Customer Reviews

Home Workshop Explosives, Second Edition

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Seriously, this book is way better than I thought it would be. I don't know what I was expecting really; I bought it because I was looking for information on explosives after watching a ton of Mythbusters and getting questions from my kids that I couldn't answer (they blow up something in almost every episode). This was recommended by Amazon when I was searching and although it's not quite what I was really looking for, it's so interesting that I couldn't stop reading it! XD

However there is a caveat: don't try any of this stuff at home! There's some warnings in the front of the book about this too but I just want to say... this gives VERY detailed explanations about how -EXACTLY how!- to make many different types of extremely potent explosives. In the wrong hands this could be very dangerous.

But for inquisitive and curious minds that love just knowing how things work, oh my gods this book is a dream come true. Love it! 5 stars and more if I could.

I recently purchased the Home Workshop Explosives book and found it an interesting and quite fascinating read. The author appears to have an extensive knowledge in the subject matter. I grew up with model rocketry and experimenting with chemistry as a hobby. Although now retired, I still enjoy learning about technical things in how things are made, science and electronics. But I mention this with a caveat - just because you study a subject doesn't mean you should try to create everything you learn about.

Being prior military and retired law enforcement as well as still being involved in Emergency Management, I can see legitimate purposes for this book as a informative and educational treatise on how certain chemicals react with each other as well as what type chemicals first responders may want to acquaint themselves with for safety purposes. Actually my primary reason for purchasing the book was I hoped to find some safe and legal pyrotechnic information that I could use in my special effects photography and 3D art. But I discovered this book does not go into this type chemistry at all but just focuses on how an individual could create high explosives in their garage workshop. Having worked with commercial / military explosives in my earlier careers on a limited basis, I must say that if a person has a legitimate need for explosives, I would highly suggest they obtain them legally with the proper permits. Obtaining this book for educational and informative purposes is one thing - fiction writers would also have some great reference materials for realism in their writing. But I cannot stress this enough that formulas such as presented in this book should not be attempted by the reader. Homemade explosives of this nature are not only highly dangerous to make, but will subject a person if he survives his workshop chemistry project to severe legal ramifications on both Federal and State levels. I don't mean to come across as an old stick in the mud as this book is quite a fascinating read, but it is well known in both the military and law enforcement that people who play with such chemistry without the required expertise frequently manage to blow themselves up. This applies to both weekend science buffs who just want to see if they can create explosives for their idea of fun to those who have much more sinister purposes. So please, if buying this book - enjoy the read, but please don't try to create any of the actual formulas as you are just risking too much including your life. Nuff Said!

this book really has all you need to become a conoisseur of the finer explosives. It covers everything from material choice, recipes for the main high explosives through to detonators, safety and storage tips. Each recipe also includes a very good explanation on how to procure certain of the chemicals needed without leaving a paper trail 5 miles long. I can say from personal experience that these recipes do indeed work, and with a bit of creative chemistry one could convert these recipes to work with some of your day to day bathroom, tool shed or cleaning products to produce some crude yet effective explosives(I have succeeded in this without any chemical experience whatsoever).
the book gives an insight that explosives are within the grasp of any DIY terrorist with even half a decent brain.
learn how to protect yourself from them, BUY THIS BOOK!

Oh no--dangerous knowledge! I purchased this book because I am interested in the subject, and also because I figure that soon such knowledge will be "illegal."

Reading the book is entertaining---to a point. I would never attempt any of the 'recipes' the author describes within, because the book is very sloppily written and edited. I know how hard it is to get things right, but just like how a math or programming book MUST get things right in the equations or code examples, respectively, lest the examples not work, so too must a book about chemistry get the formulas correct.

Given the subject matter, it seems to me that it is too dangerous to leave to sloppy writing. Too much of one ingredient (or not enough) could result in catastrophe.

Just as the Anarchist's Cookbook is worthless from a practical standpoint (but a fun read, nevertheless), I must also place Uncle Fester's HWE in the same category.

I highly recommend this book for any one in military or law enforcement. Understanding how explosives are made helps you recognize the signs of some one making explosives. Who knew you could use stump remover, drain cleaner, and drug store glycerin to make nitro glycerin? Along with a $200 chemestry set as well.

I would recommend this book only for explosive professionals who have to take care of the unstable and unreliable products that this book describes. Obligatory warnings nonwithstanding, this book encourages the reader to take an irresponsible approach to some of the most dangerous substances in existance.

The cover is the most unprofessional design I've ever seen for a technical book on explosives. The author uses an 'Addams Family' character as the byline. The guy won't put his own name on this book, either because he's scared of the legal repurcussions of writing it, or because he's scared of running into some of the lunatics who will read and try to apply it. That doesn't inspire any confidence for me, the reader.

