The Anarchists Encyclopedia
A Beginners Guide To Anarchy Released
July 1998 

#1 DISCLAIMER: The Author of this text is not responsible for nor gives a shit about what you do with information gained from this file. By reading this file any further you hereby agree that if you cause bodily harm due to information you read in this file, you are responsible for it.

Table of Contents

I.1.........................................Introduction
II.1.1......................................Low Explosives
II.1.2......................................Black Powder
II.1.3......................................Flash Powder
II.1.4......................................Thermite
II.1.5......................................Shotgun Powder
II.2........................................Flammable Substances
II.2.1......................................Napalm
II.2.2......................................Gasoline
II.2.3......................................Alchohol
II.2.4......................................Hair Spray
III.1.......................................Oxidizers
III.1.1.....................................Iron Oxide
III.1.2.....................................Bleach/Brake Fluid
IV.1........................................Cannons
IV.1.1......................................Potato Cannon
IV.1.2......................................Powder Cannon
V.1.........................................Credits
 

I.1 Introduction
Are You tired of reading outdated text files on this subject? What happened to all those great Anarchists like Exodus? The latest text file i found was from '93. My friend and i are probably the biggest anarchists in our town. We both own almost every text file there is about explo- sives, but alot of the stuff is just plain outdated. We have improvised many of those outdated things, and we have found alot of better ways to do things. Thats what im hoping to accomplish with this file.I hope to soon get an HTML version made.

II.1.1 Low Explosives
This file only covers low explosives because they are simple.They do not require blasting caps or detonators, only a fuse or a spark.Most low explosives are used in the powder form, because thats when they burn fastest.

II.1.2 Black Powder
Black powder is the oldest known explosive, since the chinese used it centuries ago in fire- works. Black Powder can be your best friend, or your worst enemy. If you are careful and realize the danger envolved it will be your friend. But if you are stupid and do not take safety pre- cautions you could lose a finger or two. You can obtain black powder (the good stuff) from estes rocket engines. You will need to disassemble it in this fashion: First, cut it lengthwise with a sharp x-acto knife. Then unpeel it like a roll of toilet paper until you reach the center. Here is a cutaway view of a class b or c estes rocket engine _______________________________________________________________ |_______________________________________________________________| <----- Paper tubing \......|################################|*s*|e|.c.| \.clay|################################|*m*|j|.l.| ----- ######### Black Powder #########|*o*|e|.a.| ----- ################################|*k*|c|.y.| /.....|################################|*e*|t|...| _/______|________________________________|___|_|___|____________ |_______________________________________________________________| The Amount of black powder will vary due to the power of the engine, so if you buy rocket engines to take apart, buy a C class engine. Also, the amount of smoke powder may vary due to the delay before ejection. To get the black powder form the rocket engines, first break off the clay from both ends. Then scrape the ejection charge and smoke charge off the end of the engine.The smoke may take a minute.Now you should just have a black cylinder. This is the actual black powder. Get a pair of pliers and grap the powder with them. Hold it down in a Ziploc bag and crunch it. The bag will catch the flying peices of the engine. Now crush up those little pieces in the bag until you have powder about the size of dippin dots ice cream (i couldnt think of anything else). Now put the powder in a small container like a small plastic tray or something like a petri dish. Now get something to crush it with. I use the round end of a CO2, but a plastic spoon will work. Now comes the boring part. You must crush up the powder until its about like sand or sugar.When you get it this finely crushed it is then ready to be used in pipebombs, firecrackers, etc.

II.1.3 Flash Powder
Flash powder is alot like black powder, only it is finer and burns somewhere in the vicinity of 10 times faster than black powder. i dont use it that much because black powder is easier to acquire and it burns plenty fast enough to explode even the biggest pipebomb. But if you must use flash powder then ill tel you how to get it. The only easy way to get it is to take apart black cats and drain them, but as you can imagine this is VERY time consuming. You must take apart black cats in this fashion: Break it near the bottom (see diagram) and carfully empty the powder. Here is a cutaway diagram of a black cat. Break here | _|_ \ / V |======================================| <----- Paper tubing |C|F|######################|CCCCCCCCCC|================================= <-fuse |======================================| C stands for clay F stands for filler # stands for flash powder Note: the fuse goes through the clay Break open the black cat at the specified point. Then hold the longer peice you now have over a sheet of paper and gently tap it. do not squeeze it, or the clay will come out and get in the flash powder. Now get the smaller piece and do the same. Try not to get the filler, as it is useless. When some orange stuff (im pretty sure its sand) come out, stop tapping. Repeat this process until you have the amount of flash powder desired.

