Pipertec

Cub that is hilarious. I have seen dynamite used a lot of different way in my time, but never on groundhog quite like that. It was used to fish with here more than anything else. It made those big ole blue cats come up in droves. That kind of fishing will get you jail time now, Lol! But OH MAN, did it make the water hump up...........

I have used explosive all my life. When I retired I started consulting for a company that was removing the overburden off the limestone. We would go in and drill the pinnacles (upthrust cones of rock that extend up to the surface) and shot them to flatten out the terrain so that the overburden could be shot and stripped. Most of the explosives used today are Ammonium based. The assortment of Nitro based explosives are few. They have a shorter shelf life and are just a lot of trouble to store. Ammonium Nitrate is just the oxidizer and has to be paired with an accelerant. Anything combustible could be an accelerant. I can see where coal would qualify and might even be cost effective...but coal in powder form is a very explosive product of and in itself. . Aluminum powder or magnesium powder is used in most gel type Ammonium based explosives now. The last dynamite I used was a DuPont product called "Powerditch" ...and it was very effective. For the bigger jobs we use ANFO in bulk form. Call the truck and have it delivered to the site. Mostly it is used in 6" diameter holes and larger.

Taking about trees and stumps, I use to use some primacord to cut trees....although now in the US any use of explosives are so closely monitored and regulated to the point that recreational use of explosives are a thing of the past. As early as the 1940's, you could by dynamite at the hardware store, lol. You can't even get close to the distributor now without a license. The ATF is very vigilant as to use, distribution, and storage of explosives after 09/11/2001. I was fingerprinted by 3 different law enforcement agencies complete with background checks, and 1000.00 later was able to transport it under strict guidelines. Blasting is a very involved and closely regulated affair now......and the penalties are just short of capital punishment if you break the law!!

Cublover

Just before the creation of the ATF, I ran out of dynamite... But I gotta admit that I had 'FUN' with it! Grandpap had that case to shoot sinkholes shut so his sheep didn't fall into the caverns below his farm.
Then my friend's dad was a 'prospector', so he always had a couple cases close. Then, I got the job at the quarry.
I learned that I should drink milk to get rid of the 'nitro' headache after handeling or smelling the residue from dynamite.
I have not held a stick since 1975... Late 70's , when I was a college puke, I spent several afternoons chatting with my college prof about dynamite and it's many uses. He's the one that told me about the 'milk' thing. He used to 'play' with it too! (He LOVED the yellow jacket' story!)
'Old' dynamite has a tendancy to 'seep' the nitro. I guess that is why we were allowed to 'groundhog hunt' with it! That got it GONE!! We lived through it and we had FUN!! Well, we weren't 'allowed' to use it, but it went away and we came back, so no one questioned where it went. (It was gone before anyone noticed that it was leaving)

__________________
I'm not a REDNECK! I am an Appalachian-AMERICAN!!

Cublover

My son worked for a company that blew stuff up for a couple years. Since he was a 'grunt', he wasn't told what he was pouring into those holes. He was told what bags to pour where. PERIOD!!
Top secret, need to know' basis. Even the employees don't know what is going on anymore!

__________________
I'm not a REDNECK! I am an Appalachian-AMERICAN!!

Cublover

Have you ever dropped a match onto a pile of powdered aluminum?
It flashes pretty good, then burns with a red glow for a long time. It is the 'solid' part of solid rocket fuel.

__________________
I'm not a REDNECK! I am an Appalachian-AMERICAN!!

Pipertec

For a long time, the Bureau of Mines (MSHA Predecssor) would not allow any panel boards made of aluminum in underground operation. By the fact that they were so soft, they figured that if an aluminum shaving were ignited that it would cause an explosion. Since then, they have rethought the process and through tested determined that they are safe. Really made things lighten up for the maintenance crews. I have seen a lot of types of explosives come and go.....One was called the " Stomper". It was basically a pouch that contained a small charge of C-4 surrounded by a salt water gel. Underground roof falls propogate large rocks. Those rocks had to be drilled and shot due to the fact that an open shot was illegal underground. That was a very time consuming thing to do. So Dupont comes out with the Stomper. All we had to do, was lay it up on the rock, put a cap in it, sit at least 2 bags of inert dust on top of it and pull the trigger. We got very creative with these things since they were so portable. It was a very good versatile tool, until MSHA caught wind that some people at another company was cutting the bags open, and cutting the charges in half, then shooting the tires off equipment that wouldn't come off with normal methods. Thus, they revoked the permit for them......and now the industry is back in the stone age drilling again. When I first started in the mines along about 1974, there were a lot of things we did on a regular basis that would get you 1-10 at your local federal prison now. Time has a way so changing things...sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.

If you think aluminum powder is fun to watch....Try magnesium.......just don't try it in the presence of pure Oxygen or you will sprout a pair of wings. Magnesium has replaced Nitro as the common accelerant in most stick explosives now. Also most stick explosives are in gel form now because the gel reduces the stick sensitivity. It also has nearly made accidental detonation during manufacturing of the product extinct. If you want some interesting reading, just Google some of Dupont's events with accidental detonation. It happened from time to time during the manufacture of Dynamite. That was the reason for the plants being so remotely located and the buildings being bunkered with dirt walls 20 feet high around them to throw the blast upwards.