Home Sign Up!

Browse Community Submit

All Art Craft Food Games Green Home Kids Life Music Offbeat Outdoors Pets Photo Ride Science Tech

Easy to make (and safer to breathe) Napalm

by FrenchCrawler on September 7, 2006 Table of Contents Easy to make (and safer to breathe) Napalm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Intro: Easy to make (and safer to breathe) Napalm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 1: Mix them together and what do you get... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 3 3 4

http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-to-make-and-safer-to-breathe-Napalm/

Intro: Easy to make (and safer to breathe) Napalm

Make Napalm with two ingredients that can easily be found. This version of Napalm isn't as sticky as those others that have been posted, but burns well enough to make firestarters out of it and even an outdoor stove. Materials that you will need: Empty jar (I used a pickle jar, I also already have a little bit left from my last batch) Stick (spoon, straw, etc.) Citronella oil (Lighter's fluid will also work) Powdered Sugar Warning: This stuff will continue to burn as it falls apart. Fire burns. Ouch! Just to answer everyones' questions/comments: This isn't Military grade napalm, nor does it use a Styrofoam and gasoline mixture (known famously as a "Homemade Napalm"). Also the oil is "Lemon scented" in this version, which usually means someone, somewhere was smelling the fumes let off by burning it, which means that you probably (I can't guarantee it cause you may be allergic to something in the oil) won't die from it. Here's a Wiki excerpt explaining REAL NAPALM: "Napalm is usually a mixture of gasoline with suitable thickening agents. The earliest thickeners were soaps, aluminum, and magnesium palmitates and stearates. Depending on the amount of added thickener, the resulting viscosity may range between syrupy liquid and thick rubbery gel. The content of long hydrocarbon chains makes the material highly hydrophobic (resistant to wetting with water), making it more difficult to extinguish. Thickened fuel also rebounds better from surfaces, making it more useful for operations in urban terrain. There are two types of napalm: oil-based with aluminum soap thickener, and oil-based with polymeric thickener ("napalm-B"). The United States military uses three kinds of thickeners: M1, M2, and M4. The M1 Thickener (Mil-t-589a), chemically a mixture of 25% wt. aluminum naphthenate, 25% aluminum oleate, and 50% aluminum laurate, (or, according to other sources, aluminum stearate soap) is a highly hygroscopic coarse tan-colored powder. As the water content impairs the quality of napalm, thickener from partially used open containers should not be used later. It is not maintained in the US Army inventory any more as it was replaced with M4. The M2 Thickener (Mil-t-0903025b) is a whitish powder similar to M1, with added devolatilized silica and anticaking agent. The M4 flame fuel thickening compound (Mil-t-50009a), hydroxyl aluminum bis(2-ethylhexanoate) with anti-caking agent, is a fine white powder. It is less hygroscopic than M1 and opened containers can be resealed and used within one day. About half the amount of M4 is needed for the same effect as of M1. A later variant, napalm-B, also called "super napalm", is a mixture of low-octane gasoline with benzene and polystyrene. It was used in the Vietnam War. Unlike conventional napalm, which burns for only 15??30 seconds, napalm B burns for up to 10 minutes with fewer fireballs, sticks better to surfaces, and offers improved destruction effects. It is not as easy to ignite, which reduces the number of accidents caused by soldiers smoking. When it burns, it develops a characteristic smell. Starting in the early 1990s, various websites including The Anarchist Cookbook advertised recipes for homemade napalm. These recipes were predominantly equal parts gasoline and styrofoam. This mixture closely resembles that of napalm-B, but lacks a percentage of benzene. Napalm reaches burning temperatures of approximately 1,200 ?C (2,200 ?F). Other additives can be added, eg. powdered aluminum or magnesium, or white phosphorus. In the early 1950s, Norway developed its own napalm, based on fatty acids in whale oil. The reason for this development was that the American-produced thickening agent performed rather poorly in the cold Norwegian climate. The product was known as Northick 11II. Some weapons utilize a pyrophoric variant, known as TPA (thickened pyrophoric agent). Chemically it is a triethylaluminium thickened with polyisobutylene."

http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-to-make-and-safer-to-breathe-Napalm/

Step 1: Mix them together and what do you get...

