Should I pass this knowledge along to my grandson?

[trof]

The Sponge Bob thread got me to thinking about things I did to amuse myself when I was a little boy.

this was back in the 40s, kiddies.
;-)

I made mini darts.
I have no idea how I came up with this idea.
I'd get one of the wooden matches grandpa used to light his pipe and strike it.
As soon as the tip burned off I'd snuff it and rub off the residue.
Then take my pocketknife and carefully make a 1/2" split in each end.
I'd 'borrow' one of granny's BIG darning needles and wedge it, eye first, into one end of the matchstick. Then wrap it tight with a couple of feet of sewing thread, tie it off, and smear glue on the thread.

I'd cut a fletch or 'flight' out of some heavy paper and slide that into the other end and glue it.

They were surprisingly accurate and the tiny needle would stick in just about anything without leaving much of a mark.

And granny NEVER knew about this, and I never put my eye out.
Jack is almost 6.
Maybe I'll wait another year before I tell him about it.
"And don't tell your mom!"
:evilgrin:

[Whoa_Nelly]

1. Sure! "Don't tell your mom" always works

until he tells and shows and does the fun with his riends who tell moms, other friends, and/or someone else gets hit with it :rofl:

Yeah..."Don't tell your mom" works every time... :P


Just get him some kind of projectile shooting Nerf gun that doesn't look like a gun :crazy:


(My son learned how to make throwing stars from a pal who learned it from an uncle. Nails taped to tongue depressor/craft sticks cut in half. Caught them throwing'em into my fence...and DAMN! those suckers were sharp! Reason I caught them was because they were yelling "Hai-yah!" pretending to be like Ninjas while struggling mightily to get one of them out of the wood after it went in almost halfway!)

[trof]

3. My daughter is very anti-gun.

And that's fine. It's up to her
I had a .22 when I was a teen and on up.
Have a .38 now. Haven't shot it in 15 years.

Anyway, we respect her wishes and buy Jack no toy guns.
Although I was ecstatic when I got my Roy Rogers two-gun six shooter cap guns, I'm kinda turned off by them now, too.

But Jack WILL have guns.
He'll make one out of a crooked stick.
Or bend one of his action figures at the waist and point it and go 'POW, POW!'.
What is it about boys?
:shrug:

[DarkTirade]

4. See, I never got into guns as a kid.

Other than the occasional squirt-gun, and that was just 'cause I lived in Florida and it was a good way to cool down.

For me it was also long, straight sticks... that would become my sword. :P

[trof]

5. Jack LOVES swords.

We were at Sea World San Diego last year and in almost every souvenir stand there was a bucket of plastic swords right down on the floor at kid level.
He had a short, but very intense, meltdown when mommy said "Get real".

[DarkTirade]

7. Sword sparring is a part of growing up!

How can a child become a man if he's never crossed blades with a pirate, or dueled for honor or anything like that?

[trof]

8. We used to make 'em out of sticks.

Even lash a guard at the handle end.
We all learned how to lash wood pieces together in Cub Scouts.
I doubt our leaders had swords in mind when they taught us that.
We were pirates and knights of the round table and Robin Hood.

[DarkTirade]

9. I was never in cub scouts

so I had to risk getting my knuckles rapped because we didn't have guards on most of our sticks. :)

[DarkTirade]

14. I did, however, have trees that had sturdy springy branches around

and a bush that had perfectly straight and easily splittable branches, so I made more than my share of bows and arrows as a kid. Fletching was usually either thin cardboard, thick paper, or paper covered with tape.

I was big into Robin Hood as a kid. :) BEFORE Kevin Costner made his movie.

[trof]

17. Oh hell yeah. We made bows and arrows.

And tomahawks.
Flat rock bound into the split end of a sturdy stick.
Maybe stone ax would be a better term.

[trof]

11. Oh yeah, I got into one real sword fight.

My grandfather let me hang his Shriners dress sword on my wall.
It's about 3' long with a sharp point.
It's in a metal scabbard.

One day a buddy was with me and we got the sword down.
I was polite to my guest and let him use the sword, while I used the scabbard.
We clanged around for a minute and then he nicked me about 1/2" from the outer corner of my eye.
Close one, that.
I told mom I hit a clothes hangar in the closet.

[DarkTirade]

13. Crikey.

That is a bit close.

[trof]

15. Yeah, it scared us both. Oddly enough, a few years later...

His little brother did damn near put my eye out in a freak accident with a shovel.
That one took a trip to the ER and 7 or 8 stitches below my left eye.
Had a small scar for years.
Kinda rakish.
I told everyone it was a dueling scar.
:-)

[laylah]

19. "Don't tell your Mom" has worked

in MY world for about 25 years.

[Raven]

2. Well, not only are you an old fart but you're downright dangerous! n/t

[trof]

6. If you don't quit calling me names I'm gonna tell Will.

And then you'll be in BIG trouble.
:P

[seemunkee]

10. Nah, I'm sure he can get into trouble all on his own

Although there were a couple of things my grandfather taught me that my mom never heard about that she would have disapproved of.

[trof]

12. The other day he tried putting his gum on the back of his neck.

It got in his hair and his mom had to cut it out.
Now he knows.
:-)

[BrotherBuzz]

16. Trof, it's your obligation to pass this knowledge along!

Jack is ready NOW!

Maybe next year you can dazzle him with the clothespin match gun. :evilgrin:

http://deuceofclubs.com/randumb/clothespingun/index.html

[trof]

18. And then...SPUD GUNS!

[DemReadingDU]

20. Even girls had fun with guns

There were 3 of us sisters, all about the same age. We had the guns, holsters, hats, boots. The guns were cap-guns. A red roll of the 'caps' that was inserted in the gun. Pow, Pow, Pow!

But it was more fun to unroll the caps, and strike them with a rock.


We also took popsicle sticks and made them into spears using the sidewalk to make them into sharp point.


This was in the 50's

[trof]

21. Yeah, we'd hit a whole roll of caps with a brick.

KA-POW!