DIY Grenades: When I was designing the protection plan for my own home, I came across a very serious problem.
Home Defense
When I was designing the protection plan for my own home, I came across a very serious problem. Grenades. The current recipe that I had for making them was not reliable. Major problems that I had to get around included:
• The fuse wouldn’t work when wet (this is bad if you’re outside in the rain or inside and someone pulls the fire alarm to activate the sprinklers.)
• There is always wind and lighting a fuse in the wind takes too much time when you need it right that second.
• I needed something that would be reliable and effective.
Failed Ignition Systems for Grenades
There were several things I tried to solve this problem. Let me share a few ideas that DIDN’T work:
• A scratchpad with a card - this was problematic because the first strike didn’t always work and it was hard to reset to try again.
• Hammer Drop System - this method wasn’t reliable, tedious to manufacture, expensive and not practical.
• Shock Method - basically you slam the grenade against something to trigger it. The problem here (as I’m sure you’ve figured out) is that if I drop it, I’m screwed.
• Twisty - like the old German grenades, it was an interesting concept. However, they were large, wouldn’t fit in my pouch to carry and finding the material required to build it was difficult since it had to be ordered. (I needed something that I could acquire locally.)
• Electric System using EBC (electrical blasting cap) - it had a 6-second delay, however, it was also bulky and fragile. The risk of a premature detonation was also there.
The Solution
An effective DIY ignition system for grenades was a problem that I had been working on with a buddy of mine for about five years when I finally got it right.
The answer came to me when I got down on my knees and prayed. The solution was shockingly simple and effective. After years of troubleshooting, God just handed me the answer and it worked better than anything I’d ever tried before.
You can find the recipe for the grenade that I designed (with God’s help - I’d be struck by lightning if I didn’t acknowledge that) in my Improvised Explosives book along with a few other inventions that I’ve designed specifically for protecting my own home.
