A wee bit off-topic but still in the blackpowder realm:
In the early 1980s, there was a guy in the parking lot of the gun show at Spokane, Washington that was touting a firewood splitter he'd devised.
It was mounted on a small trailer and used, if I recall correctly, about 40 grs. of black powder to drive the wedge into the chunk of wood. He filled a chamber, nestled the wedge against the block of wood, and fired it with a lanyard. Don't recall what he used for a primer.
It worked, but what a noise!
And I kept thinking, "Hope he doesn't bring that contraption into the woods or he'll burn the whole West down!"
It spewed hot sparks all over the ground under the trailer.
Even back in the 80s, it was a task to find black powder. And it was just too cumbersome for practical use. Today, it's probably sitting in the weeds, rusting away.
And his family probably continues to josh him:
"Hey grandpa! How many millions did ya make off that Cordwood Cannon ya invented?" muhahahahahahahahaha!
"Oh ... shut ... up," he probably grumbles back at them. "Don't make me push this walker over there and kick yer butt!"