What incident scared you the most?

[DavidF]

I think the incident that scared me the most is when I got a surprise when drilling through a plaster and lath wall with a long contractors bit. I forgot that just on the other side was a whole case of 72% perchloric acid in gallon-size bottles. The bit went right through one of the bottles and acid started flowing. It got all over the wooden floor and kept going, dripping down into a lower level.

 

Due to the ridiculously over-stated dangers of perchloric acid, I was programmed to be gripped with fear. I expected the whole area to burst into flames at any moment. I quickly grabbed all the baking soda I had and sent a chum to town to buy everything they had. I wasn't satisfied after the painstaking cleanup, and completely tore out the whole floor and replaced it.

[lloyd]

Whoa! Even if there weren't the danger of 'spontaneous combustion', that's NASTY stuff in terms of its potential to oxidize things!

 

It was probably a good idea that you did replace all the contaminated materials. If they'd had absorbed residues, it MIGHT have made them combustible (beyond their nature) for a long time.

 

Lloyd

[DavidF]

Yeah, I feel that way too Lloyd. Everything contaminated had to go, for sure. I think there's good reason these kind of things aren't stored casually. You'd think I would have learned better habits, having been employed running an anodizing line in the past.

[MadMat]

I started doing pyro at a rather early age (a lot longer ago than I would like to admit). Anyways, I had very little in the way of information resources, so I learned by experimentation. On my 12th birthday, I made my first flash powder (potassium perchlorate from the garden shop and aluminum powder from an old Etch-a-sketch.) Well, I had a aluminum film canister with apporximately 12-15 grams of it spontaneously ignite in my hand. I got very lucky (I still have all my digits). My sister described it best when she said my left hand looked like someone had filled a white surgical glove with raw hamburger and torn holes in it. My left hand was covered in 2nd degree burns with a few areas at 3rd degree. To this day, I don't remember the bang, but do remember only being able to see a bright orange glow for a few minutes. I figure it was static electricity that set it off as it was winter, I was in a heated garage with very dry air and it went off as I was pouring a small amount into an aluminum pan to show my friend how cool it was went I lit it. I didn't do any pyro for a number of years and not regularly until just a couple years ago.

Edited April 8, 2017 by MadMat

[limak]

The incident which scared me the most was when i was making my first aluminium based star composition. I had classic water nitrate/al reaction. Stars were really hot but fortunately they didn't catch fire.

 

Fried rotten eggs

[streetlethal]

This past weekend we had a close call! We play paintball (private property) every weekend and make a ton of smoke bombs for the field.

 

For some reason out of the hundreds of smokes we make, this one decided to become a rocket in a toilet paper roll...right after a player pulled the ignition and rolled it in front of the bunker it rocketed off very fast and zoomed by the next bunker where two of us were crouching getting ready to stand up/move. It ended up going about 500 feet from its starting point

 

I immediately called the round off and had a moment to reflect on what could of potentially been really bad. Just be careful when you're playing for fun! we have had about 300 successful smoke bombs and now one rocket on that list.

[FBpyro]

During my finale to my show a couple years ago, the blast pressure alone from a World Class "Gorilla Warfare" cake tipped over a small fountain about 5 feet away and it pointed straight at the neighbors across the street. My heart immediately sank! Luckily they were extremely cool about it and no one got burned. I usually tape down and even use construction adhesive to secure all of my smaller cakes to wood boards, the fountains were a last minute idea that I overlooked.

[lloyd]

FB,

A really quick 'expedient' fastener is fireblocking aerosol construction insulation foam. We came up with this at Sea World in San Antonio while there shooting one of their Independence Day weekend series.

 

For whatever reason, we received a number of small-tube (smaller than 3") effects with no bases. We had no extra 3" racks into which to insert them, and they were a critical part of the script. The island was stone... there was no 'digging in' guns on that rock!

 

We had to come up with something quickly. So... at Home Depot we bought the fireblock foam insulation (30-minute cure), and simply deposited a lump on the stony ground, into which we stuck each tube. They held like they'd been 'dug in'. Heck, we even pulled-up pieces of shale from the surface when we ripped them up! <grin>

 

LLoyd

[FBpyro]

lloyd,

 

I would have never thought of that! thanks I think i might just try using that stuff this year! maybe put a bead of it around the bottom of the cakes for more surface area contact. The construction adhesive works ok but still kinda wobbly most of the time due to the fact it is just gluing to the paper bottom of the cakes.

[bobd]

Published on Fireworking early Nov. 2017:

 

Last weekend our club (Rocky Mountain Pyrotechnic Guild) had its last event of the year--it is getting cold here in Colorado. The theme of the day was "punkin chunkin." People were using improvised (and not so much) mortars to launch pumpkins.

Margye and a friend were setting up to launch a big pumpkin, had the lift charge in the mortar and the pumpkin + sabot sitting on top. They had attached about 15 feet of scab wire to the e-match, and that to the firing module. When she hit the continuity test, the match (and lift) fired. Scared the crud out of us spectators, not to mention Margye and friend.

They were both shaken, and reeked of sulfur, but no damage done. We realized that we had become complacent about PPE, and both of them were wearing their everyday glasses and field caps--no goggles nor hard hats.

