Exploding Logs!

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brenndatomu

Hey you woodchucks, quit chucking my wood!
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So yesterday was a little more spring like here in NE Ohio, sunny, low 30s. I decided that I was going to go get some large chunks of crotch wood that the local municipality had sitting in their yard for a while now. I went to borrow my brothers trailer, he and my nephews decided to help me. It only took a couple hours to haul home (2) approx 4' x4' chunks of Oak and (2) only slightly smaller chunks of Beech. Once home, we had planned to go our separate ways for the rest of the day, but we ended up wasting most of the rest of the afternoon "splitting" wood. :hmm3grin2orange: Splittin' a Log With Explosive Target Powder - YouTube
The first log is approx 30"D x 30"L, and about 100 yds. out. Unfortunately, we had the camera zoomed in too close to capture the height and distance that 2 of the splits flew. 2 stayed in the blast zone, the one to the left went up 30-40' and landed about 50' away. The one to the right, went up 20' landing 100' away. The second log was 30"D and 60"L, we set up about 400' away due to the proximity of some farm equipment to where the first log landed. We weren't zoomed quite as tight and the much larger splits didn't fly as far, so you can see everything. The third time is just a slo-mo vid of the second log. It is amazing how nicely quartered the splits were! The percussion from the blast was significant, but the sound on the video doesn't do it justice. We have one more log to do but we decided to quit for the day, before someone called the cops. The neighbors almost a mile away said they heard/felt it inside their house. Oh, and sorry, I'm not sure what kind of wood it was, maybe I'll try to post some pics of it later.
 
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Looks like fun. Not much labor involved, except for picking up all the shards.
 
Looks like farm was behind log. Did you shot in that direction?

Well, yes and no. Was shooting in that general direction, but to the right of the farm. Also was shooting at a downward angle into the earth, and it is hard to tell on the video, but that farm is at quite a bit higher elevation than where we are. I know what you are getting at with that question, I had the same thought. My brother is the gun nut in the family, very experienced, very careful, he was comfortable with it, I wasn't gonna second guess him. Plus, he has that gun sighted in to under 1/4" circle at that distance, he was using a gun rest on a trailer, basically, the log is the backstop.
 
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Just want to be resonable and careful in this day and age. Like the idea of the "log splitter" as it makes life easier:msp_biggrin:.
 
Looks like fun. Not much labor involved, except for picking up all the shards.

Surprisingly there weren't too many shards, pretty clean splits. Definitely blew a lot off bark off though! I have some pics I'll put up as soon as I have a moment...
 
How much powder and did you put it inside a cavity of the log to get it to "split" better?

I've got some stumps I'd like to see gone......

I think the first one was around 1/2 LB, second one around 1 LB. (a small peanut butter jar full)

The only problem I would see using it on stumps would be getting a shot at it. You would want the charge down in the stump, but then you'd hafta be standing above to get a shot at it.
Maybe I should elaborate for people who are not familiar with target powder, it takes being hit with a HIGH velocity to set it off, such as a high velocity rifle round. Example, a .22 won't work, a sledge hammer won't work, etc.
 
Extremely IMPRESSIVE. :msp_w00t::msp_biggrin:

My wife was even impressed!

Yah, we were really surprised by that first one! Thought maybe it would fracture a little or blow a bigger hole in the middle, but definitely not 4 clean splits, 2 of which were 150' apart!
 
Pics as promised!
View attachment 286736We started out hauling these chunks home, and then...
View attachment 286737This and the next pic are the 60" log after "splitting"
View attachment 286738
View attachment 286739Looked like this when we started. This is the actually the last log that we decided to save for another day :msp_w00t:

And the last pic is just a gratis pic of the growing log pile from the tree line we've been whittlin' away on, 'bout 2/3 done.
 
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Tannerite is fun and all but seriously what's wrong with this picture?


wtf-3_zps9448d392.jpeg
 
Keep in mind, camera angle is not the same as shooting angle. Shooting angle lines up more to the right of the large pines on the right side of the farm...kinda in the open gap there.
 
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Doesn't take much for a rock to send a ricochet completely off course and really ruin someone's day.
 

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