Having spent a little time in real life with Grenadier, I must admit to a great deal of amusement at some of the content of this thread.

This conversation has, however, taught me that his courtesy is fully the equal of his knowledge.

quote:

Originally posted by mete:
Thermite ? we metallurgists use it to weld not destroy ! One fellow loved it ,when the LST he was on , in mid-Pacific ,split the main deck side to side .They repaired it with thermite welding !!

I get a kick out of those Cadweld connectors, electricians use.

http://www.slideshare.net/namp...lectrical-conections

Ok folks.

Managed to find the projectile in question.







I don't like steel rain. Especially with my body parts in it!

Looks like armour-piercing projectile with pop-up fuse, very dangerous

Along these same lines,several years ago I was walking to my shop on a Sunday when literally the ground moved with one helluva an explosion. My 1st thought was that my loading room had gone up.Nope. Found out later that one of the ne'erdo well neighbors went off to prison but before leaving had wanted to go fishing + had stolen a case of dynamite from the local quarry.Seems the state wanted his time right then so he took the case + shoved it under a cedar tree on my next door neighbors land (we live out in the country).Well,several months later the old gent is walking his property + sees this decomposing box under a tree with sweating sticks. He calls the S.O. they call the bomb squad + NOBODY wants to touch it.So they sandbagged it + set it off. Chickens did'nt lay for 2 weeks.

Not sure whats safe, maybe just go fishing with it..

quote:

Originally posted by vashper:
Looks like armour-piercing projectile with pop-up fuse, very dangerous

Betting that thing is ancient.

Grizz

Picric ? We used dilute picric acid etchants for microscope work. We did have one incinent where a solution evaporated leaving crystals . Yes the NYPD Bomb Squad came with their little bomb proof wagon but there was no problem.
However I don't ever remember any warnings about contact with copper or nickel !! Survival of engineering students was always one of those strange miracles !!

quote:

Originally posted by Grenadier:
First, foremost, and always upon discovering unexploded or questionable ordnance:

LEAVE IT ALONE !

Then move away, isolate the area, mark around it as required to keep others away. Then report it to law enforcement.

It doesn't matter how old it is, where it has been sitting, how many times it was moved, or if it has been damaged. Even "trench art" and things like paperweights and souvenir lamps still containing live ordnance have been known to explode after years of handling.

The number of people killed by "harmless" ordnance or war trophies is chilling.

Lady in Calgary recently followed your advice. Bomb squad came and removed a grenade looking cigarette lighter from her garden.

Grizz

Saw this short video of a 1 pound chunk of sodium getting tossed in a pond and thought it appropriate to post here:



Note: I watch videos with the sound off so I have no clue what the audio in this clip is like.

quote:

Originally posted by Mark:
Saw this short video of a 1 pound chunk of sodium getting tossed in a pond and thought it appropriate to post here:



Note: I watch videos with the sound off so I have no clue what the audio in this clip is like.

Na+H2O = H2 + Can't remember the rest Could be hazardous to your health.

Grizz

sodium hydroxide

2 Na + 2 H2O ---> 2 NaOH + H2

Never found any HE but in 1981 we were cleaning out our new-to-us office and yard. Previously had a non-destructive testing company that went tits up. I was cleaning out a closet and tucked in the back under a bunch of crap was a source can. These are basically heavy lead buckets several inches thick all around. Less than 10" round and 12" high; probably over 100 lbs. The guy with me wanted to look inside and I decided not; I wasn't particularly aware at that age but it had radiation stickers on it. Actually he wanted to take it home thinking he could melt it down for sinkers.

Long story short, we called another local NDT company we thought could use it. They came out and picked it up. Next day we were covered up with state and federal regulators because it contained a hot cobalt source. Would have been really, really bad juju if we had opened it.

Theoretically impossible to lose track of a dangerous source like that but so much for theory.

Remember being in a surplus store in the 60s. On the shelf was an olive drab warhead, off a 3.5 " bazooka rocket. Looking in the back you could see a yellow waxy substance. Put it back and never thought much about it, but in hindsight I've always wondered.

Grizz

Abut a decade or so ago I was in a surplus store and saw several 30mm projectiles one of which I brought and took home.

It is a red-nosed Uranium penetrator projectile for a GAU-8 "Avenger" cannon (non-explosive)
In design these generally resemble Naval "capped-AP rounds"
But with a 400gram uranium rod inside under the aluminum aerodynamic "Cap", instead of explosive filler...

I took pictures of all and made notes on the markings and left...

The others I had left behind I identified as conventional HE/incendiary/AA rounds I want back about a week later and told the guy what they were and to call the bomb squad to get rid of them... or at a minimum move them to a lower shelf....

They were actually fuseless incendiary/HE Anti-Aircraft rounds that after Impact/ignition initiate the explosives...

If I'm not mistaken that AA/HE mix includes quite a bit of Elemental Zirconium powder to add to the incendiary effect
(Highly desired characteristic for an AA round) but making a bad situation worse if it is anywhere near all too tender skin...

This is one of the most interesting threads I have read on this forum. Here is a news article from this year from my town.

http://www.newswest9.com/story...ementary-on-lockdown

All sorts of stuff still turning up. News had a story a few days ago about a rather large bomb being discovered just outside of Frankfurt. Defused on Christmas day.

Dad brought home a live Jap knee-mortar round that set in his trunk in the basement for decades. Considering what it was filled with, I gave it to the local bomb squad for detonation.

That grenade the OP talked about, I would have pulled the pin and thrown it.

This now sets on my work bench, a 5" 38cal projectile from the BB Wisconsin.

Just yesterday local TV station reported that while contractors doing excavations in Germany found not one but 5 unexploded bombs from WWII. Supposedly they are planning a mass evacuation until the bombs are defused and rendered safe.Frank