Fireworks hammers

Explosives at the end of sledgehammers? Big fun! (Thanks, Tara McGinley!)

[#1 posted by nanner, July 7, 2009 11:41 AM]

pretty sure i'd get hurt

[#2 posted by Anonymous, July 7, 2009 11:41 AM]

OMG! Funniest thing ever! I had tears from laughing so hard. I had to watch it over and over again, and it kept getting funnier. BOOOOM!!!!

[#3 posted by Blaine, July 7, 2009 11:46 AM]

I desperately want to know the recipe. I won't do it, I just want to know.

[#4 posted by xzzy, July 7, 2009 11:53 AM]

As fun as it looks, my delicate American upbringing only has me wondering how horrible the injuries are when something goes wrong.

That said, it does make a pretty impressive pop. I'd probably rig up a machine to do the sledgehammer swinging though.. and hold on to it securely. I'm quite curious where the hammer ended up on that one at the end.

[#5 posted by Anonymous, July 7, 2009 11:54 AM]

Why is this event happening? Is there a boredom crisis in Mexico?

[#6 posted by jeaguilar, July 7, 2009 11:56 AM]

Spanish explanation: http://mexablog.com/2008/12/29/misterio-resuelto-de-los-martillos-explosivos/

[#7 posted by jrucifer, July 7, 2009 11:57 AM]

Where did the sledgehammer land?

these guys sure know how to party, looks like great fun.

[#8 posted by santulli, July 7, 2009 12:03 PM]

Wonder what it is that they are hitting (the flat squares of some materialwith the hammers.

[#9 posted by hotpants, July 7, 2009 12:03 PM]

Think of it as spring training for the Darwin Awards.

[#10 posted by santulli, July 7, 2009 12:03 PM]

Wonder what it is that they are hitting (the flat squares of some material) with the hammers.

[#11 posted by P1rat3, July 7, 2009 12:04 PM]

That is quite possibly one of the most insane things I have ever seen.

((Sledgehammer + Explosives)/Swing Skill)*Random Chaos) = High Probability of Injury.

The way they are swinging it, the blast shoots so close to their heads that it would not take but a small swing miscalculation to angle the blast back into their faces.

Still, it is mildly safer than "light sabre dueling" by filling fluorescent light tubes with gasoline.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/beds/bucks/herts/4575291.stm

[#12 posted by jhoug, July 7, 2009 12:09 PM]

I know some people* I'd love to see try this. With me watching from a great distance.

*I don't like these people, mind you.

[#13 posted by JoshuaTerrell, July 7, 2009 12:10 PM]

I think this only works with cheap and dangerous fireworks like they make in mexico. I think American fireworks are probably too stable to have this effect.

Still. Cool. Really stupid.

[#14 posted by stupidjerk, July 7, 2009 12:11 PM]

Dangerous, sure, but where is the how-to? This is a must-try...

[#15 posted by mdh, July 7, 2009 12:12 PM]

I desperately want to know the recipe.

Tequila, cheap weed, and "Truck Nutz".

[#16 posted by Anonymous, July 7, 2009 12:24 PM]

Something new to try at BURNING MAN!! (even though fireworks are now sadly prohibited there)

[#17 posted by GammaBlog, July 7, 2009 12:32 PM]

Seconds on the potential for Darwin Award winners. Also looks like a reaper moment from Dead Like Me, been watching it on Hulu.

[#18 posted by elsuperjeffe, July 7, 2009 12:38 PM]

wow. we used to do something like this when i was a kid, except we just used a roll or two of caps and a five lb. hammer.
good times.

[#19 posted by Anonymous, July 7, 2009 12:39 PM]

Total Awesomeness!! i have a new respect for our neighbors down south. They know how to party. I was peeing my pants watching this. Fireworks in California are totally wimpy. At least the legal ones. When I was a kid, a buddy of mine got a hold of a blasting cap. He put it on the street and hit it with a hammer. The ensuing explosion punched a respectable hole in the street and drove pieces of asphalt into his arm. The Mexicans are much more safety conscious, as they use a dirt surface and some sort of "safety pad". Rock on, amigos!!

[#20 posted by Keeper of the Lantern, July 7, 2009 12:41 PM]

That's never hurt anyone, I'm pretty sure.

[#21 posted by Anonymous, July 7, 2009 12:43 PM]

IT looks like wild coyote when he try's to get roadrunner again. (at the end)

[#22 posted by Anonymous, July 7, 2009 12:47 PM]

Tannerite?

[#23 posted by mypalmike, July 7, 2009 12:47 PM]

The last time I experienced a Mexican explosion of that magnitude, it was in the bathroom at a Taco Bell.

[#24 posted by nck wntrhltr, July 7, 2009 1:00 PM]

Hey you kids, stop huffing gunpowder!

[#25 posted by HiTek LoLife, July 7, 2009 1:01 PM]

I used to do exactly this as a child, but on something of a smaller scale. I would buy roll caps and smash a roll or two at a time with a hammer to get a bigger bang out of them. The day my father bought a brick-set hammer (with a head ~3" diameter) I remember thinking, "WOW I'll be able to tape an ENTIRE BOX to the business end of that!". I did, which resulted in a nice nick on the cheek from a "could have put an eye out" size chip of concrete and a week of ringing ears. Oh, the wonders of my unsupervised existence as a child of the 70s/80s...

