Explosive Rope: Unraveling The Mysteries Of Detcord

[@OrdnanceLab]

Hope everyone enjoys the video! The 1000th comment will get a prize. A new thing we are starting.

[@HarshmanHills]

And here I am for the video as soon as it goes up lol

[@Tsopni]

I don't mind about any prizes, but every one of yours videos is my prize :)

[@jimbobf8017]

Loved it man

[@angrydingus5256]

Is it a wine bottle shaped charge?? 😁

[@armantape]

Good job

[@DRNewcomb]

An older friend told me that as a teen-ager in the early 60s he was hired by an old guy to help clear off a wooded lot. He was surprised when he was handed a spool of detcord and told how many wraps to make around the various size trees. Once all the trees were appropriately wrapped, the old guy set off the explosive train, thereby felling all the scrub trees on the lot.

[@someguy2741]

Efficient. Afterwards they went fishing with detcord :p

[@steztoyz]

@@someguy2741 No. That'd be US Army scouts that go fishing with explosives; and they used M-80s. 🤣

[@shawntailor5485]

@@steztoyz fished with Dupont spinners plenty long before my army days

[@fathead8933]

My wife's grandfather was an AntiAircraft gunner during WW2. He fired the towed quad .50. Anyways, when they were in Italy they decided that they wanted some olives. Well they didn't want to pick the olives so they decided that if they wrapped the tree with detcord, they could get the olives shook from the tree, and they could pick them off the ground. Well they blew the tree and decided they didn't like raw olives.

[@steztoyz]

@@tafdiz Well, I was Anti-tank, and I'm only telling it like I heard it. But since some of my friends were scouts, and the scouts were bat-shit crazy; I'm pretty sure they used some form of explosives to go fishing. 🤣

[@scrappydoo7887]

I love the fact that your Labrador is now "the weapons lab" lol It's excellent

[@someguy2741]

There is a thing going around that if you are not allowed to carry a weapon you put a holster on your dog to carry it. This way you arent carrying and the law doesnt apply to non-humans :p Maybe we need a whole fleet of "service animals" for NFA items :p

[@mpdavis731]

All food needs to go to the weapons lab for testing :D

[@felixthecat265]

Interestingly the term "laboratory" comes from the description of the room used to prepare ammuntion. In the days of gunpowder, it was delivered in barrels to forts etc where it was made up in cartridges or used to fill shells. This was part of the work of the garrison staff and was done in a "laboratory" or "somewhere you laboured". If you look at old maps of forts etc, in the 18th C you will often find a "Laboratory" next to the magazine. In the latter half of the 18th C the term changed to apply to anywhere you did work with chemicals, although UK Ammo techs still refer to Ammunition Process Buildings (APB) as "Labs".

[@scrappydoo7887]

@@felixthecat265 that actually is interesting. Thank you for the info, usually on here (KZbin) there's a punchline or insult somewhere there but you rose above it 👍👍

[@embracethesuck1041]

How do you tell the ATF that your dog ate your c4?

[@marvindebot3264]

As someone who has worked in film I can tell you the best fireball setup is a 10 litre plastic water container (the disposable ones you buy at the supermarket with spring water) full of petrol, suspend a sausage of readyprime in it and then set your pyro charges on stakes about a metre off the ground 2 to 3 metres away from the main charge. Use 100ms to 250ms delays (depending on the velocity of the main charge) in FI to the pyro charges to allow the fuel time to aerosol. That will give you a napalm bomb sized fireball if done right. Disclaimer: Don't try this at home kids.

[@Fixxate]

I don't know what disclaimer means

[@Daves_Not_Here_Man_76]

@@Fixxate It means not YOUR home. Try it at your dumb buddy's house.

[@justsmallstuff4994]

What about at my friends house i don't live there and don't consider it home 🤔

[@michaelvangundy226]

I never saw it work well. But my instructor had us bury 55 gal drums at an angle. 10 sticks of dynamite underneath. Pour in diesel and gas mix. It made a fireball but most went up.

[@dolphincliffs8864]

Whoops,did this last winter with the same containers,gasoline and suspended two two inch mortars close to the fuel,fuse running out and away and carefully duct taped to mitigate any fumes from the fuel. Kind of fun.

[@christophercollins868]

Me: *Filling out paperwork to be able to purchase and use detcord* Paperwork: "Occupation" Me: "Amateur Woodworker"

[@RectionHG]

Lol... Ground hog remover 😂😂

[@jlambuth]

Hola brochachos! We totally released this video out of sequence as it was filmed a while ago. You may notice the absence of the MOAP crater. We had to chop it down as the original video was like 32 mins as I talked way too much.

[@LesNewell]

Talking to much about explosives? not possible! Bring on the long videos...

[@williamtiebout4142]

Keep up the demonstrations. Jake, you're getting better at talking on camera! 👏

[@richardzimmerman3043]

When I got out of high school in 1972I worked on a forest fire crew. We started slash burns on clear cuts to clean the area. They used detcord and jelled gasoline . Really amazing watching 100 acres of logged area go up in flames instantly.

[@markserpa9066]

Let the rabbits 🐇 wear glasses.

[@badbilly60]

im a retired underground miner,i really enjoyed timing a round using different types of explosives,old hard stick powder in the 60s, usingfus we lit and metal det wire,to the slurry or prill they use now.fun times

[@aaronwilcox6417]

Had the same occupation. Your work had you working with more spitter cord det cord and various explosives than all these so-called experts. Blasting solid rock and timing it correctly is something you need to get right. I've worked with a lot of "ex military" types who were supposed to have experience with explosives and the weren't versed at all.

[@sameigen7110]

Current underground miner in Idaho’s silver valley. We use detcord and Nonel detonators everyday to shoot our rounds. Lots of fun.

