Awesome Explosives

Playing pool requires skill and precision more than brute force. But that didn’t stop I did a thing from building the world’s most powerful pool cue. To motivate his killer pool stick, he built a mechanism that smacks the cue ball with the explosive power of a gun ammo blank. It’s terrifyingly potent – enough to split a cue ball in half.

You can run down to the Home Depot and pick up a tool that uses gunpowder or compressed air to drive nails. I Did a Thing tried his hand at building his own explosive-powered nail gun, but his looks like a hammer, plus, it’s much more dangerous than off-the shelf tools. Kids, don’t dance barefoot on your lathe.

Moon Shoes are toys that put a little extra spring in kids’ steps using elastic bands. Since they don’t really make kids jump much higher, maker Allen Pan decided it was time to create a more powerful version. After experimenting with springs and explosives, he settled on compressed air to propel them.

This vintage newsreel footage provides a fascinating glimpse into the dangerous process that WWII soldiers faced when disarming mines. Watch as these brave Royal Navy servicemen approached and disassembled a German “murder” mine that washed up on the East coast of Britain.