moving earth with speed

[wayne]

on tv the other day a hard rock miner was going to use nitrogen and fuel oil to move some boulders on his site. they never showed him doing it. what method would he use to set this combination off? did he leave any thin out about the mixture? just curious. wayne

 

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[Hoser John]

Extremely dangerous and you need a specific license to get blasting caps,since 9/11 'purt near impossible unless your a large building corporation.John

 

[wayne]

thanks hoser john - i was curious about how anyone would set the mixture off - i don't have any or do i intend to ever have any of that stuff. when i was a kid, my dad set off dynamite without caps - he just blew the dynamite by shooting it with a 22 rifle and the stumps did come out of the ground. in the army i made and blew up pole charges made of tnt blocks and electrical fuses that would blow up many ways - it didn't take electricity regardless of what anyone said. thank you very much but i'm still wondering - did you ever try a firecracker? wayne

 

[GunFarce]

Nitrogen is a gas, he was Probably using ammonium nitrate (a fertilizer) and fuel oil (Anfo) It can't be set off with a blasting cap or det-cord. It needs a much bigger booster. We used hand mix the ammonium nitrate prills with fuel oil for small shots (blasting quantity measurement was by 'hard hat full'', poured into a plastic supermarket bag), and used a quarter stick of 40% straight on a length of 'B' line tied into the detcord trunk. The detcord trunk was then set off by a single cap, that inturn would set off the string of charges.. Using a tractor mounted fence post digger every couple of feet, we would put in one of these bags in the ground about two feet deep, and tie it in.. This was handy and cheap for blowing small drainage ditches.. One case of 40% has about 104 sticks in it, so we would get over 400 boosters for 400 charges, and anfo itself is real cheap..

 

[wayne]

gunfarce - thanks for the information. my dad was a "powder monkey" who worked in a silver mine near coer d'lean, idaho. later he had an orchard in washington when apples were selling for about ten dollars a ton - so he blew all the trees out with dynamite but i never was very interested but i do know he never had any money for caps after he bought the dynamite. thanks again for the comeback. wayne

 

[GunFarce]

Anfo now, is watched pretty close on both sides of the border.. Some guy with a 'eastern'' name is being investigated right now for trying to buy a large quantity.. It's not uncommon for a blasting company, or farmer to buy it by the ton, but when a 'individual' trys, it raises the red flag.. and well it should.. Thats what took out that federal building and killed all those people.. A rental truck full of it.. We used to get it in 100 lb bags, and even when un-oiled (just fertilizer) , the inspector from the RCMP made sure it was locked up in the magazine.. There are lots of storys about old timers and their methods of handling explosives.. But, it's not a skill you want to learn by 'trial and error'.. Thats why a lot of the old timers are not around to tell their 'own' stories..

 

[wayne]

gunfarce - amen to all of what you wrote. wayne