HOW TO MAKE C4

                              Plastic Explosive



      This explosive is a phenol derivative. It is toxic and the

explosive compounds made from picric acid are poisonous if inhaled,

ingested, or handled and absorbed through the skin. The toxicity of

this explosive restricts its use due to the fact that over exposure in

most cases causes liver and kidney failure and sometimes death if

immediate treatment is not obtained.



     This explosive is a cousin to T.N.T. but is more powerful than

it's cousin. It's the first explosive used militarily and was adopted

in 1888 as an artillery shell filler. Originally this explosive was

derived from coal tar but thanks to modern chemistry you can make this

explosive easily in approximately three hours from acetylsalicylic

acid.(aspirin purified).



     This procedure involves dissolving the acetylsalicylic acid in

warm sulfuric acid and adding sodium or potassium nitrate which

nitrates the purified aspirin. The whole mixture is then drowned in

water and filtered to obtain the final product. This explosive is

called trinitrophenol. Care should be taken to ensure that this

explosive is stored in glass containers. Picric acid will form

dangerous salts when allowed to contact all metals except tin and

aluminum. These salts are a primary explosive and are super sensitive.

They will also cause the detonation of the picric acid.



     Next needed is aspirin. The cheaper brands work best but buffered

brands should be avoided. Powder these tablets to a fine consistency.

To extract the acetylsalicylic acid from this powder place this powder

in methyl alcohol and stir vigorously. Not all of the powder will

dissolve. Filter this powder out of the alcohol. Again wash this powder

that was filtered out of the alcohol with more alcohol but with a

lesser amount than the first extraction. Again filter the remaining

powder out of the alcohol. Combine the now clear alcohol and allow it

to evaporate in a pyre dish. When the alcohol has evaporated there will

be a surprising amount of crystals in the bottom of the pyrex dish.



     Take forty grams of these purified acetylsalicylic acid crystals

and dissolve them in 150 ml. of sulfuric acid (98%, specify gravity

1.8) and heat to dissolve all the crystals. This heating can be done

in a common electric frying pan with the thermostat set on 150 deg. F.

and filled with a good cooking oil.



       When all the crystals have dissolved in the sulfuric acid take

the beaker, that you've done all this dissolving in (600 ml.), out of

the oil bath. This next step will need to be done with a very good

ventilation system. It is a good idea to do any chemistry work such as

the whole procedure and any procedure in this book with good

ventilation or do it outside. Slowly start adding 58 g. of sodium

nitrate or 77 g. of potassium nitrate to the acid mixture in the beaker

very slowly in small portions with vigorous stirring. A red gas

(nitrogen trioxide) will be formed and this should be avoided. The

mixture is likely to foam up and the addition should be stopped until

the foaming goes down to prevent the overflow of the acid mixture in

the beaker. When the sodium or potassium nitrate has been added the

mixture is allowed to cool somewhat (30- 40 deg. C.). The solution

should then be dumped slowly into twice it's volume of crushed ice and

water. Brilliant yellow crystals will form in the water. These should

be filtered out and placed in 200 ml. of boiling, distilled water.

Allow this to cool and then filter the crystals out of the water.

These crystals are very, very pure trinitrophenol. Place these

crystals in a pyrex dish, put that in an oil bath and heat it to 80

deg. C. and keep it there for 2 hours. This temperature is best

maintained and checked with a thermometer. Powder the crystals in small

quantities to a face powder consistency. Combine these crystals (by

weight) with 10% wax and 5% Vaseline which you should heat to melting

temperature and poured into the crystals. The mixing is best done by

kneading together with gloved hands. This explosive should have a

useful plasticity range of 0-40 deg. C.. The detonation velocity should

be around 7000 m/sec.. It is toxic to handle but simply made from

common ingredients and is suitable for most demolition work requiring a

moderately high detonation velocity. It is very suitable for shaped

charges and some steel cutting charges. It is not as good an explosive

as C-4 or other R.D.X. based explosives but it is much easier to make.

Again this explosive is very toxic and

should be treated with great care. AVOID HANDLING BARE-HANDED,

BREATHING DUST AND FUMES. AVOID ANY CHANCE OF INGESTION.

AFTER UTENSILS ARE USED FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF THIS EXPLOSIVE

RETIRE THEM FROM THE KITCHEN AS THE CHANCE OF POISONING IS NOT

WORTH IT. IF MANUFACTURED AS ABOVE, SHOULD BE SAFE IN STORAGE

BUT WITH ANY HOMEMADE EXPLOSIVE STORAGE IS NOT RECOMMENDED AND

EXPLOSIVES SHOULD BE CREATED AS NEEDED.

A V O I D C O N T A C T W I T H A L L M E T A L S

E X E P T T I N A N D A L U M I N U M ! ! !