Paper was the first container ever used for explosives, since it was first used by the Chinese to make fireworks. Paper containers are usually very simple to make, and are certainly the cheapest. There are many possible uses for paper in containing explosives, and the two most obvious are in firecrackers and rocket engines. Simply by rolling up a long sheet of paper, and gluing it together, one can make a simple rocket engine. Perhaps a more interesting and dangerous use is in the firecracker. The firecracker shown here is one of Mexican design. It is called a "polumna", meaning "dove". The process of their manufacture is not unlike that of making a paper football. If one takes a sheet of paper about 16 inches in length by 1.5 inches wide, and fold one corner so that it looks like this:
________________________________________________________ | |\ | | \ | | \ |______________________________________________________|___\
and then fold it again so that it looks like this: _______________________________________________________ | /| | / | | / | |__________________________________________________/___|
A pocket is formed. This pocket can be filled with black powder, pyrodex, flash powder, gunpowder,rocket engine powder, or any of the quick-burning fuel-oxodizer mixtures that occur in the form of a fine powder. A fuse is then inserted, and one continues the triangular folds, being careful not to spill out any of the explosive. When the polumna is finished, it should be taped together very tightly, since this will increase the strength of the container, and produce a louder and more powerful explosion when it is lit. The finished polumna should look like a 1/4 inch - 1/3 inch thick triangle, like the one shown below:
^
/ \ ----- securely tape all corners
/ \
/ \
/ \
/ \
/ \____________________________
/_____________\__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/ ------ fuse
4.42 METAL CONTAINERS
The classic pipe bomb is the best known example of a metal-contained explosive. Idiot anarchists take white tipped matches and cut off the match heads. They pound one end of a pipe closed with a hammer, pour in the white-tipped matches, and then pound the other end closed. This process often kills the fool, since when he pounds the pipe closed, he could very easily cause enough friction between the match heads to cause them to ignite and explode the unfinished bomb. By using pipe caps, the process is somewhat safer, and the less stupid anarchist would never use white tipped matches in a bomb. He would buy two pipe caps and threaded pipe (fig. 1). First, he would drill a hole in one pipe cap, and put a fuse in it so that it will not come out, and so powder will not escape during handling. The fuse would be at least 3/4 an inch long inside the bomb. He would then screw the cap with the fuse in it on tightly, possibly putting a drop of super glue on it to hold it tight. He would then pour his explosive powder in the bomb. To pack it tightly, he would take a large wad of tissue paper and, after filling the pipe to the very top, pack the powder down, by using the paper as a ramrod tip, and pushing it with a pencil or other wide ended object, until it would not move any further. Finally, he would screw the other pipe cap on, and glue it. The tissue paper would help prevent some of the powder from being caught in the threads of the pipe or pipe cap from being crushed and subject to friction, which might ignite the powder, causing an explosion during manufacture. An assembled bomb is shown in fig. 2.
_________ _______________ __________ | | | ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ | | | |vvvvv| |_________________________| |vvvvvv| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ___________________________ | | | | | | | | | | ^^^^^| vvvvvv_______________vvvvvv |^^^^^^| | |________| |________|
fig 1. Threaded pipe and endcaps. ________ ________ | _____|________________________________|_____ | | |__________________________________________| | | |: : : :|- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | | | |tissue | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |_| | | : : |- - low order explosive - - ---------------------- | | paper | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |-| fuse | |: : : :|- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | | | |_______|__________________________________| | | |__________________________________________| | |______| |______|
endcap pipe endcap
w/ hole
fig. 2 Assembled pipe bomb.
