Potato Guns and Projectile Shooters

O.K., this post has very little to do with the outdoors, but darn if this isn’t just the epitome of good clean fun. . .

In “Whoosh Boom Splat,” a book that comes out next week, a mad scientist friend of mine named William Gurstelle writes about “all the homemade machines that you’ve dreamed of building, from the high-voltage Night Lighter 36 spud gun to the Jam Jar Jet, the Marshmallow Shooter, and the Yagua Blowgun.”

Click here for the (hilarious) promo video for the book.

Indeed, “Whoosh Boom Splat” is a veritable instructional manual to all the toys and pseudo-weaponry you wish you knew how to make as a kid, including. . .

• The Jam Jar Jet – the simple pulse jet engine that roars
• The Elastic Zip Cannon – a membrane-powered shooter that packs a wallop
• The Mechanical Toe – a bungee-powered kicking machine
• The Vortex Launcher – a projectile shooter that uses air bullets for ammunition
• The Clothespin Snap Shooter – the PG-17 version of a clothespin gun that fires fiery projectiles
• The Architronito – the steam-powered cannon conceived by Leonardo da Vinci