The manufacturer of the firing system informs me that they have not made that system for some years, and diagnosing the problem is unprofitable unless the fault is something like a failed resistor in the continuity circuit.

Moral of story: I try to emphasize that running a continuity check is the equivalent of issuing an "all-fire" command. Only the presence and proper function of current-limiting resistor(s) keeps the command from being obeyed. When something does go wrong, the lift can fire un-intended. So, we must be aware of that possibility whenever we are setting up.

Just a cautionary tale, fortunately with no sad ending.

Bob

[nater]

My biggest scare was treating what was fortunately a minor injury after a large multi-break shell blew in a steel mortar leaving a crater and steel fragments all over the shoot site. The injured person was downright lucky.

 

I have had a handful of close calls, even had small burns from a muzzle break when handlighting a 3" shell in a show. Still, seeing a large shell fail in a steel mortar is sobering.

[Baldor]

I stored away all the chemicals and compositions, since it's fire season and I will not be working with them for a few months. Also, burned all the leftover BP, not much. So, I have a clean area ideal for setting the angle grinder in its support and make a few cuts. And a few cuts I did, until some spark found it´s way to some forgotten black match. No injuries and no damage, were only a pair of meters, and no other combustible items were in the area, but the wooooshh and the flash had been scary as hell.

 

Lesson learned. If you must repurpose your working area, double and triple check.

[Skysurfer]

When I started making aerial shells was doing some testing, hand lighting and reusing the mortar. I think you see where this is going... Yep there was an ember at the bottom of the mortar and when I went to drop the shell in it took off probably before it hit the bottom. Thought I had waited long enough and it wasn't smoking, had already been versed in not sticking your mug over the end of the mortar which both caused the problem and kept from getting hurt at the same time.

[Ubehage]

When I started making aerial shells was doing some testing, hand lighting and reusing the mortar. I think you see where this is going... Yep there was an ember at the bottom of the mortar and when I went to drop the shell in it took off probably before it hit the bottom. Thought I had waited long enough and it wasn't smoking, had already been versed in not sticking your mug over the end of the mortar which both caused the problem and kept from getting hurt at the same time.

This is one of my biggest fears. I always load the mortar with stretched arms. Whatever freaky accident might set it off, I know that it will rip my arm off in a splitsecond.

[lloyd]

Ube,

There's a technique to 'tipping in' ball shells when reloading hot guns. I don't recommend it for loading KNOWN cold guns before a show (because it can damage a leader if the guns have sharp mouths), but highly recommend it if you reload during a show.

 

You stand with both hands CLEAR of the gun: One is holding the shell, and the other the leader or lanyard (depending upon size).

 

Then while holding the 'leash' securely, you gently tip the shell 'over balance on the lip of the gun, and lower it with the leash. You can put a new ball shell in a gun without ever getting your face OR hands over it. You can even lift and 'bounce' it to check bottom.

 

LLoyd

[Skysurfer]

You stand with both hands CLEAR of the gun: One is holding the shell, and the other the leader or lanyard (depending upon size).

 

Then while holding the 'leash' securely, you gently tip the shell 'over balance on the lip of the gun, and lower it with the leash. You can put a new ball shell in a gun without ever getting your face OR hands over it. You can even lift and 'bounce' it to check bottom.

 

LLoyd

That was the technique... Still left me holding the visco and needing to check my shorts.

[Ubehage]

That was the technique... Still left me holding the visco and needing to check my shorts.

I would wrap myself in a roll of visco and quickmatch any day, over having my hands or head blown off by a shell-lift.

But I know what you mean

[MrB]

That was the technique... Still left me holding the visco and needing to check my shorts.

 

I had a "reaction" to this. Fell somewhat short of "LoL" but yet added a humorous flavor to a rainy day. Also caused me to think back through the backlogs of "Brown pants index - High" days, and think... Yes. Yes i have been there.

Good thing you made it out in one piece.

[WillowPineAndBoom]

My first mistake and last is when i make 2 type o flash one with kno3 al S (1 gramm) and the other kmno4 Mg(400mesh) S (2gramms) and i put it in the same type of cups then i had a call in my phone and when i turn back i forgot to mark them wich is who. So i take the stupid idea to light one to see wich is... for my bad luck i choose you know what!!!! I light it with bic ligher fortunately 1 gramm about more or less. When i touch the lighter 5 cm closer to the powder in that moment i realised that the color of the flash was a litle purple but it was to late and boom i lost my hearing for 20 minutes and i got burn in my hand that hold the lighter. Believe me 1 gramm of this demon its enough if not to kill you to make a lot of damage. Fortunately i am ok know in my health and more suspicions more careful more knowledgable and more precise whatever it has to do with pyro... learn from your mistakes and teach them to new ones! Edited December 18, 2019 by WillowPineAndBoom

[cevmarauder]

Last year I had a 3" shell blow in the tube...unfortunately, the HDPE tube blew apart and busted the rack apart (12 shot rack, 6 side-by-side). It also lit several other shells. Even though we were a good 400 feet away from the rack, I instinctively pushed the family behind me as several shells popped and rolled about 10 feet on the ground, and blew nice chunks out of my parents' lawn.

So I gotta rebuild the racks--going to make 3 4-tube racks, and make them so that the blast from a blowing tube will be directed outward and away from the other 3.