[@badbilly60]

@@sameigen7110 I was born and raised in wallace.worked at the star-hecla mine straight out of highschool 1969

[@sameigen7110]

@@badbilly60 thats awesome! You probably know scotty campbell then haha. I work at the lucky friday now!

[@badbilly60]

@@sameigen7110 excellent,I don't remember a Scottie Campbell,I finished my career in the NV mines in Elko NV

[@Beyondthepress]

Detcord is also good on looking cool on high speed video clips :D Usually best when mixed with nonel tubes.

[@drewc5576]

Nice to see you here, I just watched your shape charge vs paper video.

[@John-nw8uj]

Major Styles, senior ATO in Belfast 1970s, tells in his autobiography how he found a improvised explosive device, but on checking found the detcord was Washing line. An infantry patrol found a washing line held up by a length of Detcord. John

[@felixthecat265]

That sounds like one of George's shaggy dog stories!

[@tacticalmatt431]

The coolest thing I've seen with detcord was about twenty wraps around a metal street light pole. The pole survived, but went from about 6" in diameter to about 2" from the compression.

[@Backroad_Junkie]

Isn't that somewhat how a nuc is detonated? Been a while since I've read Sum Of All Fears, lol...

[@genejeffries2888]

@@Backroad_Junkie same very basic theory. If you are talking implosion type nuke, or you can just slam one chunk of suitable material into a larger chunk of material of a very specific mass or greater with sufficient force and get a pretty nice boom.

[@topsecret1837]

@@genejeffries2888 Well most nukes today still run on the implosion basis. It’s considered to be cleaner and a more reliable means of causing the plutonium core to go supercritical through compressing it from a slightly below critical mass, whereas the gun type just needs the mass to arithmetically exceed the amount by combining two separate ones.

[@tylerrivera2126]

Radioactive hydrogen uses implosion

[@TonyGarrett-p1c]

I have a dream about a remake of the movie Cool Hand Luke. Except instead of taking a pipe cutter to the parking meters, our hero would use det cord......🙂

[@551taylor]

If you lay 3 strands in a pyramid, but only attach the det to the apex cord, you have yourself a shaped charge. If you then wrap it once around a target, base towards the target with a small standoff, you get a cutting charge similar to CLC. It will also open zippered bags! For a stronger charge use 6 strands. Other things to note is not to cross detcord over other detcord lines as it can cut without propagating, and always have the detonation direction go one way into branch lines as reversed lines may not propagate. (Bit like a train crossing points.)

[@3isr3g3n]

My dad always told me how rad that stuff was and how they used it to fell trees when he did his service. Awesome to see a dedicated video, cheers!

[@A3Kr0n]

I still can't understand why det cord isn't a standard hardware store item. It's so useful in so many applications. Imagine the sounds each spring when your neighbors are pruning their trees with explosives. I'm comment #34. What did I win?

[@Louzahsol]

Because the AFT says so

[@Kmurray9244]

@@Louzahsol literally the only valid answer 👍

[@marvindebot3264]

I think you just answered that one for yourself. Explosives were a hardware store item when folks still had brains.

[@timesthree5757]

@@marvindebot3264 dude folks weren't that smart back then either. People just understood personal choice.

[@simonbach3618]

@@Louzahsol Isent that ATF?

[@mssedmebich1621]

While cleaning up around our Army Reserve training area I found a wooden ammo box with a couple hundred feet of Det cord. I marked the box and put it in a safe place for the Supply SGT to bring it over to Ft. McCoy Wisc. and get rid of it. About an hour later a fellow soldier (also a 55B) told me that the captain and the supply SGT had decided that instead of driving the stuff all the way to Ft. McCoy they would just burn it off in the parking lot. I found them in the lot holding up the spool of cord and trying to light it with a Bic Lighter. I yelled at them (from a safe distance) that what they were doing was not a great idea. After a minute or two of explaining to them what the Det Cord would do if they somehow managed to light it they finally decided to give up and take it to McCoy for safe disposal. Luckily for both of them Det Cord is pretty much idiot proof.

[@Naltddesha]

When I worked on an oil well perforating truck about ten years ago, I would scare off anyone sitting in the cab at any given time by casually sticking a cigarette sized piece of def cord in my mouth, and lighting it up with a Bic lighter. It was a scary prank, even for me.

[@howardschlereth9368]

🙀

[@551taylor]

As a detcord specialist, I had one occasion where I set off a few metres of cord on the top of a hill with 10/10ths low cloudbase, and I created a musical tone that travelled down the valley and echoed back. It was beautiful, but I never repeated it in 10 years of ops… Perhaps someone else may be able to do it?

[@glennbrymer4065]

A det cord specialist??? You got me with that one. I've heard a few names given people who use explosives. But that is a new one to me.

[@patrickbarrett5650]

“Explosion echoed back” … maybe they were firing back at you?

[@paulmanson253]

Unusual stuff like that has been remarked on since the US Civil War. I think the term was explosive shadow. Cloud,angles,bluffs,plenty else. People would hear nothing relatively nearby,but if the angles were just so,others would hear miles away. A long time ago,I remember a signal cannon fired off at the Halifax citadel,and the reverberations off the warship hulls in the harbour plus the walls of the citadel echoed back and forth for some time. I doubt they still use that much black powder these days,if at all. Low cloud is famous for producing odd effects. I recall a Voodoo going supersonic,I think Winnipeg,and there were a whole bunch of broken window claims because of just that.

[@pawpawtx]

Temperature Inversion .......

[@issholland]

Its called an echo. Happens on top of hills all the time.

[@cripplegunsmith1]

One of my biggest disappointments in life was the hand granade range in basic training. Here, I'm thinking something akin to a mini nuke...nope! Those 80's action movies lied to us!!!

[@QargZer]

Most practical explosions in movies are detcord and for big fireballs they use a mix of gasoline/diesel. If course some are CGI

[@Thalatash]

Same here. My dad (also a vet) told me that real grenades don't explode like the movies but damn was that little puff a let down. I think the Claymores were even worse because we had to be so far away.

