Dangerous Toys !! - Page 2

garinda · 30-01-2006, 11:11

Spud guns. The guns you stuck into a potato, and then fired a one inch long cylindrical pellet at someone.

Happy, innocent days.

garinda · 30-01-2006, 11:18

Not really dangerous but would be seen as a bit unethical nowadays, syringes filled with sherbert.

As well as pretending to smoke with your chocolate cigarette, you could play at shooting up.

pendy · 08-02-2006, 12:09

We had teddy bears with button eyes on wires that came out. Never knew anyone who died from it.

I was never allowed a bike, only a tricycle. I used to hire one (two bob a day - extortionate!) from a girl in Russia Street so that I could go out with my friends. My mother would have gone mad if she'd known, but apart from the odd graze, I didn't suffer.

We used to go out in the morning with a few sandwiches and stay out all day. Nobody worried, except about the canal of course!

Neil · 08-02-2006, 12:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by garinda

Spud guns. The guns you stuck into a potato, and then fired a one inch long cylindrical pellet at someone.

One inch long! I think your measurment is slightly out there. More like 1/4" or maybe 1/2" at most. Reconverting from rindy measurment units that must make you endowment only 2 1/2" instead of the 10" you said.

garinda · 08-02-2006, 15:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neil

One inch long! I think your measurment is slightly out there. More like 1/4" or maybe 1/2" at most. Reconverting from rindy measurment units that must make you endowment only 2 1/2" instead of the 10" you said.

No I assure you the pellets were one inch long.

As well as being privately educated, having a swimming pool etc, we must have had better guns than poor you as well.

staggeringman · 08-02-2006, 16:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Len

I don’t think you can buy chemistry sets these days.
As a young lad I had about three chemistry sets bought for me back in the early 70’s.
They contained things like glass test tubes, beakers, mentholated spirit burners and acid’s and alkalises.
I spent many enjoyable hours experimenting with all my chemicals etc. Good fun.
I think these days they would be classed as to dangerous for young kids.

if kids had them these days they would have more drugs out on the streets,parents would be getting poisened,mates would get lethal injections...........etc...........lol

jamesicus · 08-02-2006, 21:39

Making plaster of Paris molds of toy soldiers then casting our own copies by melting down old lead scraps (how the molten lead would spatter when sweat from your brow dripped in it!)

James

jamesicus · 08-02-2006, 21:45

Most sub-teen boys carried a small bottle of quicksilver (mercury) in their pocket. You could impress the girls by rolling it around in the palm of your hand -- also used to put farthings in to silver plate them so that they looked like sixpences.

James

jamesicus · 08-02-2006, 21:53

Making our own bows and arrows using bamboo garden stakes so that we could play Cowboys and Indians after the Saturday morning Mickey Mouse club serials (Buck Jones, Ken Maynard, Tim MCoy, et al.) at the Odeon.

The boys who wore their (Hubley) cap guns on their belts to the Cinema (quite a few) played the Cowboys.

James

Katester · 12-02-2006, 15:02

Deffinately clackers!....

....made a brief comeback in my childhood (im now 20) but they were reduced to being made of plastic and on rigid plastic frames insted of string to avoid you hurting your wrists (spoil sport!)

My mum loved it when I brought them home....reminded her of when she was a girl...but hers had iron balls! So she always had black and blue wrists where they'd caught her.

She still beat me in a competition to se who was better at using the new ones

...what about those toys that you put round your ankle then there was a string with a ball on the end and you had to fling it round in a circle and kind of skip over it! Now been replaced with ones that light up and count how many you do etc etc...

Just shows that old toys are the best!

ANNE · 12-02-2006, 20:17

When we were kids we used to use old stockings with a ball placed in the toe and tied round the ankle.

Gayle · 12-02-2006, 20:20

Oooh, I remember doing that Anne. Had black and blue ankles all the time as I missed the jump and ended up with it wrapped completely round both legs.

MANDS · 13-02-2006, 20:31

I remember scotch arrows made from bamboo, a dart point was added to one end then a couple of playing cards used as a flights, the lads used to wrap string round them some how then throw them across the field,unfortunately one plonker decided to go to the other end of the field and tried to catch one, it only ended up stuck right in his forehead,what a mess. He was very lucky we all thought he was dead,put it this way nobody ever tried it again,thankgod

WillowTheWhisp · 13-02-2006, 21:35

I always wanted a chemistry set but never got one.

My Dad's club had a trip to Southport every year for the children and the highlight of it for me and my friend (a lad) was the purchase of a spud gun. Goodness knows what happened to the one from the previous year but I know we bought one every year for about 4 years until we grew out of them. The pellets were never as long as Rindy's pellets.

Does anybody remember the little mazes in plastic which had mercury in them instead of a ball bearing? Half of the fun was joining all the mercury up to make one big blob. Of course they would never be allowed these days because we used to break them open to get the mercury out and yes I remember "silver plating" coins with it.

Maybe that's why I'm mad as a hatter.