Further proof that Daddo is an enabler.....

Cameron has been obsessing about potato cannons and in one short week he has learned enough on the subject to become an expert.

Case in point: "When I am older and have some money I am going to make a potato gun that uses a Tazer as the ignition source in the combustion chamber. As for propellants, we can start with hairspray, then use car starter fluid, and then try Brut deodorant."

Case in point two: On Saturday we went to a Dollar Tree and purchased 2 butane fire starters (to serve as a cheap ignition system), then dropped by Menard's and picked up the 4" and 2" PVC piping, connectors, and threaded endcaps. Cameron didn't even need a list. We just rummaged around through the bins until we found what he needed. He was rattling off information non-stop "We need 10 inches of 4" pipe for the combustion chamber, then a 4" female threaded connector for the endcap, and a 4"-to-2" connector and then 4 feet of 2" pipe.

An hour after we got home it was all glued together.

2 hours after that we gave it a try. We couldn't get it to work.

We talked with Cameron's married cousin Josh (who grew up reading the book 'Backyard Ballistics' and has made many potato potato cannons, including one fueled by propane, equipped with a pressure gauge, valves and a computer fan to evenly mix the air and propane in the combustion chamber, and ignited by a Tazer. We won't go into what types of pyro activities his dear wife has done during her eventful life....let's just say it included fireballs and visits by the local authorities) and he gave us some pointers, the most important one being to use less fuel than more.

Tonight we went to Kroger's and bought some nice big potatoes and then tried it again, using less starter fluid and protecting the 2 electrodes in the chamber from the spray.

On the 3rd click of the starter, the gun boomed and a potato just barely missed the deer (our archery practice deer--now headless) in the back of the yard.

Cameron was then pumped up on adrenaline, and so we tried it again.

After 2 tries it finally went off again.

I am sure that Cameron is asleep right now dreaming of even better ignition systems.

I wonder what he's going to name his artillery piece?

Big Bertha? Ol' Betsy? Phil?