[@QargZer]

@@Thalatash depends on the type of grenade. Most grenades used depend on the shrapnel to kill so they have less explosive. But some grenades do have pretty big explosions.

[@operator8014]

Oh, I found the grenade range to be better than I expected. I've used dynamite before, as I grew up next to a poorly regulated open pit mine, so I was expecting the grenade to be like a small stick of dynamite. It was a bit smaller, but MUCH sharper. More of a slap than a punch. Way cooler than I expected.

[@rockystewart3297]

Maybe they are using new and improved "woke" hand grenades these days (don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, now do we?) but the grenades we used back in 1969 (Benning: A-10-1, Sand Hill) were VERY impressive. They marched us to the range and as we neared, we thought it was mortar fire, not grenades. I threw many grenades and can assure you that even though it wasn't "Hollywood", none of those on the receiving end had any complaints, not a one.

[@johnsullivan6560]

Used in army to drop tres to create obstacles with a small piece of c4 to kick the cut trunks out to cause the trees to fall where we needed them. Very effective!

[@tomsoki5738]

I recently read a book about grenades that said when they detonate they actually ‘puff up’ before the shell starts to split into the frag chunks, I don’t know how on Earth you would film it but if you do manage to get a really high speed camera that would be epic to look at

[@17hmr243]

utube 1million fps bullet and pipe bo om it dose puff

[@Bowfinger6383]

Old WW2 pineapple grenades use the shell as frag pieces. The M26 uses a tightly coiled spring wire with indentations every 1 inch or so. When detonated ,hundreds of flying needles are sent flying at supersonic speed.

[@robfinch1522]

When testing Barnes Wallis Tallboy and Grand sSam bombs in WW2, high speed film was taken of a static detonation (ie bomb not dropped) and the same effect occurred where the high tensile steel bomb casing inflated like a baloon before bursting.

[@culshie]

I remember back in the seventies the A.T.O.s used "Cordtex", a lot as a can opener on the trunks of suspect vehicles, sometimes a little too much on the rust prone cars of the period, anyone who parked in the wrong place might come back to a pile of scrap metal.

[@quinnbrown6382]

Still a viable tactic. A small uli knot can pop open most doors or trunks if you are trying to stay remote.

[@angrydingus5256]

It would be cool to see a similar variation of where detcord fails vs the right tool for the job and why

[@OrdnanceLab]

We will do more focused videos where we focus on each situation on the best and worse explosive method. Otherwise, this video would have been 1 hour long.

[@rofljohn23]

@@OrdnanceLab … You say this like it would be some kind of issue? :D

[@FishFind3000]

Detcord for tile removal?

[@creepyendy]

@@rofljohn23 1h ordnance lab? Yeah i would like that

[@erichlee3305]

@@FishFind3000 sir idk if that's a good idea to remove tile from the roof but if it works then it works ig

[@bashkillszombies]

The 1000th comment gets to come and work at the ordnance lab for a week? You guys have the best job ever. It's every boys dream job, blowing things up for a limit! Sadly the days of kids blowing stuff up in the back paddock is probably a thing of the past now we all live in abject nanny states, but boy did I have fun on the farm as a kid launching tree stumps! I miss those days. :(

[@thomasbleming7539]

I used detcord in South Vietnam when I served as a pathfinder. My pathfinder detachment had all types of explosives which we used to clear out landing zones for helicopters to bring in troops and supplies.

[@georgerivera9220]

I was a 173rd AIRBORNE BRIGADE LRRP. I carried six sticks of C-4, ~20 feet of det cord, some time fuse, blasting caps, and various detonators. I also carried a stick of C-4 for cooking and heating water for our hot cocoa of the night.

[@Roadglide911]

@@georgerivera9220 the fumes off that burning C4 is toxic.

[@georgerivera9220]

@@Roadglide911 It was what we had to heat water to warm our food. It didn't produce any fumes. The heating tablets were brutal and impossible to use.

[@dwmaddawgs]

Dipping the det cord in flaked magnesium with a binder should help igniting the fuel with the propane tanks. Should leave sparks in the air to ignite the fuel.

[@TheExplosiveGuy]

They should have just popped a road flare next to it, it works every time.

[@QuantumRift]

I remember years ago a friend of mine who had been in Vietnam related an interesting story. After one battle, his unit had captured a bunch of VC soldiers. Now they didn't have enough personnel to split up and take the prisoners safely back to be processed - it would have been unsafe to do so. SO what they did was sit these VC soldiers down, and then wrapped some Detcord around a couple of trees to show what it could do, and detonated it, and of course the result as that a chunk of the trees just disappeared before they fell over. They then put a couple of loops of Detcord round each prisoner's neck so that there were several dozen prisoners all wire up with Detcord. The demonstration got the point across and two guys were able to get however many VC they had back to base to process them..no incidents.

[@someguy2741]

I had seen a detcord use by putting a straight length of detcord with a piece of steel angle over top. The steel angle acted to focus the explosive to cut steel plate.

[@richardball9724]

thats a shaped cutting charge

[@someguy2741]

@@richardball9724 indeed. But in the spirit of improvised it wasn't the store bought kind with the solid explosive in the angle. It was several loops of detcord and a plain angle over top. It was quite effective... and extremely cheap :)

[@13andsim]

acted more as tamping i believe .... redirected / rebounded some of the "wasted" energy back into work piece. A bag of water is "self forming" and safer to use i believe.

[@davidelzinga9757]

Pretty sure with the 20lb cylinder, that white vapor cloud that quickly disappeared was your propane. I’ve seen it vent on a smaller scale before, looked similar

[@Timothy-lb2vr]

My father was an explosives engineer with Hercules Inc. for 40 years. He specialised in open pit mines. Many of his shots covered areas three times larger than a football field. He used det cord to cut through reinforced concrete smoke stacks hundreds of feet high. I think he told me det cord ignited at a rate of three miles a second ❤.

