How to patinate metal (trims etc)

[Yorkie]

How times chage. In the late 1940s, chemistry sets were all the rage, and there were little booklets on experiments, including how to make your own fireworks. I'd be about 11 or 12 then, and two or three of us went to Boots Chemists and bought all sorts of chemicals over the counter with no adult present, including 'flowers of sulphur' and saltpetre. Lord knows what else, but we had all the ingrediants to make 'bangers' (sorry - I don't mean sausages Rob!), Roman candles and so forth. I can remember one lad had got hold of some live .303 rifle bullets - goodness knows where from. We busied ourselves prising them open to remove the 'business end' and empty the charge, then upended them between two bricks, got a hammer and a nail to make the percussion cap in the empty bullet case go bang, and boy, did that make our ears ring! All part of growing up in the 1940s. At the first bang nowadays it would probably provoke an armed response unit, a helicopter and a TV crew. We didn't even think we were being naughty or mischievous - just having fun, as kids did when they were allowed to be children and not seen as 'miniature adults'.