# Schoolboy Arsenal **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 16, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schoolboy-arsenal/175768 "2003-05-16T20:51:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schoolboy-arsenal/175768/1 "2003-05-16T20:51:15Z")
When we were in grade school we had these things we called “Wasps”. A wasp was a small piece of paper folded up until it looked like a flat cigarette. Then you put a rubber band between thumb and forefinger and shot the thing with a bow and arrow kind of method. What kind of schoolboy weapons did you use? (as an apology to female dopes, I say school boy since it seemed it was mostly us using the things) ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schoolboy-arsenal/175768/2 "2003-05-16T20:52:39Z")
Haha, I meant “Female Dopers” Quite sorry. ---
**Author:** ![troub](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troub/32/14802_2.png) [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schoolboy-arsenal/175768/3 "2003-05-16T21:23:19Z")
Ah, that was my weapon of choice. . .a little bit of tape wrapped around it, and a good stiff rubber band and those things could be _dangerous_. And then there were always fists 😃 But what a different age it was, 15-20 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![mdf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@mdf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mdf)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schoolboy-arsenal/175768/4 "2003-05-16T21:30:57Z")
For a while about 7th grade or so , a few of us made blowguns from short lengths of copper tubing, and darts from straight pins and embroidery thread. :eek: Those could have been big trouble, but at least we were smart enough to only use them on non-living targets. They would stick in the wall, even painted concrete. I came across the things recently - they would have been thirty years old - but I don’t remember if I tossed them out or not… -mdf ---
**Author:** ![sciguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@sciguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciguy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schoolboy-arsenal/175768/5 "2003-05-16T21:49:05Z")
You remember those retractable pens that you could take completely apart? I would re-configure one so that the spring was between the clicker and the little plastic piece that normally held the ink part out. You would then have a little half-pen with a projectile, propellent (the spring), and a trigger. Intended use: sneak up on victim and place open end against someone’s arm or (if you were feeling really mean) back of their neck, and click. Plus, my brothers and I had real, honest-to-goodness [Lawn darts](http://www.timewarptoys.com/jarts.jpg)! ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schoolboy-arsenal/175768/6 "2003-05-16T21:56:42Z")
Ahhhh, lawn darts. Those were so cool even I knew why my parents didn’t want me playing with them. For some reason my dad called them “Jarts” ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schoolboy-arsenal/175768/7 "2003-05-16T22:47:18Z")
Folded-up triangular paper footballs could be thrown, shuriken-like. Not much for accuracy, though. Bic pens were pretty much made for dismantling and using the tube as blowgun launchers. sciguy’s retractor-pen assault hypos were also fine things; primarily, they appeared as masochistic demonstrations of one’s own pain-ignoring mad skillz, though. Rubber bands go without saying. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schoolboy-arsenal/175768/8 "2003-05-16T23:07:29Z")
Back when afro’s were in style, black kids would wear those steel “cake-cutter” combs in their hair. Damn, it sure hurt to get hit with one of those! ---
**Author:** ![radar\_ralf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@radar\_ralf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/radar_ralf)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schoolboy-arsenal/175768/9 "2003-05-16T23:12:42Z")
Take a piece of paper, about 1.5" square. Place a “cap” intended for use in toy guns in the center of the paper square. Place a BB on top of the cap. Twist up the paper into a missile-looking shape. Drop out of upper story windows next to unsuspecting young females. Delight in their squealing. ---
**Author:** ![Phnord\_Prephect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schoolboy-arsenal/175768/10 "2003-05-17T07:30:00Z")
Does anybody remember ‘Zebra Guns’? Little cheap plastic pistols that shot little cheap hard rubber yellow pellets. Like $2.99 in the grocery toy store. This was, of course, back before the ubersaftey nazis took over the toy industry. They would hurt if you got hit. Oh, not bad, but you’d sure notice. We brought these to school for a long time, to shoot each other with. (Yes, it was a different world back then in 1988…) The best use I ever got out of it was one day in english class. During a test. Dead silence. I pulled it out of my pocket, took careful aim, and shot my friend right in the ear. He leapt out of his chair, grabbed his ear, screamed, and the best part… HE got in trouble for it. I just sat there laughing. q;}