Now Posting on Makezine.com - Nobody doesn't like molton boron!

Nobody Doesn’t Like Molten Boron

Here’s an excerpt from my new book, The Practical Pyromaniac. It’s a bit different than a lot of the other projects because it deals with making things NOT catch on fire. It’s a pretty simple chemistry project. By the way, it makes paper fire resistant, not fire proof.. . . .

Full post at http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/06/nobody-doesnt-like-molten-boron.html

Now Posting on Makezine.com - The Kukri Knife of Nepal

The Kukri Knife of Nepal

I’m a sucker for things on the Interwebs that are either interestingly made or good for making other things. I’m really jazzed about my new Nepalese kukri which qualifies mighty well on both counts.
A kukri is the incredibly large and heavy knife carried by Gurkha soldiers. Real kukri knives are handmade by knife smiths in primitive village forges in the Himalayan foothills of Nepal. I ordered mine from a knife maker in Kathmandu. Even with shipping, for a handmade item such as this, the cost was surprisingly reasonable (well under $100). It’s made from recycled materials as well.. . . . .
See full post at  http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/06/the-kukri-knife-of-nepal.html

Welcome Boing Boing Readers

Welcome Boing Boing readers and thanks for taking a minute to look around my blog. I generally focus on science, technology, and DIY topics although there's more here than that. Please use the links to the bottom right or type a topic such as "animal" or "DIY" to get to some interesting subjects.

Is your organization looking for a speaker for an upcoming event? Visit www.WilliamGurstelle.com

Also, here are links to some of my favorite NFTTU posts:

1000 Dead Men:
A description of the Gerry Report, perhaps the most grotesque bureaucratic report in all of American history.

The 10 Best North American Geek Fests
A link to a recent article I wrote for Wired Magazine

The Rise, Fall, and Rise of Robotic Combat
Remember Robot Wars? Many are still at it.

Hollywood's Catapult Warrior
Orlando Bloom's catapult fetish.

Celebratory Gun Firing: Good Idea or Not?
What goes up, must come down. A lot of comments on this one.

Nitric Acid Acts Upon Trousers
Ira Remsen, a chemist with a great sense of humor.

Fun With Jet Engines
Cool video.

Dippy Bird Power
My idea to end the energy crisis.


Navy Swimmer Nullification Program
A bizarre government defense program comes to light

My Name is Bond; Covalent Bond
Chemistry sets ain't what they used to be.

Water Bears - The World's Toughest Animal
Fun with tartigrades.

The DIY Chip

The January 2010 issue of The Atlantic contains an article I wrote about the way small, cheap, and easy-to-program computers are turning artists into technologists and technologists into artists. It's about the concept of physical computing, or the way people use computers to sense environments and do great things with that sort of information.

The entire issue of The Atlantic is available for reading online without cost. Read the whole article here, or browse to http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/201001/robot-art

How to Build a Double Pendulum

I've written a detailed article describing all things related to building a double pendulum for Make Magazine, issue 22. When Mark Frauenfelder first suggested this project, I wasn't familiar with the device. But the more I found out about it, the more I wanted to make it! They are wonderful, mesmerizing, simple, and complex all at the same time.

Full instructions are in the magazine which will be available in March or April 2010 I think. I've also produced a video that provides a pretty good introduction. Don't worry too much about dimensions: you can make them just about any size and they still look interesting.

This video is posted at youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W-lRO9kyqk

Job for the next decade: Spider Farmer

A couple of years ago the always cutting edge David Pescovitz of BoingBoing fame gave me a book called Mr. Wilson's Cabinet Of Wonder: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice on Toast, and Other Marvels of Jurassic Technology. It i s an interesting look at the "off-kilter scientific oddities that challenge the traditional notions of truth and fiction."

Since then I've been wanting to build my own cabinet of wonders. I'm not sure where I'd put it, but I envision a big oak curio cabinet with shrunken heads, an umbrella stand made from an elephant's foot, a meteorite or two, and of course, some large, preserved insects.

Meteorites are readily available on the Internet in in rock stores. The elephant stand is probably not available and the shrunken head sounds hard to get.

The giant preserved insect? They're for sale on the etsy website. They look cool. What's interesting is that their claimed to be raised on spider farms.

The insects used in our framed shadowbox butterfly art have been raised on natural cruelty free tropical farms around the world

Wow,  spider farming. That's a job for Mike Rowe if I ever heard of one.