Video Below... 1. Take the powdered sugar and pour about a cup into the jar. 2. Now take the oil and pour about a 3/4 cup into the jar. 3. Mix them together, add more oil or sugar as needed until you get a mixture that resembles whipped cream or butter. That's all there is to it. Easy as I said it would be. There's a Video below so you can watch how well this stuff burns (a nice steady pace). This stuff does become kind of hard after being stored for a while. Just take the spoon and mix it up, good as new. Experiment with it to get new effects. Add regular or brown sugar into the mix. Try mixing some saw dust in. Hope you've enjoyed this instructable. Next time you're at a BBQ, take a jar of this stuff out and smear it on the grill (on the coal, not the actual grill) to help start the fire.

Related Instructables

From U.S. Army Field Manuals: How to Make Napalm from Blood by TimAnderson

Glass Bottle Oil Lamp by Sappho

OLD Orange Peel HOOKAH/SHISHA Flamethrower OIL LAMP by by discontinuuity shibby

Emergency Pocket-Size Oil Campfire Starter Lamp by CanDo by sstables42

http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-to-make-and-safer-to-breathe-Napalm/

Comments
50 comments Add Comment view all 167 comments

oldercreations says:

Jan 31, 2011. 8:17 AM REPLY Hi thanks for the info here. This has helped me alot. What i am interested in this is for purely peaceful means as in getting a stumps to catch fire and stay on fire. Stump grinding five acres is too expensive as well as bulldozing (and i have lots of stumps). However napalming five acres one stump at a time seems like a affordable route for me. Thanks for the post. Mar 2, 2010. 5:10 PM REPLY

drbill says:
Safer to breathe ? The idea is to Kill the enemy, not to make Love to them. Find a way to manufacture the stuf where you don't breathe it. Don't like my post ? Don't screw with napalm.

Scarlet023 says:

Aug 25, 2010. 7:50 PM REPLY I REALLY ENJOYED READING YOUR POST ON nAPALM. A friend of mine is stationed @ Ft. Stewart.. . and he is always talking about explosives. . . like how to make them and stuff. . . we all joke with him and say he is crazy but this guy loves what he does in the u.s. military an his country. . . he talks about pipe bombs and stuff. . . i told him that no one knows how to home make that stuff and you cant just buy tha stuff any where

drbill says:
Yah we no join da gang in da hood. We join da U.S.M.C. Gang cause we no like take out da hood, we want take out a Nation ! Semper Fi bruddah !

Nov 7, 2010. 7:52 PM REPLY

loopycar27 says:
okay i took gasoline and i put styrofoam in it and it did absolutely nothing whadda eff is up?

Jun 27, 2009. 12:17 PM REPLY

dracoaliamin says:
Ummmm i'm sorry but wouldent it help if you actually LIGHT the napalm with fire?

Aug 4, 2010. 4:43 PM REPLY

66411 says:

Aug 15, 2009. 7:19 AM REPLY It has to do with what type of Styrofoam is used, I find that the white Styrofoam that is used to cushion large appliances and furniture works great but, the outer most part of the foam seems to be a coating or maybe just more compacted (probably the later) and does not dissolve as well. Another source of failure could possibly be caused by different additives to gasoline in different areas. The amount of benzene that is added to gasoline has steeply declined as it known to be very bad for you like most organic solvents and is more likely to be what dissolves the Styrofoam in the first place. I like to use a 2 stroke engine mixture for making napalm. If you are unaware, 2 strokes run off of a fuel/oil where you add oil to the gasoline to obtain a ration of gasoline to oil of around 20:1 or more. Sorry for such a long comment but i hope that it is an adequate explanation for your pyrotechnic/pyromanical dilemma . Feel free to message me if you have any questions.

