Blasting anvils into the air with blackpowder …
Watch this video ...
Surely this is very dangerous? Apparently the sport is more fun than sex.
Many thanks to Sven for the link.
12 Responses to “Blasting anvils into the air with blackpowder …”
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Love that Olde Thyme American tradition. It’s how we celebrated the 4th of July in most of this country for ages.
How could it be dangerous? Besides the possible falling-on-yer-head injuries, and the cast-iron-failure=shrapnel injuries what could possibly go wrong?
It’s too cool NOT to do it.
‘World Champion Anvil Blaster’? I didn’t know that such a competition existed.
And yes, I would imagine it would be more fun then having sex with an old bearded man with a beer belly.
That’s awesome on so many levels. His speech at the beginning about women not seeing the appeal in it had me cracking up.
@jtbolt: I saw a video on youtube where the black powder detonated prematurely. The guy had just turned to run away from the fuse when the thing blew. He was caught up in the smoke and gas from the powder, which probably didn’t do him much harm, but the anvil went flying just like it was supposed to. Luckily, it missed him, both on the way up and the way down, but shit, I wouldn’t volunteer for that spot.
That was interesting. I watched several times and timed with a stopwatch to get a hang time of about 6.3 seconds. Doing some calculating (and disregarding air resistance) gives it a maximum height of approximately 159 feet and initial (and the same when it hits the ground) velocity of 101 fps (69 mph). Imagine that landing on top of your car if you parked too close!
I agree; why would anyone NOT want to do this? As long as everyone present is aware of the risks, blast away. There is no such thing as risk-free fun.
Any hobby where you “make a run for it” is great in my book.
[...] Anvil toss [...]
Big fun. I miss it.
I see a Mythbuster episode in the making
WOW! My own local news, on the Firearm Blog!
Here’s a local article that explains it better.
http://www.dailyjournalonline.com/articles/2009/10/18/news/doc4ad8a28e358f9615822282.txt
@Joshua: Model rocket people superseded “light the faulty fuse” technology 50 years ago; perhaps this fellow could buy a clue there. Then he’d only have to worry about the shrapnel and the occasional unexpected incoming.
Reminds me of the bowling ball cannon we shoot every once in a while. I have a few anvils, always wanted to try this out.