The author's motivations for writing this book are largely political. He claims that our open borders is what causes terrorism, and spouts the kind of policy analysis I would expect to hear from a drunk and ignorant man. If we followed his apparent logic, we would close our borders and teach everyone, regardless of their reliability, education, or mental health, how to make homemade bombs as an act of political protest.

The book lacks clarity in describing how to make its products. The illustrations and diagrams lack important details, and many of the products lack any kind of illustration or graphical representation. That's a big problem when working with something as touchy as, say, an explosive initiator.

The editing is atrocious. There are errors that a simple word processor would catch, like glaring typos or sentences that, as written, make no sense. Given this kind of sloppiness, it's quite likely that several of the recipes have serious errors in them. Explosives are unforgiving of mistakes. Consider this before buying this book:

A pencil eraser-sized charge detonating in your hand will leave you with mangled stumps instead of fingers, if you're lucky. Large amounts can cause death and damage on a much larger scale. All it takes is one mistake on your part, or the author's, to kill you. You probably won't know how you screwed up, because you'll be a pink mist in the time it takes your brain to register an explosive event.

I've worked in Bomb Disposal for years, and I've disarmed and destroyed dozens of IEDs in Iraq. I personally know a young woman who lost her arms at the elbows because she was handling homemade explosives. I knew several young men who had closed-casket funerals after the homemade explosives they were handling detonated. All of these were professional bomb technicians with years of specialized training, a high level of maturity/responsibility, and extensive operational experience. The kind of reader this book is being marketed to has a high school level of education, a middle school level of maturity, and no experience whatsoever.

Don't bring this kind of insanity into your home. If you really want to work up-close with dangerous explosives, go to a mining school and obtain a blaster's certification, or work for a demining company, or join a law enforcement organization and volunteer for the bomb squad, or join the military and volunteer for Explosive Ordnance Disposal.

After i read this book i had the feeling like i finally had read a no nonsense book about the manufacture of explosives. Compared to the Improvised Munitions books Uncle Festers book blows it out of the water. Again this is a very serious and precise book. Educational wise this book gets a A in how this stuff really works.
Only beef with it is that there wasn't enough pics for my taste but thats a small matter when considering the text is spot on.

Get this book if you have a interest in explosives but don't try any off it period.

i bought this book wondering how good it really was in the start but taking note from the reviews of this book i kinda knew what i was in for in getting this. THIS IS THE MAN, THE UNCLE FESTER. In reading all that i have so far i am shocked, almost to the point of hitting the floor. in the time that i have worked in the pyrotechnics field i have picked up a few things but not all that is in this book, knowing all that is in here makes me happy i got this book seeing as i am sure some time that it will be taken off the market due to all that is in this book.

I don't have the time to do any of the stuff in this book, but from two semesters of chemistry in college, most of it looks authentic. I wish he would add more chemical equations as well as visual diagrams or pictures. Also, he needs to get an editor, because his writing skills and formatting wouldn't pass highschool. A short summary of all the steps of each product would also serve as a good recipe list for someone actually making these products. Also, maybe he could add thermite, as I hear that is not illegal (not explosive) but it's destructive power as well as usefulness (some places use it for welding) would make it an excellent topic.

The title says very little about this most amazing book. I love high-explosives. I like to play with them. And I have a little bit of experience with it... I'm a former special-operations officer with 16 years of service in my country's intelligence agency (something like a "mix" of CIA/FBI/Secret Service, now extinct), and I have done years of overseas "contractor" work... I've been in five major guerrilla wars (Angola, Mozambique, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Lebanon), and alt. I had previous experience with improvised explosives, that old "Black Books" on improvising ordnance did not help me, when I needed it most. Old warriors never die (they only go to Hell to regroup), and I even ask some "insiders" on contrating me to work in Iraq, earlier this year, as a "security advisor", but they find me too fat & unfit to be of use in there... a close friend, former Royal Marine and veteran of Northern Ireland and Malvinas/Falklands, who lived in another big town here, go there, and now is doing what he was trained for... and alt. in all wars we once fought we can get any ammount of firearms, ammo, support weapons, you name it, there was a lack of high-explosives to we "Soldiers-of-Fortune" play with... If I had this amazing book with me on "my wars" back in the '80's, I could do things in a better, faster, more funny way, if you can get what I'm talking about. I love high-explosives, as I told earlier, even being outside of any war, and experiments with this books' fuel-air devices make me fell young again, even with the small earthquake people feel around... with the most potent "toy" described (and a very easy to use one), I get a fireball the size of a truck! I LOVED IT!!! Well, if you want real fun, this is the book for you. Stop reading feeble books that can only "instruct" you, or dangerous books that can only teach you how to blow yourself in hundreds of pieces. Uncle Fester knows what he writes about - and knows a LOT.