Splitting with gunpowder

[hokiefan]

Has anyone ever heard of splitting large rounds or logs with gunpowder??

I have some redoak logs that the smallest is 3 feet across while the largest is 5 feet across. I have friend who will saw them into lumber but cannot handle even the 3 footers in his mill.

Any thoughts about an easy way to split them?

By the way the shortest log is about 8 feet long.

Hokiefan

 

[Flatbedford]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIhJnqyey8U

 

[backpack09]

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[r_d_gard]

On one of the Mine sites I used to work on in Australia, I used to hang around with guys from the blast crew. These guys were, I'm sure, a few cans short of a carton. Anyway I remember going out with them one day into the bush land for a barbeque and they brought along a whole bunch of explosives for fun. In one of their "experiements" they used blast cord and wrapped it around a 50" diameter tree and set it off. Tree was cut of at waist level in less time than it took to blink. In another one of their "experiments" they combined several sausages of powergel and shaped it into a triangular prisim and put it on the trunk of a tree (of similar size to the one above) and lit it rip. The tree, after being cut by the explosion, did a 180° and landed upside down.
Like I said. These guys were not playing with a full deck.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I'm gonna do this. Why have I not done it yet?

 

[smokinj]

sure could have save some money on that spliter

 

[Battenkiller]

Awesome! I'm all over this idea, even if it costs more. All I need is some logs now.

 

[Shari]

I'm gonna do this. Why have I not done it yet?

Because you are not from Australia?

Shari

 

[Andre B.]

This one shows the process for splitting a log.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SUuUzAieig&feature=related

This one is just fun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UngMpN35SX4&feature=related

 

[burntime]

I'm gonna do this. Why have I not done it yet?

Good one! You probably wanted to keep all your fingers, toes, visial, hearing, and frontal lobe? Or, it could be you just have not thought of it? :lol:

 

[BigV]

sure could have save some money on that spliter

Obviously you have not checked the price (or availability) of gun powder lately!

Sorry for the dup!

 

[fossil]

When clearing part of the 164 mi² of rainforest in the area in Panama that was to become Gatun Lake, which forms the highest part of the Panama canal (and collects all the water which allows the canal to function), the operation is described by David McCullough in his classic The Path Between The Seas:

"One extremely dangerous task in the last years of work, for example, was the demolition of the giant trees that stood in what was to be the main channel through Gatun Lake. After the trees were cut down, dynamite crews - hundreds of West Indians - chopped holes in the huge trunks, sometimes as many as fifteen holes in a single tree. Two or three sticks of dynamite were put in each hole, with a cap and fuse, then plastered over with mud. The blasting began once the workday had ended and the area was clear, just as dark came on."

McCullough goes on to quote from an eyewitness account:

"After the 5:15 passenger train pass for Panama, we start lighting," remembered Edgar Simmons, another Barbadian. "Some of us has up to 65 or 72 holes to light and find our way out. So...you can judge the situation..." Each man, torches in both hands, dashed from tree to tree, lighting fuses as fast as possible, then ran for cover. "Then it's like Hell. Excuse me of this assertion, but it's a fact...it was something to watch and see the pieces of trees flying in the air." Afterward, the pieces were gathered up and piled and burned, a task that went on for months. Gigantic heaps of trees were doused with crude oil, then touched off - another Hell roar again."

Guess they had no trouble getting an overnight burn with green wood. :lol: Rick