My cousin made one like that when we were teenagers. Its a wonder none of us were ever seriously injured playing with it.
We made and played with home-made swords, lances, spears, arrows, gunpowder for water pipe canons and rifles, and Molotov Cocktails.
If we saw it in the movies we tried it out.
Not to mention the BB gun wars.
No one ever sustained a serious injury and any areas we burned down have surely regrown by now.
Today kids aren't even allowed to walk home alone or ride a bicycle without a helmet.