How to Make a Leyden Jar and Electrostatic Generator

When the cold weather makes the air so dry, it's impossible to touch stuff in the house without getting a little shock. If you want to take that making a spark thing to the next level, then check out the next issue of Make Magazine (Make 21.) I show to how to create some really big-ass sparks by building a friction based static electricity generator and a Leyden jar.

The longer I worked on this project, the more excited I became with it. It took me a while to figure out how to best fabricate the Leyden jar and electrostatic generator and had to go through several iterations before it worked the way I wanted it to. The jar really holds a charge and it's unbelievable how big a spark that thing makes! If you accidentally discharge it with your hand when you're not expecting it, look out! It's quite a shocking experience.

All the directions are in the upcoming Make. I also made a video that's pretty detailed. See it at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5wr1Ishmx0  or click on the thumbnail photo below.

PS Thanks to everybody who wrote me with good wishes concerning my health. I'm going to be fine.

England's Daily Telegraph's take on Absinthe and Flamethrowers

America's DIY ballistics king Bill Gurstelle shoots from the hip about health and safety

Tom Leonard meets the DIY artillery king at his 'barrage garage'.

The above headline is from today's (Dec 3, 2009) Daily Telegraph, England's largest daily newspaper. There's an in-depth article on Absinthe and Flamethrowers and goes into depth about the importance of reasonable risk taking. The reporter, Tom Leonard, is a terrific writer and the photographer took some very interesting pictures.

I'm honored and humbled to be referred to as " America's DIY Ballistics King"

The article on the Daily Telegraph website is here. I've also made it available on my blog, Absinthe and Flamethrowers.

How to Build a Potato Cannon Wall Poster

Here's another poster that looks great on the wall of just about any workshop, classroom, or bedroom: How to Build a Flamethrower. I developed this poster with my professional graphic designer colleague, Jon. Huge: 3' X 2', full color. Great to have, great to give.

The poster covers the design and construction of a powerful spud gun, and covers a variety of ignition methods including taser-powered, piezo-electric, and good ole fashioned flint and steel. I've made *lots* of these and my best ideas are all here. Enjoy a 300 foot blast!

Check out the "How to Build a Flamethrower" Poster as well

You can see more and buy it at www.ballisticom.com

How to Build a Flamethrower Poster

I'm excited to say my new poster: How to Build a Flamethrower is ready to go! I developed this poster with a professional graphic designer. It's full color and measures 36-inches high X 24-inches wide. Everything you need to know (with a bit of web support) to build a kick-butt, working flamethrower! A flame 15 feet high!

It's the perfect holiday gift for the person who loves stuff like this.

It looks cool on the wall of your workshop, bedroom, or classroom.

Find out more at www.ballisticom.com

Car Launching

I often head to northwestern Wisconsin because my brother has a lake cabin there. Interesting place, rural Wisconsin. Go into any of the bars or taverns up there (believe me, there are a whole lot) and you immediately get the sense that the level of cultural sophistication is not what it is in say, Manhattan or West Palm Beach. Or Omaha, Peoria or Wilkes Barre either.

But that's not a bad thing. The locals are a quite creative lot. Here's an example. It's a pastime called "car launching."

It is exactly what it sounds like. This year several cars, trucks, and two school buses were launched. I'm absolutely going to be there next year.

See for yourself below: Special extended video of the event from my friends at KARE!11: click here.

Marshmallow Shooter Video on Kare -11

Today on KARE-11's Showcase Minnesota show, Rob Hudson and I build a marshmallow shooter, one of the safer projects from the many available in Whoosh Boom Splat, the enthusiasts guide to making projectile shooters.

Here's a link to a video of the segment - It's pretty good; we had fun nailing the camera man! Easy and fun to make, and costs about $3 to make.

http://www.showcaseminnesota.com/show/client_article.aspx?storyid=827311

Kurt, Roger, Ryan and David build a trebuchet - and it's a big one!

A few of my friends in St. Paul got together and build a really enormous trebuchet, a type of medieval hurling machine or catapult. I knew that Richard Chin, the great features writer for the St. Paul Pioneer Press would immediately understand the import of such an undertaking. I called him up and told him about it and he got out there. This story appeared in the yesterday's Sunday paper. 

