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Railroad rail anvils


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12 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

One of the companies that make thermite *systems* for welding RR rail in the field demo'd their set up at Quad-State one year. Quite a lot of specialized stuff to do it safely and exactly.

For example:

 

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Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center at NM Tech in Socorro NM does a lot of explosive welding---I have a friend who has dishing forms made from HEAVY steel  (5" thick?) with nice divots blipped out of them with C4---I believe.  Fairly common to hear the booms from the test pads when in the neighborhood.

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Don't sweat it Jay, it's crossed about everybody's thoughts at one time or another. Your typical wood fire isn't hot enough to light home brew thermite.

In the more immortally idiotic days of my youth I messed with a bit. On my 1st. batch I didn't know you need to drive the hygroscopic moisture out of it or it turns to steam in a spectacular manner. I used an electric igniter and was far enough away I didn't get any on me. Scared the crap out of me though and it was about a TBSP worth. A sparkler made a decent fuse and potassium P worked nicely but didn't really give me enough time to get clear enough. 

Frosty The Lucky.

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