muberblob says:
i use pink extruded styrofoam... i have like messed up sheets of it

Nov 8, 2010. 12:35 PM REPLY

kwazai says:
Any ideas on the various styrofoams- like packing peanuts- if it burns like sterno small quantities might be useful. L8r Mike

Jan 11, 2010. 4:45 PM REPLY

ogeezer says:

Feb 9, 2010. 5:17 PM REPLY As is the case with most OFFBEAT instructables, learning how to make napalm (aka gelled flame fuels) is mainly for information only. When I was in army combat services, we had training for such items in the FM (field manual) series but after Nam, when I changed over to support services (engineers) prior to pursuing a career via OCS, we trained extensively with improvised munitions familarity. My primary source of information is loose leaf Special Forces Black Books (not to be confused with TM31-210. These books were later printed in bound series titled Improvised Munitions Black Book wherin in Volume-2 of a three book series, "Gelled Flame Fuels" is covered. From this publication, namely Section V, No. 4 -- GELLED FLAME FUELS -- from which I quote: Gelled or paste type fuels are often preferable to raw gasoline for use in incendiary devices such as fire bottles. This type of fuel adheres more readily to the target and produces greater heat concentration. Several methods are shown for gelling gasoline using commonly available materials. The methods are divided into the following categories based on the major ingredients: 4.1 Lye Systems 4.2 Lye-Alcohol Systems 4.3 Soap-Alcohol Systems 4.4 Egg White Systems 4.5 Latex Systems 4.6 Wax Systems

http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-to-make-and-safer-to-breathe-Napalm/

4.7 Animal Blood Systems End Quote. Furthermore, and unless you are both a trained professional and practioner of safe handling methodology, attempting to make any of the above systems can be extremely hazardous to your health, even if they do not run you afoul of the laws within your jurisdiction, muncipality, state, and federal alcohol, tobacco, firearms, explosives regulations within the Dept. of Justice. Having provided the necessary disclaimers, here's more about Gelled Flame Fuel systems. 4.1 Lye (aka caustic soda or sodium hydroxide) can be combined with powdered rosin or castor oil to gel gasoline into either a very firm paste of gelatinous liquid. 4.2 Lye can also be used in combo with gasoline, ethyl alcohol 'n a tallow, such as lanoline (very good), or castor oil (good), or any vegetable oil (corn, cottonseed, peanut, linseed, etc), or any fish oil, or butter or oleomargarine. 4.3 Common household soap (not detergent soap) can be used in combo with ethyl alcohol and gasoline to gel gasoline for flame fuel which will adhere to target surfaces. 4.4 Combining gasoline with whites of bird eggs plus any one of the following substances: table salt, ground coffee, dried tea leaves, cocoa, sugar, saltpeter, sal soda washing powder, baking soda, or asprin will produce a gelled fuel. 4.5 When gasoline 'n latex paints/adhesives are combined with one of the following acids: vinegar, motor vehicle battery acid, or muriatic acid, a gelled flame fuel substance is produced. 4.6 Mixing gasoline with several common waxes, such as leather polish, sealing wax, candles, crayons, waxes paper, furniture/floor waxes, beeswax, bayberry wax, or myrtle wax, will produce flame fuels suitable for adhering to target surfaces. 4.7 Animal blood and gasoline mixtures that include one of the following: salt, ground coffee, dried tea leaves, sugar, bricklaying lime, baking soda, or epsom salts will gel gasoline suitable for target adhering. BLACK BOOK Series resource: I don't have a URL since my copies were printed prior to development of the worldwide web, but providing the books are still available, you should contact an underground press publisher, known as Desert Publications, located in El Dorado, AR 71731. Be also known, you may find yourself on some domestic terrorism database for ordering these books but short of joining the ordinance disposal training of our armed forces, you will not find a more concise, fact filled, resource than the Black Book series.

ogeezer says:

