black powder wood splitting wedge

[1BadDart]

Lots of sawmills resort to BP when logs won't fit on their mills. No wedge, just a chainsawn hole, powder and wood wedge to help contain the pressure momentarily. Still used to this day.

Did anyone notice the cat calmly walking by seconds after the explosion in the first video?

 

[Rifleman1776]

OK, here is a pic of mine. I had it made from a 1" .50 cal. octagonal ml barrel, overall length is 12". The breech is an extended block of steel and the muzzle is ground down to a bullet shape. I never had to drill into the wood, just pounded this in about 1/2" and inch, lit fuse and got out of the way. Did a good job. The splitting force all comes from the explosion and it was capable halving a fairly long log. It has been sitting on a basement shelf for 30 years. When I used it it was one of my favorite tools.

 

[Bullit]

Huh, like Alvin York would say, "I never even heerd of one."

 

[hrt4me]

@Rifleman1776, thank you for sharing that photo and description of yours!

 

[toot]

Imagine that.

YEH!

 

[sheriff john]

"Asking for a friend" - do you reckon BP substitutes would work?

 

[CaptainKirk]

That's cool as an iceberg!!

 

[Africa58double]

Didn’t work as well when I used one

 

[rocullen]

do they make a flintlock?

 

[Rifleman1776]

"Asking for a friend" - do you reckon BP substitutes would work?

I doubt it. Ignition would be an issue.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Didn’t work as well when I used one

Puzzling. Do you have a pic of yours?

 

[Africa58double]

Was 15 years ago and Mr Daniels (on ice) was assisting. It was on loan from a very old guy who Owned a mil.

 

[Nameless Hunter]

"Asking for a friend" - do you reckon BP substitutes would work?

They're using Pyrodex...

 

[Lonewalker]

Even being an old PawPaw I still hope to learn something everyday.
All I have to add is I LOVE THIS THREAD !!!!
Ps I have Big trees/logs occasionally, I have all the ingredients, just never a recipe problem solved.

 

[Wawyasto]

I could swear Dixie sold something like this in their catalogs back 20+ years ago.

Doesn't look too hard to make, might just have to talk to my machine shop buddy about this.

 

[toot]

well it, PYRODEX, sure saves a lot of real BP. GREAT! & good to know that it will work!

 

[shorthair]

As a kid river rat we weighted down dyna stix and blasted up catfish and anything else.
I saw a black powder water blaster once-- but never saw the ad again. Miners,who tried to
play safe when cracking rock with powder were aften hurt or maimed while blasting.
The safest way to use the powder is by proper tecnical muzzle loading safety. Behind every
lost finger or eye is a story. I'm now too old for exciting stories- like blasting stumps and
logs.

We do stupid things when we are young, like anvil shoots with a full pound of 1f. Dang anvil was airborne for a longggggggg time and we had to get the old Case tractor to dig it out of the hole it made.

 

[shorthair]

I had a good friend almost kill himself with one. He was splitting elm. He thought the fuse went out ... it hadn't. When he got to the hospital he looked like he lost a fight with a giant porcupine.

Patience is a virtue when dealing with hang fires, probably why the hydraulic spliters have become popular, being much safer and not banned by the government for being explosive devices.

 

[sheriff john]

They're using Pyrodex...

Thanks for posting. I've some really old Pyrodex to try. This wedge is of a different design than mine - the heavy weighted style appears much safer than mine. Ours has to be braced with something very heavy or it will shoot out of the log (as one of my ancestors discovered- a fatal error). Blowing stuff up's entertaining. Tannerite vs. trees is also fun.