II.1.4 Thermite.
Thermite is mixture of aluminum powder and rust. It burns at very hight temperature, but is hard to ignite. You usually have to ignite it with another powder such as flash powder or black pow- der. Since it burns so hot, it burns very bright. Thus making it useful for visual effects. I have shot it out of cannons to acheive a bright flash. It is however not suitable by itself in much of anything. You cannot light it with a fuse, so you cant use it in many fireworks or bombs. Heres how you make it.It is probably the simplest powder to make, but also the most useless. Simply mix aluminum powder with rust powder. The ratio does not have to be exact, but try and get it close to 1/2 alum .powder and 1/2 rust powder. Mix the two thouroughly and youre done.

II.1.5 Shotgun Powder.
I have tested remington super speed target load shells, so different brands and loads may vary. Im not sure what the powder is, but it is powerful as hell. I made two cannons with this as the propellant... The first one was a 1/2" pvc pipe meant to hold 20 psi. It exploded. The second was a 3/4" pvc pipe meant to hold 100 psi. it exploded also. This stuff is extremely powerful and is perfect for a pipebomb.It is also not too hard to get a hold of.But there is a DELICATE pro- cedure for taking apart a shell. If you are not extremely careful with this, you could wind up with a hole in your wall (or your face) and a lot of explaining to do to the police.Rule number one: it just seems like common sense to point the muzzle of the shell away from you at all times. Todays shotgun shells are not very sensitive and take a lot of force to set them off (keep that in mind) but just do it as a precaution.If the shell should go off, it will fly back and probaby break a couple of ribs, but all the buckshot will be in the wall, not your head. Next, make a cut lengthwise down the side of the shell with a sharp x-acto knife.See the diagram. Cutaway view of a Remington 12 gauge Super Speed target load shotgun shell _ | |________________________________________________________________________________ | |________________________________________________________________________________| <- plastic | | H |@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@| w | w |oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo|| | | H |@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@| a | a |oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo|| | | H |@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@| d | d |oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo|| | | H |@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@| d | d |oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo|| | | H |@@@ powder @@@@| i | i |ooooooooo buckshot ooooooooooooooooo|| <- cut it | | H |@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@| n | n |oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo|| this way down | | H |@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@| g | g |oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo|| the center | | H |@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@| | |oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo|| | | H |@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@| | |oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo|| | |___|_______________|__________|__________|____________________________________|| | |________________________________________________________________________________| |_| H stands for the primer housing Once you start to cut away the plastic where the buckshot is, pour it outand thow it away.Then when you get to the wadding (there are 2 peices) pull them out and throw them away. now dump out the powder and put in in a container. Make sure the container is airtight, because this stuff clumps when it gets moisture in it.It should also be noted that you cannot dissolve the powder in water, like black powder.

II.2 Flammable Substances
These can be fun for experinmenting with. I have lit countless chemicals on fire on my patio just to see how well they burn.if you are trying to choose a propellant for something or if you just want to know how well these chemicals burn, then here ya go.But if you are going to burn down someones house and want to know which chemical leaves trace elements, well i can help you there.

II.2.1 Napalm
This is not real napalm, that is just the name it has earned.Others probably call it many other things, so you may have heard about it before.You can use it for starting fires because it burns so well.To make plain old napalm just take a cup of gasoline and put styrofoam in it.As you add styrofoam to the gasoline it will sort of dissapear into a blob. Keep this blob in the gasoline or it will dry out, and when it does its like epoxy. This napalm is fine for piddly stuff, but say you want to put some on the end of an arrow and make a flaming arrow. This napalm will blow out.To give it an oxidizer, you must add brake fluid and bleach to the gasoline and then put styrofoam in it. Then put it on the end of an arrow and fire it quickly. The oxidizer lasts about 25-30 seconds once lit.I have tested this with my friend and it did not blow out on his 50 lb backpull deer hunting bow. Although he missed the fence and hit the neighbors garage door, it was still flaming when we ran across the alley to retrieve it.

II.2.2 Gasoline
Gasoline is a very reliable chemical that can be used in many ways. Chances are everyone has some in their house somewhere becasuse it is used in lawnmowers, weed eaters, leaf blowers,generators, and many other things. Also, no one will notice if some is missing, so it is readily available. You can easily make a bomb with a glass bottle, a rag, and some gasoline. Even though you prob- ably know how to make a molotov cocktail bomb i'll tell you anyways. First, fill the bottle with gasoline. Then soak the rag in gasoline and stuff it in the mouth of the bottle.Light the rag, throw the contraption at something hard and stand back. When the bottle breaks, gasoline goes everywhere, and the flaming rag hits the gasoling, igniting the whole thing.

II.2.3 Alchohol (rubbing alchohol)
Alchohol is less flammable than gasoline, but it does have one advantage.It burns almost comp- leteley odorless. I made a small stove powered by rubbing alchohol to melt candlewax for a project i was making. I used in in my room with my door closed for at least an hour without anyone knowing, because there was no smell.It does not have strong fumes like gasoline that can be used for propellant in potato cannons(discussed later on).