Feb 11, 2008. 10:24 PM REPLY We made that stuff in The Nam for use around our forward fire mission support bases ..BUT.. we called it phugas. Using hi-octance JP4 aviation gas (kerosene), a variety of thickeners like non-detergent soap, liquid latex products, and even animal blood, mixed up and poured into outward tilted barrels, with a covering mat of wood or cardboard, with/without fist size projectiles, rocks, and C-rat discards. We used det cord, Charlie-4 plastic explosive, and battery powered initiators mounted to barrel bottom to launch the firey goo outward over attacking Viet Minh fighters, PAVN sappers, and even Nevada Victor Alpha troops. It worked just as good as Nap and was a real morale killer to the commies with whom we battled to a stalemate until April of 1973 when ceasefire was signed, that brought our POWs (like John McCain) home.

biffdog says:
Yo Bro! We used phugas but put a claymore behind just to liven things up a bit!

Feb 4, 2010. 11:15 AM REPLY

ogeezer says:

Feb 9, 2010. 3:55 PM REPLY The M18A1 does indeed liven up a good sapper attack but we tended to use the Charlie-4 inside the antipersonnel device more for warming up our C-rats or making boonierat instant mocha {cocca powder + artificial sweetner + powder creamer + instant coffee + water} than for November Delta Papa defense. Charlie-4 work'd better than those trioxane fuel bars the army gave us 'n it didn't give off an oily smoke that encouraged Victor Charlie or Nathaniel Victor to lob mortars/arty/rpg rds our way. Nother good thing bout comp-4, since we seldom blew any Mary Jane when in the boonies, a pinch put tween lower lip 'n teeth was always good for a uplifting buzz to take the edge off after a really nasty 'n bloody firefight -- something we saw lot of during the '68 Tet: north of the Citadel city of Hue, in the Thon La Chu area, when the First Air Cav {2d Btn / 12th Cav Rgmt (my unit)} 'n other cavarly units were cutting off the flow of logistical supplies 'n fighters into the Imperial City {1-25 February 1968}. Once we'd done that, the USMC, (that again stole all the glory) throughout this Viet New Year offensive in I-Corps -- that's pronounced "core", Mr. Obama, not "corpse" -- to win this major operational undertaking. To learn more about what some of us airmobile soldiers went thru in the action identified above, google/bing Thon La Chu. The battle for Hue wasn't just about the Marines, the First Air Cav 'n the 101st Airborne did our parts too to kick the commies happy little arses in the last major battle in the war in Vietnam, Republic of.

mazeka.14 says:
John McCain rocks:D

Dec 8, 2008. 8:50 AM REPLY

thisonegoesto11 says:

Feb 14, 2008. 6:55 AM REPLY holy crakers thats kool dude! my JROTC major was telling me about john mccain and his time being a POw. sounds that you used that stuff pretty good against the commies!

Fireownsallelements says:
can you do anything evil and/or cool with the waxy stuff it leaves behind???

Jul 27, 2008. 10:01 PM REPLY

http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-to-make-and-safer-to-breathe-Napalm/

dsand69 says:
u can keep it as a sufaner

Nov 24, 2009. 4:34 PM REPLY

dsand69 says:
no u cant

Nov 24, 2009. 4:33 PM REPLY

dobbish11234 says:
by waxy stuff do u mean the napalm itself? ya u light it on fire and watch is burn. btu be carful u cant put it out with water

Nov 12, 2008. 3:36 PM REPLY

dsand69 says:
u saffacat it dont give it any oxergien dont use plastic stuff b+c=p

Nov 24, 2009. 4:35 PM REPLY

Thelonelysandwitch says:
my friend said that if you mix cooking oil and flour it will have the same effect. Is this true, too much snow to test here

Jan 19, 2009. 7:38 PM REPLY

grizzly g says:
uhh..i dont think itd work

Apr 6, 2009. 9:17 PM REPLY

Thelonelysandwitch says:
ohhh. :(

Apr 7, 2009. 1:34 PM REPLY

grizzly g says:
but hey you could try

Apr 7, 2009. 4:27 PM REPLY

Thelonelysandwitch says:
ok, you talked me into it.

Apr 8, 2009. 3:35 PM REPLY

grizzly g says:

Apr 8, 2009. 5:11 PM REPLY lol...well if theres too much snow ( i dont think itd matter but i wouldnt know...cuz i live in mesa,az lol)...just try it in your garage or somewhere like that..of course in a bucket or something

Thelonelysandwitch says:
Yeah, im trying tomorrow, the snow has melted like 3 months ago. too lazy to try.

Apr 8, 2009. 5:37 PM REPLY

EnigmaMax says:
try rubber and gasoline will you're at it, I heard that works too.

Apr 9, 2009. 6:15 PM REPLY

Thelonelysandwitch says:
mabye

Apr 9, 2009. 8:02 PM REPLY

stujini says:
I do it with styrofoam and gasoline it makes the best flamethrower

Apr 13, 2009. 3:15 PM REPLY

EnigmaMax says:

Apr 14, 2009. 7:05 PM REPLY It takes a lot of Styrofoam just to make a little though. You should try something a little more... concentrated, like rubber (if it works.)

stujini says:

Apr 17, 2009. 6:05 PM REPLY rubber doesnt work i just tryed it two minutes ago it didnt melt... and it doesnt take much styrophoam

http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-to-make-and-safer-to-breathe-Napalm/

EnigmaMax says:

Apr 21, 2009. 7:37 PM REPLY ...really? dang, that's a bummer... OH, by the way... sorry about that previous comment, styrofoam is good for making small batches. small batches.

stujini says:
depends on how much you have but yes small batches

Apr 24, 2009. 2:57 PM REPLY

Dude567 says:

Oct 10, 2010. 6:24 PM REPLY Ah, but 1+1=2 so small batch plus small batch equals bigger batch

km94 says:
do you have to use powder suger

Aug 4, 2009. 8:51 AM REPLY

dsand69 says:
no just read dsand69 up more

Nov 24, 2009. 4:32 PM REPLY

halogirl says:
what can you use instead of tiki torch oil?

Oct 27, 2008. 8:10 PM REPLY

dsand69 says:
u can use diesel/ unleaded

Nov 24, 2009. 4:31 PM REPLY

professorPyro says:
kero,petrol,meths etc...

Jun 23, 2009. 4:49 PM REPLY

Blacksmith Spader says:

hehheheheheheh kerosene is very fun for this

Aug 7, 2009. 11:44 PM REPLY

professorPyro says:
the only down side is that it attracts mozzies

Aug 9, 2009. 7:24 PM REPLY

Blacksmith Spader says:

I'm sorry, I am not familiar with that term lol... prey tell, what is a "mozzie?"

Aug 9, 2009. 11:12 PM REPLY

Dude567 says:
I'm guessing it means moths

Oct 10, 2010. 6:25 PM REPLY

isaac! says:
i would tell you, but then od have to kill you all

Aug 15, 2009. 5:05 PM REPLY

ggiihh1 says:
i'm guessing mosquito

Sep 1, 2009. 10:20 AM REPLY

professorPyro says:
yeah im talking about mosquitos lol.... im not an australian either btw lol

Mar 3, 2010. 8:54 PM REPLY

stujini says:
gasoline, i heard of diesl but thats not the best idea, also lighter fluid

Apr 13, 2009. 3:17 PM REPLY

http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-to-make-and-safer-to-breathe-Napalm/

grizzly g says:
lighter fluid :d...gas would prbly work as well

Apr 6, 2009. 9:54 PM REPLY

Stephon #9 says:
idk i havent used that stuff i use 2-stroke gas 4 my dirtbike lol

May 12, 2009. 3:27 PM REPLY

view all 167 comments

http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-to-make-and-safer-to-breathe-Napalm/