COEUR d'ALENE - Federal agents have arrested a Spirit Lake man along with a man from north central Idaho for allegedly illegally manufacturing hand grenades.

The Spirit Lake man, Kenneth B. Kimbley Jr., also was arrested for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Steven E. Winegar, of Harpster, east of Grangeville, was also arrested.

Criminal complaints filed in U.S. District Court charge both men with making a firearm in violation of the National Firearms Act. The charges were filed Saturday, when the two were arrested in Spirit Lake.

Between June 22 and Friday, July 2, an undercover federal agent had multiple recorded telephone conversations with Kimbley, during which Kimbley said he wanted to construct improvised explosive devices at his Spirit Lake home Saturday. That's according to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaints and arrest warrants for Kimbley and Winegar.

Kimbley invited the undercover agent to join him in building the devices, court documents said. Kimbley said he would teach the undercover agent, and some others, how to build the explosives.

Kimbley explained the explosives would be assembled using surplus hand grenade bodies that were picked up at military surplus stores.

Kimbley said he intended to create live hand grenades by adding some "unique" gunpowder to the grenade bodies, documents said.

He said he wanted to make multiple grenades, the court documents said.

The undercover agent met with Kimbley at his residence on Saturday, along with four other individuals, one of whom was Winegar. Kimbley brought grenade bodies, fuse, a powder horn and other materials.

The undercover agent "saw that all the components for making destructive devices or improvised explosive devices were present," the court documents said.

Both men provided instruction for the construction, the documents said.

Winegar boasted to the undercover agent he had 12 to 14 of the devices at his residence in Harpster.

The two men were arrested after they began the construction, the documents said.

Kimbley then admitted to law enforcement to selling a handgun to the undercover agent in October 2009. Kimbley consented to a search of his storage unit after being arrested. There agents found 10,000 rounds of rifle ammunition.

Kimbley is a convicted felon, stemming from an aggravated assault conviction in Kootenai County in 2004.

Court documents said that Kimbley, on Oct. 4, 2009, sold the undercover agent a Ruger brand .22-caliber handgun for $300. The sale took place at Kimbley's Spirit Lake residence located at 28128 N. Highway 41, space 45.

While the undercover agent was inside Kimbley's residence in October 2009, the agent saw several firearms in plain view. Those firearms included an AK-47-style rifle with an electronic optical sight attached to it, a Browning 12-gauge shotgun, a Dragunov style sniper rifle, and a handgun.

Kimbley and Winegar are being held at the Bonner County Jail, jail officials said Tuesday night.