II.2.4 Hair Spray
Hair Spray is extremeley flammable and when in a mist it can be ignited with just a spark (so of course the smart thing to do is put it in your hair) sot it amkes an exellent propellant in potato cannons (discussed later). Also, everyone knows the trick with the hair spray can and the lighter.Hair spray is cheap and can be purchased by anyone, so it is readily available.

III.1 Oxidizers
Oxidizers create or contain oxygen so whatever is burning does'nt need atmospheric oxygen(air). This Will make the fire almost impossible to blow out, because it is still getting oxygen.Both of the oxidizers disussed are easy to make out of readily available materials.

III.1.1 Iron oxide (Rust powder)
Iron oxide is an oxidizer in powder form, so you can add it to black powder to make it burn faster.If you add iron oxide to black powder, the grain sizes need to be close to the same so the mixture will not separate.I have burned black powder with iron oxide and without it. When you burn a pile of black powder alone, you get a small "poof" and a little cloud of smoke. But when you add the iron oxide, you gat a bigger and faster "poof" and a bigger cloud of smoke. I dont know if the same applies to flash powder, but flash powder burns fast enough already.

III.1.2 Bleach/Brake fluid
When you mix equal parts bleach and brake fluid you will get a yellow liquid that gets very warm. The reason it gets warm is because a chemical reaction takes place.Do not mix this in large quanities ,because it ill get too hot and catch on fire.You then add this mixture to some other fuel and you have a fuel/oxidizer mixture.

IV.1 Cannons
Now these are a hell of a lot of fun if you build them right.If you don't they very dangerous. Imagine a pipebomb explosion forced in one direction.Thats basically what a cannon is. I have set off numerous cannons at 6:30 AM at my bus stop. I figure no ones waching that early, but after they here what sounds like a 12 gauge they sure as hell are looking.

IV.1.1 Potato Cannons
I have just recently discovered these little wonders, but they are awesome. You can build one any size you like, and there is such a low risk level you can hold it in your hands and fire it. To build one you need a 2" diameter PVC pipe, a 3" diameter PVC pipe, a 2" - 3" bell reducer, a 3" end cap, and an electric grill igniter. These measurements are just standard size potato cannon measurements.First you have to cut the 3" pipe into a 14" long peice.Next, cut the 2" pipe into a 3' length (thats 3 feet). Glue it together like this: |---- 2" pipe |----3" pipe | | ________________________________________/|--------------|| <---- end cap |________________________________________|| || \|--------------|| | |______ 3" - 2" bell reducer Now drill a hole in the center of the end cap and insert the grill igniter.You may have to modify it so it gets a spark at the end of it.Spray hairpspray or pour a little gasoline down the barrel and insert a potato.Press the igniter button and BOOM! Careful, the recoil of a heavy potato may knock you flat on your ass.

IV.1.2 Powder Cannons
I have had many sucesses and many losses with powder cannons.Since potato cannons usually generate about 20 psi bore pressure, there is no danger of explosion because most PVC pipe will hold 100 psi.But due to the enormous bore pressure generated by most powders there is about a 35 to 60 percent chance of explosion depending on the powder used, the amount of powder used, and the burning speed of the powder.To be safe, never hold a powder cannon in your hand to fire it, because if it explodes in you hand it will have the same effect as a pipebomb.To make a powder cannon, you will need a pipe about 18 times the diameter. I strongly reccomend not using metal pipe, but using PVC pipe. Metal will hold alot more pressure, but if it does explode it will be very dangerous because of the high pressure and the metal shrapnel.Even though PVC will explode at lower pressures, PVC shrapnel is pretty much harmless after 5 feet. I have personally been hit in the back and in the butt by PVC shrapnel from about 5 feet away and it only kinda stings.If that had been metal i would probably have been hurt or killed.You will also need an end cap to fit your pipe.Here is a cutaway view of what your cannon will look like. _____ | ____|____________________________________________________________________ ||_________________________________________________________________________| <---PVC pipe ||###############|@@@@@@| ==============######|@@@@@@| ||###############|@@@@@@|__________________________________________________ ||_________________________________________________________________________| |_____| @ = toilet paer # = black powder First, drill a hole in the center of the end cap that you can fit a fuse through.Then insert a fuse through the hole and at least an inch into the pipe.Then put black powder into the pipe. If you but alot of black powder in, you will get a large flame because of the extra black powder flying out and igniting.When you are done putting in the desired amount of powder, put in a small amount of toilet paper, enough to hold in the powder.Light the fuse and take cover because it amy explode.

V.1 Credits Author - whack special thanks to: -exodus, for writing so many text files that have helped me. -everyone who has reads this file I hope to Release another volume soon, so stay tuned kids ---------------------------------------------------------