Press them under with the back
of a teaspoon and continue lowering
them so they coil into the paste. Take
7the end you are holding and thread it
through the die. Pull it through
smoothly in one long motion. To dry
your fuse, lay it on a piece of
aluminum foil and bake it in your 250
degree oven or tie it to a grill in the
oven and let it hang down. The fuse
must be baked to make it stiff enough
for the uses it will be put to later.
Air drying will not do the job. If you
used Sodium Nitrate, it will not even
dry completely at room temperatures.
Cut the dry fuse with sissors into 2
inch lengths and store in an air tight
container. Handle this fuse carefuly to
avoid breaking it. You can also use a
firecracker fuse if you have any
available. The fuses can usually be
pulled out without breaking. To give
yourself some running time, you will be
extending these fuses (blackmatch or
firecracker fuse) with sulfured wick.
HOW TO MAKE SULFURED WICK: Use heavy
cotton string about 1/8th inch in
diameter. You can find some at a garden
supply for tieing up your tomatoes. Be
sure it's cotton. You can test it by
lighting one end. It sould continue to
burn after the match is removed and
when blown out will have a smoldering
coal on the end. Put some sulfur in a
small container like a small pie pan
and melt it in the oven at 250 degrees.
It will melt into a transparent yellow
liquid. If it starts turning brown, it
is too hot. Coil about a one foot
length of string into it. The melted
sulfur will soak in quickly. When
saturated, pull it out and tie it up to
cool and harden. It can be cut to
desired lengths with sissors. 2 inches
is about right. These wicks will burn
slowly with a blue flame and do not
blow out easily in a moderate wind.
They will not burn through a hole in a
metal pipe, but are great for extending
your other fuse. They will not throw
off sparks. Blackmatch generates sparks
which can ignite it along its length
causing unpredictable burning times.
Now you have the basic ingredients to
shake the earth like thunder. In the
next installment or two, I will tell
you how to put it all together to do ju
st that. You will find that you have
baked a very deadly pie. I have twice
been accused of setting off dynamite in
the woods. The explosive power of your
little grey powder may exceed your
expectations, so choose your testing
ground with care.

HOW TO MAKE A PIPE BOMB: Buy a section
of metal water pipe 1/2 by 6 inches
long, threaded on both ends. Buy two
metal caps to fit. These are standard
items in hardware stores. Drill a
1/16th hole in the center of the pipe.
This is easy with a good drill bit.
Hanson is a good brand to use. Screw a
metal cap tightly on one end. Fill the
pipe to within 1/2 inch of the top with
black powder. Do not pack the powder.
Don't even tap the bottom of the pipe
to make it settle. You want the powder
loose. For maximum explosive effect,
you need dry, fine powder sitting loose
in a very rigid container. Wipe off any
powder that has gotten onto the top or
threads of the pipe. Gently screw on
the second cap. Hand tighten only.
Place a small piece of tape over the
hole and go to your test site. Remove
the tape and insert a two inch piece of
black match fuse or a firecracker fuse
into the hole. Place the bomb behind a
large rock or tree. Using thread or
string, lightly tie a 2 inch piece of
sulfured wick to the end of the fuse.
Avoid letting the wick touch any
objects. This might cause it to go out.
Light the wick and head for cover in a
direction that keeps the rock or tree
between you and the bomb at all times.
Get behind cover at least 50 yards
away. You may not expect such a large
explosion from such a small object. Be
extra cautious until You have done this
a time or two and it gets real what you
are dealing with. The pipe will be
blown to pieces which will fly through
the air like bullets. An accident could
seriously wound or kill you. This is
not a big firecracker. It is more like
a hand grenade. The size of the bomb
can be increased by using a larger pipe
and caps. To make a big noise without
blowing up your pipe, cap one end only.
Drill a 1/16 hole at the top of the
threads at the capped end. Put in about
3 to 4 rounded teaspoonsful of powder.
Pack about 2 inches of wadding on top
of the powder. Toilet paper or kleenex
is good for this. Pack it tight. Open
up a safety pin and stick it into the
hole. Work it around to loosen up the
powder so a fuse can be inserted. When
this goes off, the recoil will be
tremendous. You will loose your pipe
unless you brace it securely against
something. The pipe can be reloaded and
used again. A fun trick is to mount the
pipe pointing upward. Drop a tin can
over the open end and light the fuse.
The can will be blown high into the
air. Campbell's soup cans are great for
this. HOW TO MAKE ROCKET FUEL: This is
easy to make and fun to play with. Mix
equal parts by volume Potassium or So
dium Nitrate and granulated sugar. Pour
a big spoonful of this into a pile.
Stick a piece of blackmatch fuse into
it; light; and step back. This is also
a very hot incendiary. A little
imagination will suggest a lot of
experiments for this. ANOTHER ROCKET
FUEL: Mix equal parts by volume of zinc
dust and sulfur. Watch out if you
experiment with this. It goes off in a
sudden flash. It is not a powerful
explosive, but is violent stuff even
when not confined because of its fast
burning rate. --- As I continue from
this point some of the ingredients are
going to be harder to get without going
through a chemical supply. I try to
avoid this. I happen to know that B.
Prieser Scientific (local to my area)
has been instructed by the police to
send them the names of anyone buying
chemicals in certain combinations. For
example, if a person were to buy
Sulfuric acid, Nitric acid and Toluene
(the makings for TNT) in one order the
police would be notified. I will do the
best I can to tell you how to make the
things you need from commonly available
materials, but I don't want to leave
out something really good because you
might have to scrounge for an
ingredient. I am guessing you would
prefer it that way.

