Fire and explosives

[tek9tim]

Already posted this in tree care videos, but realized there wasn't much care involved. Also wanted to give the vids more exposure.

Had a good summer in the north woods of Idaho. Figured I'd post up a few videos of my exploits.

Started working on becoming a blaster. Got a few shots in on some hazard trees that an excavator was too scared to knock over.

#1: YouTube - Blasting a 28" diameter grand fir snag Roughly 28" diameter grand fir snag that was rotten and broken about 15 feet up. 2 shots, 3.3 pounds of MagnaFrac emulsion explosives per shot internally loaded, nonel initiator system, hence the sound of a shotshell primer going off a half second before the explosives.

#2: YouTube - Blasting a green lodgepole pine with 2 hangers Roughly 16" diameter live lodgepole pine with 2 dead hangups in it. 1 shot, 6 pounds of emulsion explosives externally loaded, EBC initiator.

#3 YouTube - Falling a 38" broken top burning Larch tree 38" diameter broken top Larch snag with fire in the top, middle, and bottom. The vibration of the chain cutting into it would cause a shower of embers to fall on me. Every time I'd look down while cutting I'd get embers down my neck. Running an early 440 (no decomp) with a max-flow and hogged out dual port muffler, 28" bar.

I have a few more that are from years past on my youtube, check 'em out if you want.

Enjoy! (or not, that's cool too.)

 

[2000ssm6]

That is a pretty freaking cool way to fell a tree!

 

[adkranger]

VERY NICE! You've been busy, thanks for sharing.

A demo license is nice to have in your back pocket..........never know when you need to blow something up.:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[clinchscavalry]

I used to drive about 30 miles to a nearby town, walk in the courthouse, fill out a simple form, go to a business a couple blocks away and purchase detagel, ni-pack, or even tnt, fuse and caps up to 100 lbs. at a time with no license of any kind and no hassles. Then I'd use the stuff for beaver dam demolition or stump removal. This was only a few years ago, but after 9-11 all that changed. The feds license explosives now, and my store took all their stock and destroyed it one weekend. They said it was quite a fireworks show, and I wish I would have known.

Just another example of the many being punished for the crimes of a very few

 

[dancan]

Cool videos !

 

[tek9tim]

I used to drive about 30 miles to a nearby town, walk in the courthouse, fill out a simple form, go to a business a couple blocks away and purchase detagel, ni-pack, or even tnt, fuse and caps up to 100 lbs. at a time with no license of any kind and no hassles. Then I'd use the stuff for beaver dam demolition or stump removal. This was only a few years ago, but after 9-11 all that changed. The feds license explosives now, and my store took all their stock and destroyed it one weekend. They said it was quite a fireworks show, and I wish I would have known.

Just another example of the many being punished for the crimes of a very few

Yeah, this was at work for the government. We are heavily regulated as to purchase, storage and tracking of our powder. It was that way before 9/11 for us, but now the licensing side of it is a lot tougher than it used to be. There are a lot of hoops to jump through to become a qualified blaster, not just knowing how to safely blow stuff up. I'm willing to jump through due to the awesome fun involved with blasting. A lot of people aren't.

 

[maico490]

I wasn't expecting either of the first two to fall towards the camera!


Were you?

 

[tek9tim]

Here's another shot, not done by me, but it was the experience that got me into blasting. Using FLE (fireline explosives, 60 grain det cord wrapped with water gel explosives) 2 boxes, 110 lbs total, nonel initiator. 34" diameter burned out grand fir. Chunks from this blast flew past me about 700 feet away. Video courtesy of Grangeville Smokejumper Amanda Holt.

YouTube - Blasting Trees

 

[olyman]

I used to drive about 30 miles to a nearby town, walk in the courthouse, fill out a simple form, go to a business a couple blocks away and purchase detagel, ni-pack, or even tnt, fuse and caps up to 100 lbs. at a time with no license of any kind and no hassles. Then I'd use the stuff for beaver dam demolition or stump removal. This was only a few years ago, but after 9-11 all that changed. The feds license explosives now, and my store took all their stock and destroyed it one weekend. They said it was quite a fireworks show, and I wish I would have known.