Have trebuchet, will fling

Four friends go medieval and build a 'siege engine' (basically a catapult) because they can

By Richard Chin

"This is kind of chancy. We've never done anything this wide and big," warned Roger Bacon. "OK. Let's do it."

There was a countdown, a whoosh, and suddenly a wheelchair was soaring hundreds of feet in the air, hurtling through the skies above Hugo at an alarming rate of speed.

That's what happens when four 30-something guys decide to build a trebuchet, a siege engine resembling a catapult originally designed in the Middle Ages to pummel castle walls with projectiles.

There are no castles in Hugo, so the builders of this trebuchet are content with seeing how far they can fling a bowling ball. They're at about 700 feet so far. They're hoping to reach 1,000.

They're also testing the flight and crash-landing characteristics of obsolete consumer electronics by launching old television sets, a VCR and a computer. Thanks to the Hugo trebuchet, mankind now knows that a flying microwave oven will bounce about five feet into the air after hitting the ground.

Eventually, the trebuchet team hopes to send a clothes dryer into flight.

Built by Bacon, of White Bear Lake; Kurt Modert, of Hugo; Ryan Krueger, of Maple Grove; and David Proehl, of New Hope; the machine is just the latest and biggest, but not necessarily the craziest, project taken on by the four friends.

"We like destroying stuff," Bacon said.

They used to combine snowmobiles with upholstered furniture, resulting in a La-Z-Boy mounted on an Arctic Cat and a couch that was towed on skis.

They've shot each other with potato cannons loaded with hot dog buns and marshmallows and went golfing with a motorized golf caddy made from an old snowblower.

Then they went through a phase in which they took plastic bags filled with a mixture of creamed corn, elbow macaroni and oatmeal and concealed them under their coats.

They would go to bus stops or the entrances of movie theaters and pretend to feel queasy. While a friend would make helpful comments like, "I told you that shrimp wasn't cooked," they would bend over and spew a stream of pseudo-puke on the sidewalk to the horror and disgust of bystanders.

 

So when Modert decided in 2008 that his New Year's resolution would be to build a trebuchet, maybe the only thing that surprised his friends was how big it would be.

"I thought it would be a desktop model, you know, something to launch paper balls at the office," said Modert's girlfriend, Sue Ruby, of Minneapolis, who wants the record to show that she met Modert after he was done with street-theater vomiting.

Modert actually planned to build something that would go in the back yard of his mother's 12-acre property in Hugo.

Construction began in the spring of 2008 with the erection of a massive wooden frame capable of supporting an 18-foot throwing arm.

It was built with construction lumber, landscape timbers, recycled aluminum plates and salvaged panels from a garage door.

"It's stuff you can get at any Menards," Bacon said. "Kurt doesn't have much of a life, so he was working on the trebuchet all the time."

The swinging counterweight used to propel the arm was fashioned from an old 265-gallon fuel oil tank they got for free off Craigslist.

They spent a lot of time with calculators trying to figure out what to put into the tank to get the best performance. Water leaked. Navy beans weren't very heavy. Mercury would give more than enough heft, but "it turns out it would be difficult to get a large amount of mercury," Krueger said.

They ended up putting sand in the tank, about 1,300 pounds so far. For more power, they can get it up to 3,750 pounds.

The arm is moved with an electric hoist, and it's released by a trigger mechanism that was fashioned from a device originally used to hold and release a theater curtain rope. That piece of hardware cost less than $5 at an Ax-Man Surplus store.

At one point, Modert's mother asked where they were going to move the trebuchet when they were done.

But the machine, situated only a few yards from the house, is anchored with lengths of pipe driven several feet into the ground.

"This one is permanent. It's too big to move," Modert said.

The builders are not sure how the $2,500 project will affect the home value.

"The tax assessor did come out earlier this year, and we're waiting to see what he says," Bacon said.

 

Bacon said when asked if any changes had been made to the house, Modert's mother told the assessor, "Well, there's less shed and more trebuchet."

"At every step, it was like 'Let's take it one step bigger than we originally planned,' " Proehl said.

"It kind of got a little carried away," Modert said. "Why do it if you're not going to do it big?"

"Most people who build stuff like giant catapults are doing what they're doing because they're seeking a challenge, the challenge of creating something big and wonderful in a physical, tangible way," said William Gurstelle, a Minneapolis author of books such as "Backyard Ballastics" and "Absinthe & Flamethrowers: Projects and Ruminations on the Art of Living Dangerously."