HOW TO MAKE AN EXPLOSIVE FROM COMMON
MATCHES: The word "safety" in safety
matches is misleading. The chemical on
the heads of safety matches is a
powerful explosive. It is similar to
black powder but has a lower ignition
temperature (more sensative to heat)
and unlike black powder is easily
detonated by impact. This feature moves
it up into the high explosives class.
To test this, lay a paper safety match
on a hard flat surface and hit the head
sharply with a hammer. What do you
know! It goes bang! To collect a
quantity of this explosive, it is best
to use wooden safety matches. Buy
several cartons. They're cheap. Note
that these should be safety matches,
not the strike anywhere kind. Pinch the
head near the bottom with a pair of
wire cutters to break it up; then use
the edges of the cutters to scrape off
the loose material. It gets easy with
practice. You can do this while
watching TV and collect enough for a
bomb without dieing of boredom. Once
you have a good batch of it, you can
load it into a pipe instead of black
powder. Be careful not to get any in
the threads, and wipe off any that gets
on the end of the pipe. Never try to
use this stuff for rocket fuel. A
science teacher was killed that way.
Just for fun while I'm on the subject
of matches, did you know that you can
strike a safety match on a window pane?
Hold a paper match between your thumb
and first finger. With your second
finger, press the head firmly against a
large window. Very quickly, rub the
match down the pane about 2 feet while
maintaining the pressure. The friction
will generate enough heat to light the
match. Another fun trick is the match
rocket. Tightly wrap the top half of a
paper match with foil. Set it in the
top of a pop bottle at a 45 degree
angle. Hold a lighted match under the
head until it ignites. If you got it
right, the match will zip up and hit
the ceiling. I just remembered the
match guns I used to make when I was a
kid. These are made from a bicycle
spoke. At one end of the spoke is a
piece that screws off. Take it off and
screw it on backwards. You now have a
piece of stiff wire with a small hollow
tube on one end. Pack the material from
a couple of wooden safety matches into
the tube. Force the stem of a match
into the hole. It sould fit very
tightly. Hold a lighted match under the
tube until it gets hot enough to ignite
the powder. It goes off with a bang.
--- For later projects, like a chemical
time delay fuse, you will need some
concentrated sulfuric acid. So, I
better tell you how to make it. HOW TO
MAKE CONCENTRATED SULFURIC ACID FROM
BATTERY ACID: Go to an auto supply
store and ask for "a small battery
acid". This should only cost a few
dollars (about 4 dollars). What you
will get is about a gallon of dilute
sulfuric acid. Put a pint of this into
a heat resistant glass container. The
glass pitchers used for making coffee
are perfect. Do not use a metal
container. Use an extension cord to set
up a hotplate out doors. Boil the acid
until white fumes appear. As soon as
you see the white fumes, turn off the
hot plate and let the acid cool. Pour
the now concentrated acid into a glass
container. The container must have a
glass stopper or plastic cap -- no
metal. It must be air tight. Otherwize,
the acid will quickly absorb moisture
from the air and become diluted. Want
to know how to make a time bomb that
doesn't tick and has no wires or
batteries? Hold on to your acid and
follow me into the next installment.

HOW TO MAKE A CHEMICAL TIME DELAY FUSE:
To get an understanding of how this is
going to work, mix up equal parts by
volume Potassium chlorate and
granulated sugar. Pour a spoonful of
the mixture in a small pile and make a
depression in the top with the end of a
spoon. Using a medicine dropper, place
one drop of concentrated sulfuric acid
in the depression and step back. It
will snap and crackle a few times and
then burst into vigorous flames. To
make the fuse, cut about 2 inches off a
plastic drinking straw. Tamp a small
piece of cotton in one end. On top of
this put about an inch of the
clorate/sugar mixture. Now lightly tamp
in about a quarter inch of either glass
wool or asbestos fibers. Secure this
with the open end up and drop in 3 or 4
drops of sulfuric acid. After a few
minutes the acid will soak through the
fibers and ignite the mixture. The time
delay can be controled by the amount of
fiber used and by varying how tightly
it is packed. Don't use cotton for
this. The acid will react with cotton
and become weakened in the process. By
punching a hole in the side of the
straw, a piece of blackmatch or other
fuse can be inserted and used to set
off the device of your choice.
Potassium chlorate was very popular
with the radical underground. It can be
used to make a wide variety of
explosives and incendiaries, some of
them extremely dangerous to handle. The
radicals lost several people that way.
But, don't worry. I am not going to try
to protect you from yourself. I have
decided to tell all. I will have more
to say about Potassium chlorate, but
for now, let's look at a couple of
interesting electric fuses.

