JHCC Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 My brother and I made a lot of bows and arrows when we were little (inspired by Robin Hood and an old copy of Ernest Thomson Seton's The Book of Woodcraft). None of these were any good, which I suspect is why they never got confiscated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 It was my granddad that taught us how to make bows. If a neighbor saw us out with them they may look and then give pointers on how to improve the next one. Followed by asking what we bagged with the bow. My best was i got a squirrel once. My uncle one time however got his hand pinned to a tree when he bet my cousin that he could not hit his hand. All of us had our own rifles and shotguns when we were wee lads so it was ingrained into us that you under no circumstances ever point a weapon at another person and that included bows. Green apples and small fruit were an entirely different story. Ever been hit with a green apple? Not pleasant. My granddad had planted peach trees at one time. The first year they got fruit on them me and my cousin got a pretty good but whippin after we picked every single green peach off the trees and had a war with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott NC Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 18 minutes ago, BillyBones said: Ever been hit with a green apple? They leave a pretty good welt. Worse than dirt clods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobody Special Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 Green apples, no. The go-to in my part of Texas was rocks, closely followed by acorns. And if you're strong enough, an osage orange which I don't recommend on the merits. The one we got whupped for was tearing down sugarcane to have sword fights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 Ever been hit with a Cumquat fired from a Wrist Rocket? even through 2 flannel shirts and a sweatshirt a green one will leave a bruise the size of my hand, say 4-5" dia. and draw blood through the skin. We outlawed Wrist Rockets for sling shot fights. Mine would put a 3/4" wrench size Nut through a car door from 75'. Ever have pellet gun fights? NO BB guns allowed, BBs go right through doubled up pants and shirts while pellets just leave welts. We had a no above the belt and pump limit. no CO2 cartridge guns either. Sheridan's rule! Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott NC Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 I unfortunately hit someone in the forehead with a bottle rocket once. We quit after that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 Mail call: a birthday contribution to the smithing library from my father-in-law. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 Unfortunately you only hit him once? We used to have bottle rocket fights too but they're too loud to have them going off very close. We didn't have them very many times before moving onto something else. Our bottle rocket action was more like a series of ambushes. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewoon ik Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 18 hours ago, JHCC said: Mail call: a birthday contribution to the smithing library from my father-in-law. I did not know they used still a lot of smithing in the art deco ironwork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewoon ik Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 After a short google round, i discovered that we (at least in belgium) called it different. It was interbellum, with modernism or the dutch "de stijl". Yes lots of nice ironworks during that time. The dutch with their Amsterdamse School, made some really nice things (bit like the belgians did 30 years before during the art nouveau). I have in a (belgian) blacksmith magazine an artikel about it, with some of the remarkable ironworks on some bridges in amsterdam. Somehow i was stuck in my head that art deco was during the 50's with all those streamlined and spaceship designs. Only 20 years wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 We used acorns and walnuts as well. We used to make bottle rocket "guns" so we could shoot them at each other. Basically a handle with a small tube, it was easier than holding the stick to launch one. In high school we used to break off the sticks of bottle rockets and launch them down the halls. Becuase there was no stick you had no idea where it would go. We had a door at the top of a stair well that some kid had busted the glass out of. Made the perfect spot to launch our stickless bottle rockets. When i was in the Army stationed in Germany it was flares. The kind we had you just hit the bottom and it would shoot a flare up in the sky, kind of like a flare gun just no gun involved. You would be sitting there minding your own business then all of a sudden a flare smacks the turret. Well it is game on then. I may mention we shot them at the tanks and not actually at each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 We called stickless bottle rockets "devil chasers." One of my tent poles was a perfect rocket launcher, 7-8 fit in it easily and it was long enough to prop on your side while you lit a fuse and dropped a handful in, you had a couple seconds to point before they fired. One would fire and the rest would go in a split second. Since someone started the "Miller's Reach, forest (wild?) fire that burned some 37,000 acres and 344 homes playing with bottle rockets, shooting them other than winter someplace other than a gravel pit, large river bar or a boat on a lake is likely to have nice police officers explain your mistake as they take you to your room. What amazes me is you can still buy them at roadside fireworks stands in Houston. Yeah, in the forest. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 We have a fireworks factory about 10 mins from my house. Unbelievable how cheap fireworks are factory direct. The irony i always seen was just the past couple years they made shooting off fire works legal in Ohio yet i could always buy them from the factory, just had to sign a form saying you were takin them out of state. Devil chasers, thanks, i will have to use that. That is much more socially acceptable than what we called them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 Now you have me wondering, what did you call them? PM if it'll keep the mods off your back. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seldom (dick renker) Posted May 2 Share Posted May 2 used to have bb gun fights with cedar seeds. sent brother up a tree more than once or twice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted May 2 Share Posted May 2 To get you more seeds or escape? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 Two full cylinders of O2. It's a gas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaperPatched Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 Back in high school I invented (at least locally. Might have reinvented the wheel.) what we called a grape gun, It was really a magnum sling shot. To make one an approx. 3/4" inch strip of truck tire inner tube about 4 ft. long was attached to an about 3" x 5 ft. piece of pine board with a roofing nail through the folded over strip (to help prevent tear out). The grape gun was held with the board vertical, resting against ones waist. A green Concord grape could be launched completely through the opposing army's treehouse blinds (somewhat damp bamboo). Volley fire from outside prompted the tree house dwellers to say "Do that one more time and were coming out". And of course they came out. The whole thing turned into a vast neighborhood fist fight. After which peace reigned until next year when the Concord grapes were ready again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 Lively neighborhood eh? I like the idea of an armor piercing grape gun. What did the other side come up with in return? A gas John? Sssss, sssss, your pun tanked. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yt12 Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 all things i lived through---and sadly--too few today-------i have given countless copies of one of my favorite books to nephews/nieces kids of friends and family----THE AMERICAN BOYS HANDY BOOK----alot of it dated ,most of it pretty fun-------gotta give it to them old enough to handle some easy tasks and have fun doing it.......and young enough they dont give it a 10 second look, a toss in a pile and on to the next video game.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 Okay, I downloaded a free copy and am finally through the preface and started on the table of contents. Lots of cool sounding stuff, I remember seeing a couple of the illustrations in Boy's Life back when. I may not do this stuff . . . again but it'll be a good thing to look through. What age do you think is right to give a copy to a boy? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yt12 Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 Frosty----really depends on the kid, ive started with a few easy projects with a coupla real youngsters-----lucky to have 3 nephews , young men now, had all 3 eager to keep going with the adventures-----all 3 still love doing these kinds of things-------with their kids ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 See also "The Dangerous Book for Boys" by Conn and Hal Igguldnen. There are also modified editions for girls and men. G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 My friend Miriam wrote the Girls version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 Ahhh, another dangerous book for my library! It's turning out to be a great Saturday! Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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