The 8 Most Wildly Irresponsible Vintage Toys

[midlife]

Any body else on here have a Gat air pistol when they were young? We carried them around like a toy

Shaun

 

[PeteXXX]

I used to dream about being a scientific glass blower. The chemistry department of Leeds university had a display cabinet full of the most complex and exotic glassware whose construction was without blemish.

I got as far as simple condensers, flouration bulbs and such delights. My complex condensers were definitely with blemish..

 

[vernon]

Any body else on here have a Gat air pistol when they were young? We carried them around like a toy

Shaun

Yes. They were total shite. The recoil from the moving barrel made accuracy a very distant aspiration unless the target was at the end of the barrel.

 

[mjr]

Giving kids are formula for Black Powder and saying they could only make it in the small amount. I'm sure they would do that .

Yes, all kids do. We absolutely never made larger quantities and tried blowing up trees

I've also had a toy steam engine, worked glass and cast small metal things (can't remember what the metal was, though). I've not messed with the remaining items, though.

I once electrocuted myself by touching the live and neutral pins of a three pin plug

Done that. Buzzy, isn't it?

I fell off the bonnet of my cousin's car at 30 mph and went skidding down the road on my hands and knees (I've still got the scars). I drank a bottle of Lee and Perrins sauce, which didn't do my digestive system any good for three days

not done those and I think I'm glad!

 

[mybike]

Recall shooting an air rifle at a string hanging from the apple tree and hitting the living room window behind.

Come to that, the melting of the used pellets in milk bottle lids on the kitchen coke boiler did have some hazard.

When I was an apprentice I bought a ringing generator and took it into a workshop. The guys had great fun turning the handle while holding hands.

Then there was the time I sync'd a valve AF generator to the mains frequency and blew a telephone receiver insert. That was a big shock across my chest!

 

[Profpointy]

I used to dream about being a scientific glass blower. The chemistry department of Leeds university had a display cabinet full of the most complex and exotic glassware whose construction was without blemish.

I must admit some of my fascination with chemistry is down to the aesthetic appeal of the apparatus. Was enthralled by the tour of my university dept seeing the glassblower's room with his prize apprentice pieces in a cupboard - some kind of vaccum pump if I recall correctly. Did the odd bit of glass tube bending as a kid for my home chemistry stuff, so can't really see too much problem with the educational toys mentioned. My mother was decididely unkeen on my toxic and smelly chemistry experiments on the gas cooker - but getting a decent heat source outdoors was tricky. Did the usual hydrogen, oxygen (hydrogen peroxide & manganese dioxide catalyst from old batteries) and chlorine (hypochlorite bleach & sodium bisulphate).

Ended up doing maths rather than chemistry on the end. Oh well

 

[DaveReading]

We're all still here..think the worst thing to happen to me in a science class was after lighting the gas tap

Doing that was fun, but for the full effect you needed some rubber tubing to connect the gas tap to the narrow end of a filter funnel in order to emulate a Saturn V blasting off ...

DAMHIKT

 

[mybike]

Recall shooting an air rifle at a string hanging from the apple tree and hitting the living room window behind.

Come to that, the melting of the used pellets in milk bottle lids on the kitchen coke boiler did have some hazard.

When I was an apprentice I bought a ringing generator and took it into a workshop. The guys had great fun turning the handle while holding hands.

Then there was the time I sync'd a valve AF generator to the mains frequency and blew a telephone receiver insert. That was a big shock across my chest!

And I'd forgotten the experiments with copper sulphate and electrolysis.

 

[Profpointy]

And I'd forgotten the experiments with copper sulphate and electrolysis.

is that the copper plating a nail experiment ?

 

[MontyVeda]

Any body else on here have a Gat air pistol when they were young? We carried them around like a toy

Shaun

I had one. My dad didn't trust me with it so demonstrated it's 'power' on a paper bag, which it failed to puncture. "It can't get through a wet paper bag but it'll take somebody's eye out!" he said, before giving it to a bloke up the road who had a huge avery in the back garden for the purpose of shooting cats!!! I love my dad but feck me he wasn't half a dickhead at times... all wanted to do was target tin cans.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Any body else on here have a Gat air pistol when they were young? We carried them around like a toy

Shaun

A meteor rifle here ,i loved my air gun..gat gun was no good..

 

[vernon]

is that the copper plating a nail experiment ?

Yes and it's a con. It's a displacement reaction that puts the copper on the nail the more reactive iron exchanges places with the copper. Leave the nail in long enough and you'll get a crumbly nail shaped deposit of copper and a pale green solution of iron sulphate. No electricity is needed. Less reactive metals and carbon rods need electricity for copper plating.

 

[mybike]

is that the copper plating a nail experiment ?

Yes and it's a con. It's a displacement reaction that puts the copper on the nail the more reactive iron exchanges places with the copper. Leave the nail in long enough and you'll get a crumbly nail shaped deposit of copper and a pale green solution of iron sulphate. No electricity is needed. Less reactive metals and carbon rods need electricity for copper plating.

I used to end up with a nasty black deposit on whatever it was I was trying to plate.

 

[midlife]

A meteor rifle here ,i loved my air gun..gat gun was no good..

I had a BSA Meteor too , the super version that had the rubber end to the shoulder stock. Cracking rifle, especially with an Airsporter spring

Shaun

 

[Spinney]

I'm off to play with my flame throwers, pyrotechnics, live steam engines and pulse jets.

I know how to have fun.

Especially with ping pong balls, I believe...