[TheForge] Fun with thermite anyone?

[Jerry Smith]

Phlip,

There is know and then there is doing. I wish you
could have been around when I cleaned out my garage
and found 5 pounds of 50% aerosolized DDT. The bag
dinintegrated in my hands. I stopped breathing, I
didn't take a breath, I just stopped breathing, then
contained what was left. We had 3 pounds in the air.
My wife ended up in the hosiptal for 5 days and she
was behind me when this stuff got airborne. I spent a
day in the hsopital. I knew what to do from the basics
of NBC trainign in the Army.

We also found various types of flammables, whiskey
bottles with hand painted Skull and Cross Bones on
them, DET cord and a bunch of other pesticides. I knew
how to handle these and what they were used for. The
local fire chief was greatly surprised to find that a
former volunteer fireman/medic had this stuff in his
house, which I bought. 

For basic information, DDT was banned in 1972
Worldwide, my house was built in 1978. DDT never
really goes away, at least in my lifetime. It is a
great pesticide and really does work, but what is my
health worth? My wife on the other hand has developed
lung problems since then, how much is her health
worth?

So if you want to know about Thermite that is fine,
just don't hold some in your hand and then light it. 

Jerry

--- marilyn traber 011221 <phlip at 99main.com> wrote:

> > Could we let this thread die before somebody goes
> out
> > and tries some of this stuff????? Thermite is very
> > dangerous, somewhere on the net from Australia is
> a
> > video about a couple of young guys playing with
> > Thermite. Want to see a car burn to nothing, this
> > video has it. The fire departments have to let
> this
> > stuff burn out, then try to save what ever is near
> it.
> > 
> > Nasty stuff, a little goes a long way, a 5 gallon
> > bucket could burn your neighborhood down
> literally.
> > 
> > Next some one will want to try blast fusion of
> unlike
> > metals with nitric acid and glycerin, and they
> don't
> > understand the process of blending the stuff.
> > 
> > Jerry
> 
> Well, Jerry, personally I believe in knowing about
> potential hazards, rather 
> than trying to hide the information. Many household
> materials can be mixed 
> without a problem, or with only making a mess, as in
> vinegar and baking soda. 
> But, if I'm housecleaning, I'd really like to know
> that mixing bleach and 
> ammonia gives off a deadly gas. I mean, they're both
> common cleaning 
> supplies, right? Who'd have thunk it? Or, if I'm
> cleaning out my garage, it's 
> be nice to know that pouring my old, leftover brake
> fluid into my almost 
> empty dry laundry bleach might cause my trash can to
> explode into flames. 
> And, around the shop, considering what we do, I
> consider it very useful to 
> know that it's not a good idea to throw aluminum
> grindings in with steel 
> grindings, next to my forge, just as I'm happy to
> know that it's not a good 
> idea to leave oily rags in a pile.
> 
> Ignorance CAN kill you, or at least burn your shop
> down. Ignorance, 
> particularly in what we do, is NOT bliss.
> 
> Phlip
> _______________________________________________
> Manage membership or unsubscribe at:
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> theforge mail list group photo site is
> http://www.photoaccess.com
> Login:  blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
> password:  anvil
> ___________
> 
> 
>