[@georgerivera9220]

I learned before I could carry C4 and detcord that the combustion expansion rate of C4 and detcord was 37,000 Feet Per Second ÷ 5280 feet per mile = instant, painless fresh.

[@andyd2960]

This reminds me of when I was in the Marines. We took a fire extinguisher and put 2 pounds of TNT under it. Then a buddy of ours had 50 feet of extra det cord, so we put it under the tank too. We're not sure where it went. I honestly can't believe that the range master let us do it.

[@Fixxate]

Making me lean more towards that marine recruiter man

[@andyd2960]

@@Fixxate if you are thinking about joining. My MOS is defunct. I'm not sure where to go if you want to play with explosives except combat engineers. I was 0351. No longer an option.

[@Fixxate]

@@andyd2960 darn

[@Daves_Not_Here_Man_76]

Even the range master wanted to see that fire extinguisher go into orbit

[@andyd2960]

@@Daves_Not_Here_Man_76 I imagine some old general living just off the military base sitting on his back porch and a fire extinguisher lands in his back yard.

[@sski]

That's some handy rope right there. I'm amazed that the propane from the large cylinder didn't ignite but I guess the explosives were just too energetic and dispersed the propane too widely into the air before it could be ignited, or something like that. I see you wear WV merch quite often in your videos. I used to live in Martinsburg for a time back in the 90s, having run a small recording studio at the music store in town, and played a lot of gigs in the area, including a large venue called Honeybear's back in the day. I still have a lot a friends from back then. Nothing like getting up in the morning, stepping out with a smoke and a coffee on the porch, and looking at the beautiful Blue Ridge mountain range. I miss it.

[@georgesakellaropoulos8162]

Either that or the explosive charge blew out the pyrotechnic charge before it could ignite the propane. BTW, I'm from the northern Shenandoah Valley, too.

[@tonyvelasquez6776]

Go back!!!!

[@michaelvangundy226]

The gas has a specific range combined with air that it will burn. Too much or little and nothing, it's a narrow range. But once it gets going it detonates more than burn. Fuel air bombs have a delayed ignitor.

[@ironmonkey1512]

They actually use explosives to extinguish oil well fires

[@georgesakellaropoulos8162]

@@ironmonkey1512 I know who Red Adair is.

[@ryanreynolds3630]

Should've done the old Mythbusters fireball technique, a gallon or two of gas wrapped in det cord lol. Love these videos though, you guys are the best. You always have something cool for us

[@FixitFrank]

You are really getting good on camera Jake! Happy New year to you and the magic rope of boom.

[@jlambuth]

A lot of practice, retakes, and editing.

[@FixitFrank]

@@jlambuth if you want to be modest, I understand but dude, props, for real.

[@jlambuth]

@@FixitFrank no joke, we did a ton of takes. Sean is still much better on camera.

[@FixitFrank]

@@jlambuth I like you both but I identify with you more than Sean on camera. Either way thanks for the booms !

[@coreyhoward4352]

As a West Virginian and a WVU alumni, I love seeing the flying WV being worn. I'm just wondering how each of you have gotten into licensed explosive work.

[@Kawka1122]

Country roads

[@joeanita8654]

They are veterans.

[@mrradio2187]

In 1921 our local hardware store had a 'window display' of the latest dynamite charges in various sizes used for splitting firewood and taking out stumps. I have a copy of the newspaper ad from 100 plus years ago.

[@stephengile530]

When I was learning about Detcord and other explosives in the Military and in civilian sector, I was taught that Detcord doesn't actually explode it just burns so fast (22 thousand feet per second) it seems to explode. We used it in the dive industry to pop propellers off the shaft while the boat is still in the water. Loosen the retaining nut put a couple wraps of Detcord around the shaft with a few wraps of small stuff over it and shoot it, result one loose propeller sitting on the shaft.

[@tandemwings4733]

Both fire and explosion are the result of a chemical reaction. Explosion is the need of that reaction to expand rapidly. Detcord is an explosive.

[@wooddoc5956]

Wow, constantly amazed at what my fellow humans will come up with to solve a problem.

[@felixthecat265]

Nope.. Det cord detonates which is different from burning. Det cord will burn if ignited, but if you hit it with a shockwave it will detonate at around 6km/sec

[@PowderMill]

👍🏻 Thanks for a phenomenal channel. As a former EOD clown 🤡 and curren firefighter/paramedic/ heavy rescue tech …. I enjoy all of your content tremendously!

[@duaneschwartz7780]

In navy nuclearweaponman school (1961) NM. Detcord was demonstrated, the core was PETN (pentaerythritol tetranitrate) at that time believed to burn at 7 miles per sec. It was used to initiate explosives. This video is good at showing the power and extremely rapid burning rate.

[@gertnood]

If you were in weapon school, shouldn't you know the difference between burning and detonation?

[@zach3096]

@@gertnood -🤓

[@philgiglio7922]

Believe it or not, I don't care. But petn is also a heart drug for angina patients

[@veli-mattipatinen203]

I have been told that you should not cross the detcord when wrapping it around something that because the explosion travels through the cord it might cut the cord if it crosses it and the rest won't explode, and I have seen it happen few times when breaching doors with it.

[@jeffsharp2113]

You have never breached a door in your life.

[@veli-mattipatinen203]

@@jeffsharp2113 just in training course. Not in live action

[@jeffsharp2113]

@@veli-mattipatinen203 Been in the military for many years and have never seen a door breached with det cord. Kudos for your training.

[@veli-mattipatinen203]

@@jeffsharp2113 it's a new thing they implemented here in Finland. It has been in use only few years. And it's mostly used inside apartment buildings. We prepare it in advance. We tape detcord in wooden plank and if we need to breach a door inside we just press the plank to the door so detcord is in the middle and use another plank to wedge it there. Then you can blow the door into 2 pieces and storm in.

