Shooting the Anvil

[Bekeart]

Found this article about anvil-firing.
Back in Arkansas it was called Shooting the Anvil.

More than a few of our foolhardy forebears rang in the New Year with earth-trembling blasts that threatened -- "and sometimes claimed" -- lives and limbs.

Called anvil-firing, the ear-splitting holiday custom was forsaken long ago, possibly because it proved so hazardous. (The custom is preserved -- "safely" -- at special events held annually around the country.)

The revelry started when the firing crew lugged a pair of matched anvils to a field or some other open space. They'd place -- "one anvil atop the other one" -- the bottom anvil upside down, the top one right side up.

Anvils have little cavities or holes on their undersides. So the crew would pack black powder into the mated cavities, stick in a fuse, light it and stand back,
hopefully at a safe distance.

The smoky blast would launch the top anvil, called the "flier," skyward. Everybody watched the anvil's flight to lessen the chance of somebody getting hit on its return trip to earth.



More at:
Happy New Year. Don't try this at home. - Kentucky Lantern

Bekeart
Two Anvils Short of a Shoot ...

 

[wood714]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqAo_AJHnf4&t=2s[/ame]

 

[biku324]

We used to launch lit cherry bombs (the real ones, not modern baby food propellant fired) with heavy, homemade slingshots until cousin Carroll lost a finger.

 

[NYlakesider]

One of our family friends, a very good Mr Fix it would make his own slingshots in the 50s -60s and then sell them They were a bit on the crude side but did they work well.

Made out of 5/16 square stock and he knew exactly what companies inner tube to cut down to get the most power out.

Those slingshots were the Weatherby magnums of slingshots. You could easily launch a cherry bomb or Ashcan well over a 100 yards. The shooter assumed the launch position and the other miscreant lite the fuse and told you SHOOT IT.--

They had a very heavy draw weight but were they fun and much more powerful that the best commercial made slingshots of the area! Of course I got mine confiscated.-

 

[DWalt]

Even as a kid, I was smart enough to figure out that lighting the fuse of a cherry bomb or M80 while holding it was a bad idea.

 

[biku324]

Well, we were all German farmboys.

 

[Rule3]

Even as a kid, I was smart enough to figure out that lighting the fuse of a cherry bomb or M80 while holding it was a bad idea.

As a young kid on a road trip with parents we stopped at South of the Border motel, across the street they had the biggest fireworks store ever! I bought a gross of M 80's (can;t believe my parents let me) Did some major destruction with those and yes almost blew my fingers off

 

[s&wchad]

Some folks have it down to an art!

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NFtX6a7o3c[/ame]

 

[biku324]

They forgot to add that no anvils were injured in making the video.

 

[JohnRippert]

All we used to do was use 16oz Coke bottles to launch bottle rockets at each other in the grapefruit fields. Had some great bottle rocket wars back then, and no one got hurt. Then when I got older my room mate and I would use 3/4 inch pvc pipes about 4 feet long like bazookas to launch bottle rockets across the stock tanks at the teenagers over the way. We thought that was fair because we let them steal our beer.

 

[Rustyt1953]

The official sponsor is ACME.

 

[Rudi]

Lots of moonshine would make it even more safe.

 

[llowry61]

We did the slingshot thing with firecrackers.

I learned my lesson when one of the fuses went much faster than the others. Luckily it was just burnt bruised fingers that hurt like heck once the numbness went away. Could have been worse.

I had to come clean to the parents because the injury was evident on my thumb and forefinger. The old school parenting technique took over so not only did I have to deal with the pain, but I was also grounded for a week.

That was the last time I held any explosive in my hands with a lit fuse. Experience is the best teacher.

There is a video on the net of a kid shooting a couple of pounds of Tannerite packed into an old riding mower. The mower blew apart and the shrapnel removed a portion of the shooters leg. Hard way to learn a lesson.

 

[Chuck24]

The guy lighting the fuse didn’t seem in any great hurry to get away from it

 

[Bekeart]

The guy lighting the fuse didn’t seem in any great hurry to get away from it

Bet it was a LONG fuse of KNOWN BURN RATE.

Bekeart.

 

[ezb57]

South of the Border

As a young kid on a road trip with parents we stopped at South of the Border motel, across the street they had the biggest fireworks store ever! I bought a gross of M 80's (can;t believe my parents let me) Did some major destruction with those and yes almost blew my fingers off

OMG I remember Pedro's Arsenal so well. It was heaven to a dumb kid

 

[s&wchad]

A little off topic, but some of the replies reminds me of a story my Uncle Ben told me about one of his childhood memories.

His folks went into town and left him alone on the farm. They were rebuilding the chicken coop at the time and told him to stay off it. A few weeks earlier, he was riding with his dad and they picked up a hitchhiker. When the guy got out, Ben found some .22 rimfire cartridges on the seat and pocked them.

While his folks were away he retrieved the cartridges, stuck them in a crack in a log and was hitting them with a hammer. He got his face close to have a better look and one of the case heads ruptured and a piece hit his earlobe. He said it bleed like a stuck pig!

When his parents got home, they patched him up and wanted to know what happened. He told them he fell off the chicken coop and quietly accepted his punishment!

 

[Kinman]

We used to launch lit cherry bombs (the real ones, not modern baby food propellant fired) with heavy, homemade slingshots until cousin Carroll lost a finger.

Fun wasn't it? My brother and I were playing Red Rover with M-80's and wrist rockets. I fired one over the house at him, I heard it go off, he came around the corner and said "Better come look at this." I went around front and he pointed to my dad's canary yellow Karman Ghia roof. I walked over and there was a blackened disc from the exploding M-80. I went next door and asked my neighbor if he had anything that would take it off before my dad came home. He had a buffer and some compound, it worked and dad came home to a freshly waxed car, the neighbor was cool.

 

[llowry61]

Those real M80's and Cherry Bombs would take off your fingers. The Silver Salutes were pretty powerful as well. Friends tested one in a mailbox and got a visit from the local LE advising them of the federal offense since there was mail in it. I am sure it was a scare tactic, but it worked. Everyone in the neighborhood knew better than to mess with a mailbox once the story got out.

 

[ACORN]

Gee! What could possibly go wrong?