On Mon, 29 Dec 2003 21:47:49 -0500, Doug Warner
wrote:

Gunner wrote:


I even at times managed to run a modified ditch witch, and tunneled
primacord several feet under the ground. At others times, I strung

Question. When you set it off, did the explosion break the surface of
the ground? If not, did anyone try digging the area to see if it left
an open channel?

Seldom did it actually "trench", though it did tend to burrow a bit. The
cord was threaded down the backside of a vertical vibrating 30" blade,
and it was fed out as the "ditchwitch" crawled along. When a rock that
wouldnt move was encoutered..one simply lifted the blade a bit and
passed over it, then one put the blade back down deep again and
continued chugging along. The thin blade and vibration tended to repack
the soil back around the det cord.

Why? When the plastic water feed line under my yard spring a leak,
the plumbers made a new trench for the copper replacement. They
wouldn't use a pull-through splitter / puller for some reason.

One faster, less disruptive alternative I though of: Thread a string
of primer cord through the old pipe, Cover up the pits at each end
and set it iff. Ideally, it would leave a temporary channel in the
ground big enough to push the new pipe through. Eventually the earth
would settle back around the new pipe.

Depending on soil composition and depth, it could indeed work. One would
have to start big with the grain weight of the det cord. IRRC..we were
using 200gr which is rather powerful. About 5/16" in diameter IRRC.


I've alway wondered if it would leave a usable open channel in the
ground.


Gunner



"Aren't cats Libertarian? They just want to be left alone.
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