[@jeffsharp2113]

@@veli-mattipatinen203 Keep watching movies bro.

[@danw7156]

For 10 years I was an Army 12B combat engineer. One demo range we had a drunk Sgt holding the Det-Cord and got it mixed up for Time-Fuse. I looked at it as the Safety NCO and stopped them from blowing themselves up.

[@mokooh3280]

Jesus thats the military i remember lol seabee 3rd battalion

[@barrypurves4524]

As the "medic" for a Canadian EOD (explosives ordinance disposal) training unit my job was a "just in case scenario" so none of this technical know how was a need to know subject. Thank you for a trip down memory lane that explains a lot of what I was watching at the time. )

[@plutonium87]

I really appreciate your channel guys. Explosives and the techniques using them are much interesting but there's really not a whole lot of videos going in to dept about it. Keep up with the good work

[@raphv158]

I remember one staff Sgt. saying "we should do a napalm shot" . We were just doing a ring main some shaped charges, bangalore torpedoes, c4 no biggie. He brought a 5 gallon jug of motor oil. What could go wrong!? Boom, beautiful explosion. We go back a few minutes later to make sure all charges went of, all of the sudden the side of the hill just caught on fire. Everyone took of running and the flames were massive. Days later the side of the mountain was still burning. Got to love old memories 😂

[@NormReitzel]

I would have liked to have seen a demo of det cord delay connectors, and some words about what they are and why one would use them.

[@upholdthesecond92]

Awesome video. When you commented about how dynamite is unstable, that instantly validated that I have a guardian Angel. When I was 12 years old, we had a family friend that was a gold hunter. He called it “dowsing”. Well, he always carried some dynamite in his backpack when we would go gold dowsing in the hills. I just WAS ALWAYS WALKING BEHIND HIM. Anytime he found a hot spot, he would just drop the backpack on the ground and start digging. He never set off a charge when I was with him. I think about it now with this knowledge and think “we could have blown up”. To add to it, we drove around in a van on dirt roads with his tools and backpack bouncing all over in the back of the van. 🤔

[@timm2020]

I have worked in the film and special effects industry for years. Propane is used for fire balls. However the canisters are housed in a safety system called a Propane Popper. Not just blown up in the open like you did.

[@dasy2k1]

All the special effects fireballs I have worked with (live action stuff rather than for film) used some form of naphthalene charge. Big whomp fireball with plenty of orange flame and black smoke, but absolutely stinks of mothballs!

[@timm2020]

@@dasy2k1 Yes it is used. Also diesel fuel. But for closer explosions propane poppers are used.

[@jimhenry6844]

I found my favorite channel. I worked with DOE ,Marine EOD, FBI Bomb Squads, shaped charges and explosive suppression technology. Love. The. Channel

[@DeathCubeKX]

I like how the explosive chain shook the ground so hard it disturbed the ash from the burned grass.

[@CharlesLScofieldJr]

Back in 1979 I attended my transition course to become a Chemical, Biological, Nuclear NCO at Edgewood Arsenal. We had the opportunity to go out to the Det Range and set up a Chemical minefield. We used det cord to form a ring main. We used 10 one gallon chemical mines filled with Molases Residium. Each mine had approximately three feet of det cord wired to the bottom of the mine including the ring main. We were fortunate that it had snowed during the night before we went to the range. It really allowed us to see how effective the minefield actually was. We set the minefield up in a rectangle with two rows of five mines. The area in the center when it was detonated you couldn't find an area that wasn't covered with the simulated chemical agent about 1/2 inch apart. The 3 ft pieces of det cord totally blew the 1 gallon cans apart.

[@robgrey6183]

Some years ago at the Jackon Hole Mountiain Resort a noob on the Ski Patrol was told to rope off one of the ski runs and put out some signage. They were doing avalanche control before opening. He grabbed a handy spool of "rope" and got the job done. You guessed it- detcord.

[@markiobook8639]

my brother is a qualified explosives operator in mines. The footage is so awesome, but it has to be felt to be appreciated.

[@alexwieland-ducher8792]

Dear Ordnance Lab. Sorry about this but I got to ask, since you guys played around with molotov cocktails, and they were not as effective as seen in movies would you guys be willing to make a white phosphorus molotov cocktail? The British used something like that in WW2 in their Northover Projectors that they gave to the home guard, specifically they were called the No. 76 Special Incendiary Grenade, and they were specifically designed to take out tanks I believe. I would think that they would be really cool to see for us pyromaniacs ;). Hope you are all doing well and merry christmas, and hope you have a happy new year!

[@Durado545x39]

Isn't white phos against the Geneva convention these days?

[@skrimper]

@@Durado545x39 yes, but what does that have to do with showing it used in a controlled environment?

[@Durado545x39]

@@skrimper what I mean is, I don't think it's legal to manufacture anymore, like regular explosives are

[@K26650]

@@Durado545x39 the Geneva convention applies to wars and armed conflict between nations. That's why you can legally buy and use hollow points as a civilian but would be committing war crimes if you used them as a soldier on the battlefield.

[@alockworkorange7296]

Thats a cool idea man i hope they do it

[@EstorilEm]

This is cool, they’ve been clearing a foundation for a warehouse building next to my work and it required months of blasting… they were able to have some huge charges on the far side of the work site (I’m assuming they’re much more limited next to existing buildings.) I always wondered about the detcord though, one evening we noticed that they left a massive roll of the same stuff you’ve got here, it was behind a fence and pile of dirt so I guess they forgot. I’m assuming that’s supposed to be locked away lol. When they used it, it seemed slower and made a crackling noise, but I’m guessing that’s just because they were running it a few hundred feet. Got some slow motion video of it from my iPhone and you can really see how they staggered all of the charges.