The original ammunition used by Modert and his friends were defective bowling balls, acquired for free at local bowling alley pro shops. They started arcing over the field behind Modert's boyhood home in August.

"They haven't told you about the mistakes they made," Ruby said.

Once, a bowling ball was tossed about 150 feet in the wrong direction.

"Toward where my car was parked," Ruby said.

The team uses a number of safety measures to make sure no one gets hurt. But when asked if it's dangerous, Bacon said, "Yeah. Well, no. Yeah."

"There's the potential for things to break," Modert said.

During a recent hurling session, a bowling ball was launched almost straight up in the air, sending everyone ducking for cover.

"All right. So let's not do that one again," Krueger said.

Tricked Out Motorized Couch

A guy in northern Minnesota built a way cool, tricked out, motorized couch and drove it to the local bar. But he got so drunk that he crashed it into a parked car.

Note the headlights, surround sound system and cup holders. It's powered by a lawn mower engine which makes me think it couldn't attain much speed, given how heavy it is. The police chief "estimates" it could reach 15 to 20 mph. I can't imagine that being true. Anyway, the police confiscated it. Too bad.

Full story from the Star Tribune:

The operator of a La-Z-Boy chair converted into a motorized vehicle -- complete with a stereo and cup holders -- has admitted that he crashed the piece of furniture after leaving a bar in Proctor, Minn., extremely drunk.

Dennis LeRoy Anderson, 61, of Proctor, pleaded guilty Monday to hopping on the chair on the night of Aug. 31, 2008, after visiting the Keyboard Lounge, then crashing into a more traditional vehicle in the parking lot. Anderson's blood-alcohol content was 0.29 percent, more than three times the legal limit for driving in Minnesota.

Deputy Police Chief Troy Foucault said Thursday that the chair is "quite decked out." Along with the stereo and cup holders, it is driven by a converted gasoline-powered lawnmower, and has a steering wheel, headlights and a power antenna.

Foucault estimated that the La-Z-Boy can top out at 15 to 20 miles per hour. A National Hot Rod Association sticker adorns the headrest.

The chair was impounded and will be sold at the next police auction.

"We have quite a few people calling about buying it," said Foucault, who half-seriously acknowledged that he is tempted to bid on it, except that "I have kids who would take it out and drive it on the street."

Anderson admitted to police that he had been drinking at home, was leaving the bar and had drunk eight or nine beers that day before getting on the La-Z-Boy and crashing it into a Dodge Intrepid parked outside, Foucault said. Anderson was treated for minor injuries and given a field sobriety test, even though he pleaded several times with the officer to "give him a break," according to the police report.

"He failed everything," Foucault said, which led to Anderson's arrest and seizure of the chair. The officer on the scene checked Anderson's driver's license and determined that it had been revoked because of a previous drunken-driving conviction, according to police.

Anderson, who does auto body repair work out of his home, was sentenced Monday to 180 days in the St. Louis County jail or at the Northeast Regional Corrections Center and was fined $2,000. The jail time and half of the fine was stayed for two years of supervised probation with conditions that include a chemical dependency assessment, random testing and 30 days of electronic monitoring.

New How-To Video on Electrostatic Generator and Leyden Jar

I've filmed a new video showing how to build an electrostatic generator and a leyden jar. Watch it at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5wr1Ishmx0

If you've never messed around with Leyden Jars, you should; they are immense amount of fun. I accidentally shocked myself yesterday and it nearly knocked me over, so if you make one, don't make it too big. Eventually all Leyden Jars wind up shocking their owners.

12 Shocking Ideas That Could Change the World

This month's Wired Magazine cover article is entitled  "The
Smart List: 12 Shocking Ideas That Could Change the World."

My essay, entitled "Take Smart Risks," is number 11, (between
Gregg Easterbrooks "Embrace Human Cloning" and Robert Gates
"Overhaul the Pentagon.")

You can read the entire article in the new October issue of
Wired, or online (for free!) at
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-10/ff_smartlist#

How to Choose a Throwing Knife

In my other blog Absinthe and Flamethrowers, I answer a question a reader posed about how to buy throwing knives.

I was just wondering which company sells the best throwing knives, or which one you trust.
also how much does a good set of 3 usually go for?

