Lighter pine in gunpowder
John O. Stambaugh
In my area of SE Florida there is a business dealing in lighter pine. This
is a piece of pine tree that is saturated with pine sap. I was told in my
youth (some time ago) that these railway cars loaded with stumps and logs
of lighter pine were headed to a factory to make gunpowder or dynamite.
The subject came up with another native WBP'er and he was told the same
thing. Could some of the more knowing let us two dumb southerners in on
the facts.
John O. Stambaugh <j...@gate.net>
Lantana, Florida USA
Arne Carlsten
John O. Stambaugh <j...@gate.net> wrote:
: In my area of SE Florida there is a business dealing in lighter pine. This
: is a piece of pine tree that is saturated with pine sap. I was told in my
: youth (some time ago) that these railway cars loaded with stumps and logs
: of lighter pine were headed to a factory to make gunpowder or dynamite.
: The subject came up with another native WBP'er and he was told the same
: thing. Could some of the more knowing let us two dumb southerners in on
: the facts.
Well, wood pulp _has_ been used as a source of cellulose for making
nitrocellulose to be used in producing smokeless propellants. But being
saturated with resin (they called it "pine heart" when I lived in
Tallahassee) would interfere with the production process. I'd be more
inclined to think that it was headed off to make turpentine or pine tar.
Though come to think of it, there may be/have been a process for making
explosives from pine tar... Or is it coal tar I'm thinking of?
--
Arne Gustav Carlsten
Flagstaff, Arizona
Chomh da/na le muc...
Robin Mallon
John O. Stambaugh wrote:
#
# In my area of SE Florida there is a business dealing in lighter pine. This
# is a piece of pine tree that is saturated with pine sap. I was told in my
# youth (some time ago) that these railway cars loaded with stumps and logs
# of lighter pine were headed to a factory to make gunpowder or dynamite.
# The subject came up with another native WBP'er and he was told the same
# thing. Could some of the more knowing let us two dumb southerners in on
# the facts.
#
# John O. Stambaugh <j...@gate.net>
# Lantana, Florida USA
Cellulous my friend. When you mix nitroglycerin with cellulous you get
nitrocellulous DBA gunpowder.
The quality of powder has suffered recently since many of these trees
have been ground up with tree-hugers still attached. We also understand
Klinton will placing a 5 day wait on pine trees and banning those with
10 seed pinecones.
Robin
Don Staples
In article <502m10$g...@xring.cs.umd.edu> Robin Mallon <uni...@flash.net> writes:
#From: Robin Mallon <uni...@flash.net>
#Subject: Re: Lighter pine in gunpowder
#Date: 28 Aug 1996 19:50:56 -0400
#John O. Stambaugh wrote:
##
## In my area of SE Florida there is a business dealing in lighter pine. This
## is a piece of pine tree that is saturated with pine sap. I was told in my
## youth (some time ago) that these railway cars loaded with stumps and logs
## of lighter pine were headed to a factory to make gunpowder or dynamite.
## The subject came up with another native WBP'er and he was told the same
## thing. Could some of the more knowing let us two dumb southerners in on
## the facts.
##
## John O. Stambaugh <j...@gate.net>
## Lantana, Florida USA
# Cellulous my friend. When you mix nitroglycerin with cellulous you get
#nitrocellulous DBA gunpowder.
# The quality of powder has suffered recently since many of these trees
#have been ground up with tree-hugers still attached. We also understand
#Klinton will placing a 5 day wait on pine trees and banning those with
#10 seed pinecones.
#Robin
Uh, o.k., but the stumps and logs were processed for the turpines, some of
which produced tolulene, as in tri-nitro-tolulene. But then, I could be wrong
on that.
Don Staples
In article <502gt6$f...@xring.cs.umd.edu> k...@acpub.duke.edu (Strayhorn) writes:
#From: k...@acpub.duke.edu (Strayhorn)
#Subject: Re: Lighter pine in gunpowder
Take offence to the commentary that there is not 1,000,000 men left in this
country that can find their way out of a ten acre wood. the good old boys of
east Texas have been finding their way out of the woods for a good number of
years. And we are more than a million strong. Hell, we got that many loggers!
My 2 cents worth, an east Texas Forester.
#Strayhorn
#Not Duke policy, etc.
#There's not a million men left in this country who could find
#their way out of a ten-acre woodlot. - Harry Crews
Jeff
Robin Mallon <uni...@flash.net> wrote:
#John O. Stambaugh wrote:
##
## In my area of SE Florida there is a business dealing in lighter pine. This
## is a piece of pine tree that is saturated with pine sap. I was told in my
## youth (some time ago) that these railway cars loaded with stumps and logs
## of lighter pine were headed to a factory to make gunpowder or dynamite.
## The subject came up with another native WBP'er and he was told the same
## thing. Could some of the more knowing let us two dumb southerners in on
## the facts.
##
## John O. Stambaugh <j...@gate.net>
## Lantana, Florida USA
# Cellulous my friend. When you mix nitroglycerin with cellulous you get
#nitrocellulous DBA gunpowder.
# The quality of powder has suffered recently since many of these trees
#have been ground up with tree-hugers still attached. We also understand
#Klinton will placing a 5 day wait on pine trees and banning those with
#10 seed pinecones.
Your chemistry is a little off. Nitroglycerin is made by nitrating
glycerin, and nitrocellulose is made by nitrating cellulose, which is
available in any plant material. Smokeless powder is made from
nitrating wood. Nitrocellulose is a single base powder, while
combining nitroglycerin and nitrocellulose is a double-base powder.
Combining nitroglycerin and non-nitrated cellulose (such as raw wood
pulp) gives you Dynamite®, a more stable method of using
nitroglycerin.
Many other substances can be nitrated to produce explosives, such as
sugars and starches. Glycerine is an animal byproduct of soap
manufacturing. So the only real problem with grinding up tree huggers
is the bone content, and balancing the % of nitrocellulose from the
tree with the nitroglycerine from the animal fat. Obviously, it's
better to separate them first. (I assume they wear all-cotton
clothing, which can likewise be nitrated to produce guncotton.)
Yes, friends, smokeless propellants are a natural product, and also
make an excellent fertilizer! If you pull apart some bad loads and
don't want to save the powder, or have an insufficient remainder in a
powder can, put it on your houseplants.
Jeff/addesign