[@EricKremer]

They were probably using multiple charges tied off to the the line main of Detcord making that crackling sound especially if it’s over a long distance. Or it’s a bunch of charges initiated with small increments between them and the crackling is from the blasting caps.

[@jmorrow6913]

I still remember a movie from wildfire crew training, half a century ago. The topic explosive fire line clearing. Seemed like the dropped about a hundred trees, in less time then a chainsaw could tell one tree. The felling was very directional, with all trunks lined up.

[@jeremyfaulk417]

Ensign Bickford years ago made what was called "Fireline". It was either 4 or 7 strands (depending on how much punch was needed) of 200 grain cord that was overbraided and packaged on 100 foot spools specifically for blasting fire breaks rapidly on wildfires.

[@manofaction1807]

You've got me thinking of that old computations test from back in the day... That old test was known to make a hard man humble. Damn, do I miss playing with that stuff!

[@chriscromar9013]

Great episode. I really like the straight informational approach you group has on everything you produce, leaving the political commentary to those who seem to thrive on certain beliefs. Knowledge of the products and processes that you cover is exactly that; knowledge. Ignorant is bliss, only when you don't really need to know something that may be very important. I recall either hearing or reading that in Vietnam it was sometimes a practice when setting up an ambush, our teams would lay detcord in the ditches that were along just about every road in that rainy country. When US forces would fire upon the enemy, it was natural for them to seek cover in the ditch nearby while the attempted to identify the location of those firing upon them, then the US forces would blow the detcord. I didn't know if those stories were true or not. It would seem to me that after a couple of negative experiences, the enemy would catch on and avoid taking cover immediately in a nearby ditch. Also, I didn't know if detcord in a camouflage sheathing was something that might have been issued. Before closing, I had a good friend who passed away a few years back, most likely a result of serious exposure to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam. He was the only survivor in his platoon after a week long attack against them where he was pinned down with his Special Forces buds while they were on a LRP mission, behind enemy lines. He spent a week in a hole with a dead compatriot defending against constant attacks and had to eventually eat rats he could catch. He shared that as a part of his training for his serving in these Special Operations they were trained on how to make explosives and weapons out of common ingredients that we might be able to find at a local market. I don't recall any of the specifics but I think he mentioned things like corn syrup and who knows what else. If you have any time to consider showing something about what he may have been talking about and if they could be effective, it would be interesting to me.

[@ctuck3086]

I love how the ash from the burning video lifts of from the shockwave and makes it look like the fire kicked off again

[@paulfries9633]

Just came across this site. As a retired Aviation Ordnanceman and a newly retired ordnance tester, i am thrilled to see a site like this! Thanks!

[@tyhuffman5447]

Great show. It's amazing how much this is used in Industry and yet only covered with an eye on big explosion. Hopefully this leads to people learning a bit about explosive safety.

[@nursultantulyakbaycats]

only found your channel last week but already watched all the videos, very interesting stuff

[@jlambuth]

Welcome to the circus.

[@earlturner6023]

I get a step, he must get a step

[@nursultantulyakbaycats]

@@jlambuth it's not every day you get some insight in the world of licenced explosive experts, thanks for filming, hope to see more videos in the future

[@jdiluigi]

Just flat out love your vids guys. Its like a stepped up more resposible version of my friends and I in our late teens.

[@chuckfinley3152]

Can you guys do explosively forned spheres or some kind of hydro-explosive metal forming?

[@jean-lucpicard3012]

The balls harden . . . . . . . Fart

[@mckenziekeith7434]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/eZO2Z6WJZdiYq80

[@jimdickey6492]

Detcord survival bracelet for rescue Randy! LOL MEX LUTHOR! Good Vid Jake!

[@burningsporkdeath]

8" heavy wall HDPE pipe (pumping concrete paste) comes out looking just like your steel pipe when wrapped with 300gr. cord if you do not take an effort to wrap it in a pyramid (cross section) to shape the charge, initiating the outer wrap (peak of the pyramid) first. We use it to cut backfill lines in underground mining.

[@rocketman13f51]

We carried det cord in Vietnam in our Lurp Patrols . We originally carried it to daisy chain multiple claymores when setting up ambushes on well used enemy trails. We found it to be too time consuming in trying to rig multiple claymores in different locations. Secondly the det Cord we carried had a clear plastic outer sheath so it showed as a white cord so we had to spend additional time also camouflaging the det cord. We still carried it along with time pencils, TNT and of course C4. All of it was carried in case we found a large cache of ammunition, ordinance or even food cashes. With food cashes we added a willi Peter grenade to contaminate the food/rice. Multiple teams also used det cord to cut down trees to make an emergency LZ to get extracted while under enemy fire. In a situation like that the teams would use a claymore as the kicker charge. I the-rear we used det cord to cut 55 gallon drums in half to be used in our latrines/ shitters. I don’t know what grain we were using for the det cord but two concentric wraps of det cord would cleanly cut the barrel in half. If you used more then two raps it would actually curl the tops of the two half’s where they were cut! Also C4 and probably det chord when it is burning becomes unstable and if you stomp it or put excessive pressure on it will explode without an a cap or other accelerator!

[@FirstDagger]

TIL that the term Willi Pete comes from the WW2 phonetic alphabet as William Peter for WP.

[@mac_store_usa]

@@FirstDagger I think it refers to "white phosphorus" ie. WP

[@FirstDagger]

@@mac_store_usa ; And they are commonly called Willi Pete for the reasons I described.

[@jcims]

I feel like I could spend an entire year finding fun things to do with detcord.

[@thehat4244]

I'm quite sure a year would be my minimum!

[@wooddoc5956]

@@thehat4244 Trouble is, nowadays you'd probably spend the next year in prison.