HOW TO MAKE AN ELECTRIC FUSE: Take a
flashlight bulb and place it glass tip
down on a file. Grind it down on the
file until there is a hole in the end.
Solder one wire to the case of the bulb
and another to the center conductor at
the end. Fill the bulb with black
powder or powdered match head. One or
two flashlight batteries will heat the
fillament in the bulb causing the
powder to ignite. ANOTHER ELECTRIC
FUSE: Take a medium grade of steel wool
and pull a strand out of it. Attach it
to the ends of two pieces of copper
wire by wrapping it around a few turns
and then pinch on a small piece of
solder to bind the strand to the wire.
You want about 1/2 inch of steel strand
between the wires. Number 18 or 20 is a
good size wire to use. Cut a 1/2 by 1
inch piece of cardboard of the type
used in match covers. Place a small
pile of powdered match head in the
center and press it flat. place the
wires so the steel strand is on top of
and in contact with the powder.
Sprinkle on more powder to cover the
strand. The strand should be surounded
with powder and not touching anything
else except the wires at its ends.
Place a piece of blackmatch in contact
with the powder. Now put a piece of
masking tape on top of the lot, and
fold it under on the two ends. Press it
down so it sticks all around the
powder. The wires are sticking out on
one side and the blackmatch on the
other. A single flashlight battery will
set this off. ELECTRIC FUSE # 3: An
excellent electric fuse can be bought
ready made at hobby and toy stores. The
y are sold for setting off model
rockets.

MORE SPONTANIOUS COMBUSTION: Some of
the ingredients for these can only be
had from a chemical supply so they are
not my favorites. Look for powdered
aluminum at a good painting supply.
METHOD # 1: Scatter out a few crystals
of chromic anhydride. Drop on a little
ethyl alcohol. It will burst into flame
immediately. METHOD # 2: Mix by weight,
four parts ammonium chloride, one part
ammonium nitrate, four parts powered
zinc. Pour out a small pile of this and
make a depression on top. Put one or
two drops of water in the depression.
Stay well back from this. METHOD # 3:
Put one gram of powdered potassium
permanganate into a paper cup. Drop two
drops of glycerine onto it. After a few
seconds it will burst into flames.
METHOD # 4: Spoon out a small pile of
powdered aluminum. Place a small amount
of sodium peroxide on top of this. A
volume the size of a small pea is about
right. One drop of water will cause
this to ignite in a blinding flare.
METHOD # 5: Mix by volume 3 parts
concentrated sulfuric acid with 2 parts
concentrated nitric acid. Hold a
dropper of turpentine about 2 feet
above the mixture. When drops strike
the acid they will burst into flame.

HOW TO MAKE NITROGEN TRIIODIDE: Here
are some notes I took four years ago on
how to make this wild explosive that
can be detonated by a fly walking on
it. Five grams iodine, three grams
potassium iodide, 20 ml. concentrated
ammonium hydroxide, filter paper,
funnel. Stir the potassium iodide and
iodine together in a beaker with 50 ml.
of water. Add the ammonium hydroxide
with stirring until no more precipitate
forms. Filter and spread a thin layer
of the wet solid on several filter
papers. Break the filter papers into
many small pieces and allow to dry for
several hours. On drying, the paper is
extremely sensitive to touch and will
explode violently with the slightest
disturbance. Can be handled safely when
wet. Do not let any sizeable quantity
of the dry material accumulate. --- I
was able to buy concentrated ammonium
hydroxide from a photographic supply.


[ This is the end of the file. Thanks ]

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          Exploding Light bulbs

           (_>Shadow Hawk 1<_)

I actually got this from a movie, and
have tried it [IT WORKS!!!]. Ok you may
have to do this a couple times before
you get it. Heres what you need:

A few light bulbs
Torch [one that will melt glass, radio
       shack single cylender model will
       do]
Some gasoline
Some liquid soap
Some epoxy glue

Heres what you do:

1) Make a hole in the light bulb like
   this:



                   *
                  ---
                  : :
  Make hole here  : :  or here.
                \ / \ /
                 /   \
                :     :
                :     :
                 \---/
             Not here!!!!!

2) Making the hole, like in the diagram
[dont make it on the bottom, because if
the seal you will make should break,
the person/room you want to eliminate
will notice the hole [and the gasoline
on the floor!!!] whereas the if its on
top it will still work...

3) Now carefully fill the light bulb
about half full with gas, and then the
rest with soap [hold on angle if you
have to]. Now epoxy the hole shut, and
screw it in...

have phun
(_>Shadow Hawk 1<_)
