Thread: Redneck 're-sawing'

Damn, can't wait to get over to my shed to give that a try. It's just way too easy, why didn't I think of that.

Good stuff black powder. We used to use a splitting wedge to split logs and stumps back in the early 70s. Just a hollow round wedge with a handful of black powder topped with a handful of sawdust and the whole lot hammered into the end grain of the log. Very affective way of splitting big stumps that were too big to handle to put on a fire. Split them into about 5 pieces, down all the roots.

Dynamite and Geli for blowing out stumps etc but hadn't thought of just plain old powder, easy to get easy to adjust the load.

Originally Posted by Claw Hama

Dynamite and Geli for blowing out stumps etc but hadn't thought of just plain old powder, easy to get easy to adjust the load.

we used to 'pop' stumps and occasionally brought down a big tree with geli when i was a kid ... the alternative for us was axes and crosscut saw (both of which i still have although rarely use) .... i still have the augers as well that you put a bit of wood or pipe in as a handle to turn to drill the holes for the geli ... and the splitting wedges and 9lb hammer ... mainly used that for fence posts ... for firewood, we had a very dangerous saw bench with a 18inch blade (i still have the spindle and blade for that) run off the back wheel of a 1927 plymouth truck with a six inch wide flat belt to a 4 inch diameter pulley on the spindle ... it is surprising that we survived at least with all arms and legs intact


i've never seem the black powder trick though


regards david

Originally Posted by Claw Hama

Dynamite and Geli for blowing out stumps etc but hadn't thought of just plain old powder, easy to get easy to adjust the load.

Where do you get it , do you need any sort of permit? Thought it would be hard to get with all the fear about terrorists blowing things up , even they made urea hard to get now apparently.

A bit of info about how to use it and set it off would be useful.I thought having an old 20 tonne excavator around the place would make life easier but its often out of action . The black powder looks like it could be used for heaps of things if you dont need any special qualifications and permits to get and use it .

How loud is it ?Just like a shotgun or will everyone hear it for ten miles and call emergency services and cops?

About as loud as a shotgun, you can get black powder for muzzle loading rifles. Last time I bought some was 10 years ago. Try some gun clubs in your area. Wish I still had the splitting gun. Not hard to make. Probably illegal now.

Originally Posted by Woodwould

Only the Septics!

Hmmm . . . apparently not.

I read of a tassie boat builder from the early 1900's who was given a contract to build a large fishing boat that called for a one piece keel of 70' in length and 2 keelsons slightly shorter. Of course it would have been an impossible task to find a suitable tree deep in the bush, a few days walk in, and to fell it and to bring it out as one log. They found the tree, felled it and then using explosives split the tree into the keel section from which they were also able to get the 2 keelsons.

Originally Posted by Honorary Bloke

Hmmm . . . apparently not.

Sorry, that should have read: Only the Septics are still doing it!

My kind of wedge!!

Better than the hammer and wedges dad and I used.!!!!

Knew a bloke once who used to split concrete pipes to length by wrapping detonator cord around them and setting it off with a hammer.
Can't understand why no-one wanted to work with him on the job.

Originally Posted by rosewood

Knew a bloke once who used to split concrete pipes to length by wrapping detonator cord around them and setting it off with a hammer.
Can't understand why no-one wanted to work with him on the job.

Sounds like an urban myth this one, that stuff detonates at 7km / second, he would not have eyes, eardrums or unperforated skin after the first one.
regards inter

Originally Posted by InterTD6

Sounds like an urban myth this one, that stuff detonates at 7km / second, he would not have eyes, eardrums or unperforated skin after the first one.
regards inter

Seen it happen, ran the cord across the paddock away from the pipe.
Devastated the day the OH&S advisor confiscated his stash of cord.

Originally Posted by rosewood

Seen it happen, ran the cord across the paddock away from the pipe.
Devastated the day the OH&S advisor confiscated his stash of cord.

Myself being trained, licenced & used explosives professionally, I guarantee he would have at least one or all of the injuries mentioned if he could set it off in that manner, det cord can be shot with a high powered rifle & not be detonated, minimum needed is a # 8 blasting detonator & the number of kids who have lost eyes fingers & hands hitting those with hammers would fill a few books
more than likely he has used a very short fuse with a blasting cap & had you all on
regards inter