[@bobbybabsonjr787]

I worked on a blasting barge blasting granite for deepening a river, and we used the plastic sleeved cord, it was really thin think it was called Detaline for the delays in the booster charges, before we added the liquid explosive.

[@nilnull5457]

I think the last one failed due to that emulsion explosive charge's shockwave putting out any chance of flame. Its just a hypothesis.

[@nehorlavazapalka]

Correct. It's also the reason for why the post-explosion gases of explosives don't burn even though they are hot and very flammable. The negative phase of shockwave is quite low pressure = no air for it to burn.

[@mfree80286]

I was thinking it's closer to not having any propane within it's stochiometric limits during the time when any part of the system was above the autoignition temp. Basically too much fuel, too fast.

[@jlambuth]

That and the pyro charge wasn't big enough. We used a small one that we use gasoline based fireballs. For propane, more ignition is needed.

[@dougpoulton5544]

No hypothesis, that's exactly what happened. A 5.56 bullet through a liter plastic bottle of gasoline taped to a half pound of tannerite in front of a lit road flare makes a really nice bang and fireball.

[@markfergerson2145]

@@jlambuth Would it have helped to have the pyro charge on top of the canister instead of below it? That would have gotten the pyro charge's flame closer to the propane vapor cloud.

[@bryankirk3567]

I was a Sapper/Combat Engineer in the Rhodesian bush war. Good fun blowing things up!

[@zachbrenner9959]

I'm pretty sure Hollywood fire balls usually use gasoline. It would be interesting to see detchord set off some gas cans

[@Slowly_Going_Mad]

Mythbusters used plastic bottles filled with gasoline wrapped in detcord. Probably more effective than trying to do that with propane.

[@kb6lcw99]

How about talking about how explosives may not propagate between items. Like how you spoke about detcord whipping off another charge, or a det cord cutoff when two lines are close together or crosses. I always have to remind breachers how this can happen, when building a charge. You spoke so well about it and showing how things don’t always detonate. (Not that you did not cover it well to me.) but I do like how things may not detonate between things most people think “will always blow up”. You all are sharing good info and it is entertaining! Fire in the hole...

[@matthewsmith4599]

Oh and can you talk about the " slap charge"? Since you got out the details cord ... could you show us how it works and what it's used for. And what it's good for? I know the " slap charge" has been hailed as a glorious end all he all for the door kickers but is it really?

[@PacoOtis]

In Vietnam we got to see the explosive folks manage their wares and it was always interesting. I was a helicopter pilot and we used composition C to warm our meals and never thought much of it. Thanks for sharing and the very best of luck!

[@CompShooter54]

Great video. I have a question. You talk about one explosive being less expensive than another, but you never mention the actual cost. How about a letting us know the cost of each of the stuff you used in this video. Is det cord sold by the foot or spool? How much per foot? It would be interesting to know. Keep up the great videos.

[@joshuagibson2520]

Yes

[@thomasdowe5274]

During instruction in Explosives and Demolitions during Officer Candidate School at Ft. Benning, Georgia, our class had to go to the range early and while it was still dark before Sunrise. Arriving at the range, we were settled into the covered bleachers, at about 5 AM, and waited for about 20 minutes for the instruction to begin. Of course, everyone was tired and the long wait had quite a few people dropping off to sleep. I was watching the lectern set up in front of the bleachers when someone approached it, and said, "Attention!" At that same time, a large patten of det cord in an outside square and a cross pattern from corner to corner was exploded, about fifteen to twenty yards in front of the bleachers! *Everyone* was awake and alert for the Lecture, and it took about 5 minutes for the flash pattern to leave my eyes since I was looking right at it when it went off :)

[@twiggy27111976]

You guys should do a collaboration with the slow mo guys. It’d be awesome 😎

[@ThatTieDyeGuy]

as to the big tank, I think your issue was timing to various explosives to get what you are after. Like start with a thermite charge small enough to need a few extra seconds to cook off instead of the cracker charges; the as the thermite burns holes in the top, the det cord goes off compressing the tank, then your final pyro charge a second or so later. Kind Rube Goldberg but watching things blow up was a childhood love of mine. Great vid.

[@manofaction1807]

Your top charge on that bigger propane tank blew out the initiation before the fire got going. It didn't combust because of it. Next time, put one charge on to about 3 ft to the side, depending on the volume of propane. The det chord should have been enough to cut the tank, and the pyro would have lit the cloud up. Hope that helps.

[@Barry_Allen-o9g]

You guys are doing every bad idea man has had with his friends, but has never had the balls to do. God damn, I love you guys!!!

[@therealCG62]

"explosive rope" is how my girlfriend usually describes our nightly routine.

[@francisconti9085]

Haha..better than fizzle drizzle!

[@philippetays4263]

back on the farm in the 80s before the silly restrictions we used it when blasting rocks and beaver dams, saves a lot of detonators , we also used to make our own anfo, 2 litre pop bottles were a nice handy size.

[@andresaofelipe]

If I had to guess, I would say the larger propane tank didn't make a fireball because the liquid propane rapidly decompressing is extremely endothermic, which probably made it difficult to ignite

[@paulgee-i7j]

More likely the initial gas/air concentration immediately after rupture was not conducive to ignition, by the time it was , the explosion had dissipated. You can have gas coming out of a jet such as a bunsen with the vent closed ,and when you put a lit match in the flow the match just gets extinguished

[@InssiAjaton]

