Goggles schmoggles

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1. [Izzy]

   “Goggles! We don’t need no stinkin’ goggles.”

   And I didn’t. I made all kinds of acids and explosives and nasty smelling (and tasting) stuff.

   No goggles, no apron, etc. But, I did have thick gloves that I also used when I did lead-casting in my basement. (That’s something else you cannot find anymore because of the lead.)

2. [Stefan Jones]

   The sets being produced when I was a kid were similar to those in the bottom photo. I never had one, mind you, but they were around.

   Even then I knew they were a cheap cheat, compared to the old sets that were still around. A friend up the street had an amazing set from (guessing) the early 50s. Metal case, alcohol burner, rubber tubes, a couple of dozen (?) bottles of stuff. The illustrated book showed a square-jawed Race Bannon sort of guy teaching two kids about the uses of chemistry. The only project I remember was a water softener.

3. [Halloween Jack]

   I kept expecting to see, as the last picture, a pic of some kid with blasted, empty eye sockets.

4. [Larkspur]

   Oh, the memories. My brother had a chemistry set. (I think I had an EZ Bake Oven.) I used to play with it when he had it out, unsupervised, unprotected, utterly clueless. I’d combine substances in test tubes to see what would happen. One time I created a beautiful azure liquid; it was so pretty and bubbly. What I really enjoyed, though, was playing with the asbestos insulation pad. It had a delightfully nubby but still smooth texture. I can’t believe I have lived this long. Ooh, also, my brother and I used to enjoy playing with mercury. It was droplets but not really, and so shiny!

5. [Blackhat]

   I think we had that Skil Craft set!

   Notice no gloves or aprons, either! Some of those chemistry sets had some nasty stuff in them, too. Oh, for simpler times…

6. [dculberson]

   That kid in the third one is a total rapscallion. I bet he terrorized his younger sister all the time.

7. [EricT]

   Love the retro art. I keep expecting to see references to the recipe for Jet or Rad-X

8. [EricT]

   BlackHat:
   Yeah me 3. We figured out how to make smoke bombs and the Star Trek episode with the rubber lizard man inspired us to make Gunpowder. It actually worked to a certain extent. In fact as I am typing I seem to recall the search for black powder resulted in the smokebombs.
   Then we discovered my buddies Dad’s shell reloading powder. We called it code V for vigerous.

   good times good times

9. [jimkirk]

   I had the set in the bottom photo. Still have some of the vials of chemicals in the basement.

   Now I go to http://www.unitednuclear.com/ for most of my chemical needs.

10. [liamo]

    The kid in the third pic doesn’t need goggles because he’s testing out the alcohol content of his homebrew

11. [Abbalah]

    my brother had an old chemistry set… and we had to clear out our basement with fans because he accidentally made chlorine gas…lol