[#26 posted by giusbox, July 7, 2009 1:37 PM]

Weapon of choice for the zombiepocalypse.

[#27 posted by Alan, July 7, 2009 1:37 PM]

As soon as I heard Spanish being spoken, I knew someone was gonna get hurt. If that guy wasn't wearing earplugs (which I doubt), he probably did some serious ear damage.

It looks like they are hitting metal plates because the ground is too soft. I also noticed they'd flip them over, probably because they are blown into a concave shape and have to be turned over for a good hit. I especially like how they all share the same metal plate and take turns using it. I imagine this keeps up until the metal is fatigued enough that it becomes shrapnel.

[#28 posted by Anonymous, July 7, 2009 1:44 PM]

You can do this on a small scale with "strike anywhere" matches. They make a surprising "bang".

[#29 posted by Osprey101, July 7, 2009 1:51 PM]

Clearly, these are the "trained professionals" you always hear about.

[#30 posted by Brainspore, July 7, 2009 2:04 PM]

Thor called. He wants his shtick back.

[#31 posted by Grahamers2002, July 7, 2009 2:05 PM]

...

[#32 posted by Anonymous, July 7, 2009 2:55 PM]

Yeah, I remember the 70's-era bangs from a roll of caps hit edgewise with a claw-hammer; this seems much more controlled than that ...

Safety glasses and a kerchief are a tad underprepared I'd say -- I'd add hard hats, goalie gloves, hard-shell ear protection and elbow pads to the list.

I like the idea of randomly positioned target squares in the piazza, though -- adds to the excitement, what with 'you never know where the next hammer's gonna land' and all.

They filmed the right guy, though :D

[#33 posted by jimkirk, July 7, 2009 3:09 PM]

Oh, come on, Xzzy, what could possibly go wrong?

It does remind me of a toy I had as a kid. Kind of like a tiny metal lawn dart thing about 3 inches long, except that for a pointy end there was a weighted hemispherical nose-cone with a mechanism to install caps. It came with a roll that had about 10 times the usual amount of powder. Toss it in the air, caps get compressed when it lands, go boom.

[#34 posted by kpurcell, July 7, 2009 3:17 PM]

Blaine

--

70% Potassium Chlorate
30% Sulfur

ground finely separately and then mixed gently via the diaper method. Loosely poured into thin wall cardboard tubes.

BEWARE - very friction sensitive, also impact sensitive i.e. sledgehammers

[#35 posted by IWood, July 7, 2009 3:35 PM]

Aaaand now you're a terrorist.

[#36 posted by stratojoe, July 7, 2009 5:17 PM]

It's ok everybody... it's "traditional".

But seriously folks, I might have to try that on some iPhones.

[#37 posted by 3hecatl, July 7, 2009 5:35 PM]

Haha, viva México cabrones!

Heh, this does look stupidly dangerous, but by Mexican fireworks standards it's not the worst. On our own independence day we light up huge metal structures with assorted fireworks strapped on. Some bits are meant to take flight in a great shower of sparks, but it's essentially up to the packed audience to dodge the incoming hunks of metal when they eventually come back down to land. Good times!

[#38 posted by unklstuart, July 7, 2009 6:21 PM]

"Hold my Cerveza and watch this!"

[#39 posted by t3hmadhatter, July 7, 2009 6:57 PM]

Famous last words:
"This is gonna be so friggin cool!"

[#40 posted by gunnar11, July 7, 2009 9:18 PM]

This is such a great film! It gets better the more I watch it. I love the suspense of having to wait for the "star" of the show to get his turn with his clearly superior sledgehammer - even getting cut off just before his turn. Ok, I have to watch it again ...

[#41 posted by Takuan, July 7, 2009 9:58 PM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYxVDW9SBOY

[#42 posted by Takuan, July 7, 2009 9:59 PM]

http://www.linkbase.org/articles/Homemade-Explosives.htm

[#43 posted by Anonymous, July 8, 2009 1:40 AM]

Potassium chlorate can bought from any decent hardware store. It is sold as stump decomposer. Sulfur can still be found in drug stores if you look around. Have fun.

[#44 posted by hallpass, July 8, 2009 8:25 AM]

I really want to know where the hammer came down.

God, I keep coming back to this and it cracks me up everytime.

[#45 posted by palindrome, July 8, 2009 10:08 AM]

Come on Takuan! What's with the weak sauce anvil vid? All the ceremony and I expected something really big.

Try this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71bghFo9SVc

[#46 posted by mdh, July 8, 2009 10:33 AM]

Aaaand now you're a terrorist.

I'm glad that there are civic 'events' in some cultures where this is encouraged...

otherwise you get pulled over near a little league game and called a terrorist (while on your way to the deserted sand-pit) like this poor bastard.

[#47 posted by mdh, July 8, 2009 10:51 AM]

oops, that was the wrong poor bastard.

this poor bastard

[#48 posted by Anonymous, July 8, 2009 11:15 AM]

According to the article in Spanish "only" 17 people have been hurt (killed?) doing this.

[#49 posted by Anonymous, July 12, 2009 9:30 PM]

More info on this festival in San Juan de la Vega, Mexico: http://www.geeked.info/celebration-and-explosive-sledgehammers/

It's meant to be a recreation of a battle between their patron saint and the government.