[Pancho]

Now there is something for my bucket list. In my younger years the 4th was an excuse to do some exciting things with bp. One year I had a great time with bamboo sections,bp and cannon fuse. You can get a lot of booms out of a pound of bp.

[robhof]

Many years ago in the Phollippines, I watched the locals use bamboo and cups of gasoline to make loud bangs, explosives were illegal at the time so they improvised, quite effectively too.

[AlexanderA]

Be careful with fireworks.

In Greece, Easter is the time for fireworks, much like our 4th of July. But the difference is that there, people are totally crazy about it. Sponge fishermen regularly dive down into the waters of the NATO bombing range off Crete to retrieve explosives from the dud ordnance. (I think these are filled with what we would call flash powder.) Then they craft really big firecrackers with these materials which, needless to say, are illegal as hell. Every year, without fail, people lose hands and eyes to such devices. But no amount of "public service messages" can discourage them from doing the same thing next year.

[Pancho]

Not much dangerous about a 150# anvil shooting into the sky.

[J-Bar]

Perhaps some detailed instructions for those of us who might find an anvil someday...?

[Pancho]

It takes two anvils the first is set upside down firmly in the ground. You should find that the base has a shallow depression fill with black powder and lay a cannon fuse in the powder extending out a distance to give you time to clear the area. Set the second anvil carefully right side up on the first anvil base to base. Light the fuse and run like hell.
I think if you do a search on Youtube you'll get the idea.