I have some memory of an interesting test where we ended up using detcord. The high voltage powere lines were suspected of having some nasty behavior when there was freezing rain accumulating on the steel/aluminum ropes and then eventually dropping off. Somebody had a worst case ice load number and we were trying to figure out how to simulate the ice drop effect, when it actually was a warm fall time. So we ended up having a steel/aluminum rope tensioned between two poles and hung a number of "S" shaped hooks from the rope and weights matching the expected ice load. But to make it possible to rapidly drop the weights we actually routed a detcord on the lower hook of each hanger. Then we had a second set of hanger hooks on the detcord and the weights hanging from those hooks. We had movie cameras recording the steel/aluminum rope swing when upon detonation the detcord "disappeared" and the weights dropped down. To minimize the direct effect of the cord detonation to the rope, we had some 4 to 5 ft long upper hangers and the lower hangers just some 2 ft. We got some fast and some standard speed movies that gave the required answers to the steel/aluminum rope behavior at the moment when the "ice load" dropped. As a side note, sound travels along steel at some 5 km (3 miles) per second, so ice dropping is quite instantaneous on the whole lengths from pole to pole, which the detcord propagation speed simulated quite well. There were two concerns that our tests answered. One of course was the wild swing of the rope and possible shorting to the next rope. The other was the propagation of the longitudinal (sound) vibration that was suspected to damage the porcelain insulators on the poles. The first issue determines as a part the required safety distances between the neighboring phases (ropes) and the second issue is generally mitigated by tuned resonators on the ropes next to the insulators. Oh, such memories!

[@davidbaker140]

What would have happened is the det cord would have been placed through the length of the pipe?

[@garrettmillsap]

Always enjoy the content y'all provide. Keep up the great work guys!!

[@hedhunta52]

I'm glad I just spent 20 minutes learning what to do with with boom rope that I will never use lol

[@greglaroche1753]

When I was in the Navy, I went through explosives training. We wrapped TNT with det cord and it cut the TNT in two. After several attempts, we couldn’t get it to go off unless we added some C-4. Twenty years later in Alaska I tried to set off some gelatin and basically the same thing happened. Perhaps the TNT and gelatin were old but we were never able to get it to go off. Just my experiences. I Enjoy your videos. Thanks!

[@jrotcelite]

Little bit too much of a charge on that propane tank. Likely displaced enough oxygen to keep it from igniting.

[@nnamrehck]

Great video. Y'all have the best job on the planet!

[@g0dsgreen]

Neat. You're not going to test how much detcord is needed to open a bottle of champagne for New Years are you? :P

[@tommcfarland5368]

Thanks for your time on these videos

[@hoss3433]

A possible note on the impact resistance. It seems that it's possible that if two exposed ends of it are hit against each other, think two hammers and hitting them together on their faces and their faces being the cross section of the det cords exposed end. An impact like that can set it off if it is a hard impact (from my understanding usually by means of a machine pushing two of the strands together like they are trying to make one so to speak.). On the job (user name) dealt with an incident involving this very thing. Unfortunately a person lost their life and a few others were hurt injuries ranging from severe to light. In general it's pretty safe but impact wise depending on how it is hit can be more dangerous. Anyhow really cool video I will watch a few of your videos and subscribe

[@jeremyfaulk5963]

I really would advise against that hammer thing. I witnessed a pop that sounded like a .22 cal rifle had been fired from a few little bits of powder trapped in the threads of a bolt. When we went to loosen them (after we had decontaminated the best we could) pop!!!

[@jeremyfaulk5963]

I agree with you 100% on the hammer impact. Watching that made me cringe 😬!!!

[@hydroaxop73]

When I worked at a sandstone quarry we used det cord to break refrigerator size sandstone blocks out thanks for this informative video i learned more about a tool I used once before

[@alfepalfe]

My gandfather told me that when he did military training they would cut down trees like that. If you wanted to cross a barbwire fence and there was a tree next to it you could usually make it fall over the fence with just det cord. But not by wraping it all the way around as you wanted it to fall in a specific directions. (Tho if the tree was bigger you would need a bigger charge.)

[@arpioisme]

I like this kind of expert explanation demonstration, as well as your more experimental exploration videos

[@Isthishandletakentoo]

I’d like to see a video on linear shaped charges.

[@dougwalker4944]

I always get a BANG out of these vids ! LOL! ...i remember me 5 ,6,7? yrs old watching some one use dynamite for stump removal .. Estacada, OR

[@sgtcrabfat]

Saw the use of high explosives to put out well fires, the guy said the explosive use burned off the atmospheric oxygen in the immediate area, could this have ben the case with the large gas canister? ps keep the videos coming!

[@Slowly_Going_Mad]

It's less about it consuming the oxygen and more about the shockwave. As the shockwave propagates it leaves a low pressure area behind it that tends to slow the combustion to a halt not to mention the blast wave tends to out run the flame speed and the extreme turbulence caused by it prevents it from reigniting. In simple terms though it's comparable to blowing out a candle just on a super massive scale.

[@francisconti9085]

@@Slowly_Going_Mad excellent point, anoxic shock front, expanding to a certain distance, low pressure behind the shock wave as it passes through the radius of that expansion front into surrounding "clean" atmosphere..the explosive would burn first(more rapidly than the propane) then backside of shockwave would "pull" liquid propane into gas & cause substantial cooling, further inhibiting a desired fireball..🤔 I gotta sort this all out, I have ideas, & ORDINANCE LAB TO DEMONSTRATE, THAT WAS STILL A "HOUSE-GUEST!" LOL

[@Slowly_Going_Mad]

@@francisconti9085 The flip side to this is if the fuel air mix is spot on and not all ready burning you end up with shock amplification as in fuel air explosives.

[@francisconti9085]

@@Slowly_Going_Mad I was thinking that too..timing of energy, shock, continued boosting energy if times right .. like thermobaric explosions..

[@Slowly_Going_Mad]

@@francisconti9085 Exactly. It's all about the initial conditions.

[@wallacefrey6247]

I love watching things go boom, and you guys are good at it.

[@HarshmanHills]

Can you do a WW2 style sticky bomb?

[@mtkoslowski]

One ounce of C4 inside a jelly donut.

[@scottydouglass1892]

I like watching your videos as my son is in tech school now learning all this stuff. As a retired crew chief, (me) he wanted nothing to do with jets.