First, what exactly is a throwing knife? Wikipedia sez:

Throwing knives are knives that are specially designed and weighted so that they can be thrown effectively. They are a distinct category from ordinary knives.

Throwing knives are commonly made of a single piece of steel or other material, without handles, unlike other types of knives. The knife has two sections, the 'blade' which is the sharpened half of the knife and the 'grip' which is not sharpened. The purpose of the grip is to allow the knife to be safely handled by the user and also to balance the weight of the blade.

When I first started throwing I bought three fairly smallish knives and they were pretty hard to throw consistently. so, I upgraded to larger, heavier model and things were much easier.

From www.absintheandflamethrowers.com:

So, you want to learn how to throw knives? It pays to start with good equipment. The most important thing is to use knives made for the purpose. They should be neither too heavy or too light.

Choosing a knife. The type of knife you choose will have an incredible impact on how much you’re able to enjoy knife throwing. Keep in mind that quality throwing knives do not have a handle. The blade is the throwing knife.
▪ Size: Knives that are between 12”-16” are a good size. They aren’t too big and not so small that you’d have to throw harder and strain to watch them in flight.
▪ Weight: Knives of the above size will fly fairly undisturbed from wind and make a satisfying sound when they hit the target.

more at http://www.articlesbase.com/extreme-sports-articles/knife-throwing-so-you-want-to-be-a-knife-thrower-470112.html

Speed Week at Bonneville Salt Flats

The Bonneville Salt Flats - A whole lot of flatness!

I'm guest blogging on Makezine.com this month. I'm excited for the opportunity because it gives me a chance to provide some additional information about some of the stories I've done for Make Magazine previously.

In this month's Make Magazine (Issue 19) I've got a piece on Speed Week, the gathering of speed enthusiasts that meets in Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover Utah to celebrate all things that go fast on the ground.

The Make Magazine piece focuses on Belly Tank Racers, which are fast cars made from the aluminum fuel tanks of military airplanes (they are highly aerodynamic so they are perfect for car bodies.) The men who make them, make them from scratch, and take them to speeds exceeding 200 mph. Now that's some fine work.

Here are some additional pictures of those way cool belly tankers.

This is Gary Calvert's belly tank racer.


Belly Racer's Engine



Here's the interior


Here's me inside it.


Belly Tankers are "open wheel" machines meaning there is no fairing or cowling covering the tires.


Working on Steve DiMartino's Jesse's Girl just before racing


Ready to race. The belly tanker gets a push start and then streaks across the desert.

How to Make a Sazerac Cocktail

In 2008 the Louisiana House of Represenatives voted to make the Sazerac the official cocktail of New Orleans. It’s a great mix of flavors and packs a kick. A favorite with those who understand the art of living dangerously.

• 1/2 cup ice cubes
• 1 sugar cube
• 3 dashes Bitters
• 2 ounces rye Jim Beam or Old Overholt RYE (not bourbon) whiskey
• 1/2 teaspoon of absinthe
• lemon twist

Chill an old-fashioned glass by filling it with ice and water. In second old-fashioned glass, mix together sugar, bitters, and just enough water to dissolve the sugar. Stir. Add cognac or whiskey and remaining ½ cup ice, and stir well, at least 15 seconds. Take the chilled glass, discard ice and water and pour in absinthe. Swirl it around so the absinthe coats the interior of the glass. Add rye whiskey mixture into the chilled, absinthe-coated glass. Add lemon peel and enjoy.

How to Make an Arc Light

Home Made Arc Light

Most people think Thomas Edison invented the electric light. Nah. Edison invented the incandescent light bulb, but electric lights were invented about 70 years earlier by Sir Humphrey Davy. His device was (and is) called an Arc Light.

Arc lights are extremely bright. Not particularly efficient mind you, but they are certainly bright. When I was going to high school in the 70s, there were arc light movie projectors in the school auditorium.

WWII style searchlights were arc lights as well. Each search light piercing the night sky over London searching for Stukas and Junker bombers were the equivalent of a 13,000 watt incandescent bulb and were able to throw a beam on something five miles away.

Click above on the picture above or browse to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY06G2iSR8M for a video of an arc light I made that uses carbon rods from a non alkaline battery and a 12 volt transformer. The video shows how it's made and more info is available in an upcoming issue of Make Magazine.

Note: If you make one, don't look directly at the arc without eye protection -- avoid the UV rays