Just another example of the many being punished for the crimes of a very few

gov people, DONT want you to have the capabiltiy to own anything that would hurt them--firearms next???

 

[tek9tim]

I wasn't expecting either of the first two to fall towards the camera!


Were you?

The first, I knew it was a strong possibility but not certain. Second, yes. Planned out the camera position to be pretty close, but not get nailed. The direction of fall was easy to determine on the second.

 

[njforestfire]

Nice job on the burning snag - they are always fun to do!

 

[tek9tim]

Nice job on the burning snag - they are always fun to do!

YouTube - Falling 50" Burning Grand Fir

Here you go, in case you haven't checked it out yet...

 

[hqv]

Interesting thx

 

[Nitroman]

Very kewl, and very useful tool explosives. Without them, modern life as we know it would not exist. It was the introduction of nitroglycerin in a safe form (dynamite), that really opened up the industrial era in the U.S. and around the world.

When I was growing up we had a hog farm. It was cut out of 25 acres of North Carolina Longleaf Pine that had been planted about 1950. To make a "lane" so we could put in a new set of pens, we would simply cut down a row of trees (my dad used his horribly loud Homelite Zip). As the ground was compressed by the trucks, the stumps would start to hit the bottoms of the trucks differentials.
To get rid of the stumps my dad would take one stick, (9" x 1 1/4" and 1/2 pound, DuPont 50/50 Red Cross Extra nitroglycerin dynamite), cut it in half, and tape a DuPont No. 6 fuse-type blasting cap (1 gram mercury fulminate), between the halves. After making up twenty of so of these set-ups, we would proceed to make noise! He'd put the halves on a stump, I'd dump a 3-gallon bucket of mud on top to direct the force downward, then he'd light the fuse we ran maybe 100 feet, dropped down behind other trees, covered out ears and BOOOOOOOMMMMM!!! No more stump. No joke, no lie, the stump would be blown to smithereens. What would be left would feel like fluffed cotton.
Had lots of fun doing that.

If you can ever take your kids to see you do that, make sure they're far enough away, but let them hear the sound of the explosives, they'll get such a kick out of it. To get the most bang (pun intended), elevate the explosives by hanging them from a string off the ground by about ten feet. A quarter mile away across a corn field you'll still be able to feel the shockwave pass through your body. I think that is one of the most amazing sensations a human can ever feel. This only takes a couple pounds too.

Good job, keep it up!!

 

[pioneerguy600]

Rodger,..the only thing that I miss about blasting is the HEADACHE, I got from the fumes from that stuff. The jolt you feel up through your body when a big load denotates is forever ingrained in my memory, just 22 cases of CIL sticks set off all at once with us standing less than 300 feet away from the blast did it for me. I can still see a MF70 that once went airborne when the blasting mat it was setting on lifted over 20' skyward, GOOD/BAD old days. LOL
Pioneerguy600

 

[Jacob J.]

Hey Tim-

Good to see you're getting into the blasting. There seems to be more and more of a call for fireline explosives, especially on the larger fires in Wilderness areas. I helped the Washington DNR guys lay FLEs in '96 on the Spring fire when I was on the hotshot crew. Having that card will be a huge feather in your hat.

 

[Nitroman]

Rodger,..the only thing that I miss about blasting is the HEADACHE, I got from the fumes from that stuff. The jolt you feel up through your body when a big load denotates is forever ingrained in my memory, just 22 cases of CIL sticks set off all at once with us standing less than 300 feet away from the blast did it for me. I can still see a MF70 that once went airborne when the blasting mat it was setting on lifted over 20' skyward, GOOD/BAD old days. LOL
Pioneerguy600

OMG!!! Been there done that. There are very few substances on this Earth that smell better than nitroglycerin. First time my dad bought some, we opened up a stick to look inside. I couldn't quit smelling it. Only 4-5 good sniffs over a period of 30 minutes while my dad was digging the hole. I had some on my fingers because it had the most odd feeling to it, moist but not moist like water.

I few hours later I thought I was going to die. Weakness in the limbs, nausea, classic migraine with spots/sparkles/brownouts. Had to ride that horse for an afternoon. Not fun, but something I can never forget either.:hmm3grin2orange: