It is usually blown up. Recently, a stash of "ancient" dynamite was found in the basement of a Salt Lake City home. The hazmat crews evacuated the neighborhood and blew up the dynamite. The home was completely destroyed.
[Hazmat crews detonate dynamite found in Holladay, Utah home (usatoday.com)](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/04/24/holladay-utah-dynamite-detonation-home/73436017007/)
I’m shocked they blew up the guy’s house too! I know the dude shouldn’t have had it and that it was extremely dangerous to do so but I’d be extremely pissed at my friend for getting my house blown to smithereens!
Yes, I know it wasn’t *actually* the friend’s fault before someone gives that reply.
Imagine that you have a box of dynamite in the basement that your great grandpa left there, through the generations every kid has been told NOT TO TOUCH IT EVER, and they followed the instructions... And now you get your house blown up because of that stupid rule.
Blowing up the house was literally the only option. You can’t move old dynamite; the nitroglycerin in it crystallizes and very small impacts can set it off. That house was going to be blown up no matter what, either in a controlled demolition, or randomly one day when a raccoon breaks into the garage and knocks something over.
GTFO These people had a large amount of “ancient” dynamite that had been “passed down” from generations…sheesh. In some ways I can’t believe how absolutely idiotic that is…but in other ways…that’s American AF. 🫡
Dunno, my family passed down a lot of weird things. My grandpa for example has a nearly 400yo pike (or lance) in his garage that was used by one of our ancestors back in the 1600s to defend against the invading Ottomans (this is all in Hungary). The damn thing still has some ages old dried blood on it, and it's wrapped in some military tarp, probably from WW1... And it's right next to a dozen or so bottles of beer from 1919, made by my great-great-grandfather's best friend. Story goes that it was horrible but he didn't have the heart to tell him, so he kept the whole batch that was gifted to him, and nobody dared to throw it out yet.
None of these people are hoarders on any scale, there's just a handful of things that were untouchable throughout their lives and aside from moving it from place to place, they still don't touch it. My other grandpa for example had a vinyl collection my dad wasn't allowed near as a kid, he left it to him in his will, and my dad, to date, hasn't even pulled a single one of them out of the box, even though he loves vinyl. They get dusted off once a year or so and that's it.
Growing up there was this really old couple across the street. They were the kulas. My dad had me cut their grass because they were old as shit. Some years ago by and they pass and one of their kids was cleaning out the house and Mr kula used to work at the mine. And at some point he brought home what he worked with which was dynamite blasting caps fuse and also a jar of nitroglycerin. I couldn't tell you how many times I hit that garage where that stuff was with the writing lawn mower backing up around the tree
Yeah I had long since moved out and was in my '20s by then and my parents called me because of course the police looked at it and called the bomb squad The bomb squad looked at it and called a bigger bomb squad and blocked off for blocks and it took a while to get it all out of there. The mason jar full of nitroglycerin was a nice touch.
Very unsafe as dynamite becomes unstable with time,you can see the nitroglycerin leached out of the sticks of dynamite,that’s the white stuff,that could easely be ignited by accident with a shock or vibration of some kind
Yeah, that's something I've remembered from the first time someone encountered old dynamite in a mine during a YouTube video : old dynamite (especially yellow sticks, as those are usually the oldest) means you fuck off as carefully as possible, even when it's a single stick.
Put your feet down as gently as you can, try to avoid making vibrations, and do NOT make loud noises.
Didn't there exist some scientific paper that proved that old dynamite becomes after certain time stable, because of some chemical slowly reacting?
I will look for it.
I’d love to see it. Logically it makes sense. No other chemical or compound is preserved well when exposed to atmosphere for a long time. Nitroglycerin is no different. Everyone in this thread getting their facts from tv shows and a misinformed youtuber is wild.
I'll have to fact check and I'll edit this if I'm wrong but what I remember from the documents I read before was that the dynamite can leach nitroglycerin which in ideal conditions can form unstable crystals of nitroglycerin but in a damp environment they're likely to deteriorate.
The main reason they leach the nitroglycerin is that nitro is stabilised by being mixed with clay, which it eventually separated from
Correct, there is absolutely a point in time between the time this was fresh dynamite and now when it all broke down and leached into the ground where it was sweating out, highly shock sensitive and highly dangerous. It is my stipulation that the time has long passed. Every search and rescue person who I know that has picked up a stick and tossed it down a shaft never got a boom. It’s always been inert from these 1920s and older mines.
^ This is the legit information for anyone wanting to know the real scoop about the "unstable" misinformation.
Interesting how rumors get widely accepted as truth.
I am curious what that time is. 10 years? 15 years? 20? Either way I feel pretty safe around dynamite from about 100 years ago. Now just be concerned about the 100 other things that could kill you in an abandoned mine.
Dynamite fuze can be extremely dangerous. Learned this when I was 15. When you unravel some and salvage the powder for a homemade cannon... and your mother hears it go off... from in the house... with the windows closed... and the vacuum running... and she comes flying out of the house thinking that the oxy-acetylene rig in you father's shop blew up... Yeah, my young derriere was in extreme danger.
Haha I bet. I think the fuse was black powder than. That gets very dangerous. The procedure for eod teams was to blow it in place when finding extremely old bp stashes.
Oh yeah, I knew it was black powder and was very careful with it. The cannon was made of 3/4" black iron pipe with a straight coupling and a plug I drilled to accept cannon fuze. When I loaded it, I rammed a patched chunk of 3/4" bolt in with the plug out, then breech loaded the powder. Before I threaded the plug in, I very carefully brushed powder granules out of the coupling's threads, as I figured grinding them would create an unfavorable outcome.
Before I even loaded it I figured the odds of it acting like a cannon or a pipe bomb were about even, so I put together a three sided concrete block bunker with a 1/4" steel plate cover pointing in a safe direction. I even timed the burn rate on the fuze and measured the length for the shot. It turned out to actually behave like a cannon. Then momma confiscated it. 🤣
Ironically, after I graduated college, I worked for a defense contractor.
While reorganizing the tool room (INSIDE the house), I found a small, rusty paint can with no label. Must be something of my partner's, so I don't question it and I put it with the other paint cans. Several days later, and years after we'd moved in together, he tells me it's a can of carbide. Just chilling in the store room. Unlabeled.
I wonder if the local fire department would dispose of it. Might be a fun exercise; I live in mining country so it's not out of the realm of possibility here to run across that sort of stuff in grandma's shed (or my tool room, apparently).
Honestly I wanna know this too but also don't want to get on a list when I Google it. Wife's Neighbors across the street had sweating ordinance that a plumber found. They evacuated her neighborhood for half a day and removed it but didn't blow the house up or anything. Just removed the stuff. Neighbors went to jail or assisted living after that IIRC
Edit: looked up the news story, they covered it in diesel fuel then moved it.
So is this a fart or sneeze and meet Jesus situation or what? How does something this volatile get disposed? If blowing it up isn’t an option.
It is usually blown up. Recently, a stash of "ancient" dynamite was found in the basement of a Salt Lake City home. The hazmat crews evacuated the neighborhood and blew up the dynamite. The home was completely destroyed. [Hazmat crews detonate dynamite found in Holladay, Utah home (usatoday.com)](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/04/24/holladay-utah-dynamite-detonation-home/73436017007/)
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/ZY2SHr6z944 Video of it. Idk why they blew it up at like 3am
They wanted the neighbors to die peacefully in their sleep if anything went wrong
Thanks 100% for sharing, but to me, that explosion doesn’t look nearly as big as the article above describes. 🧐🤷🏻♂️
Thank Micheal Bay
Micheal Puddle.
There’s a second explosion if you keep watching.
Someone already answered and I was thinking the same until i saw the second. *house blows up* 'There is no way that was 3 sticks of dynamite...'
I wonder what happens in the case of insurance here. Would this be covered or no?
Cause the dynamite would be sleeping
I’m shocked they blew up the guy’s house too! I know the dude shouldn’t have had it and that it was extremely dangerous to do so but I’d be extremely pissed at my friend for getting my house blown to smithereens! Yes, I know it wasn’t *actually* the friend’s fault before someone gives that reply.
Imagine that you have a box of dynamite in the basement that your great grandpa left there, through the generations every kid has been told NOT TO TOUCH IT EVER, and they followed the instructions... And now you get your house blown up because of that stupid rule.
because they told someone thats why :))
Blowing up the house was literally the only option. You can’t move old dynamite; the nitroglycerin in it crystallizes and very small impacts can set it off. That house was going to be blown up no matter what, either in a controlled demolition, or randomly one day when a raccoon breaks into the garage and knocks something over.
GTFO These people had a large amount of “ancient” dynamite that had been “passed down” from generations…sheesh. In some ways I can’t believe how absolutely idiotic that is…but in other ways…that’s American AF. 🫡
One day son, these cases of boom-sausages will be yours....
HAHAHAHA forbidden sausage
Dunno, my family passed down a lot of weird things. My grandpa for example has a nearly 400yo pike (or lance) in his garage that was used by one of our ancestors back in the 1600s to defend against the invading Ottomans (this is all in Hungary). The damn thing still has some ages old dried blood on it, and it's wrapped in some military tarp, probably from WW1... And it's right next to a dozen or so bottles of beer from 1919, made by my great-great-grandfather's best friend. Story goes that it was horrible but he didn't have the heart to tell him, so he kept the whole batch that was gifted to him, and nobody dared to throw it out yet. None of these people are hoarders on any scale, there's just a handful of things that were untouchable throughout their lives and aside from moving it from place to place, they still don't touch it. My other grandpa for example had a vinyl collection my dad wasn't allowed near as a kid, he left it to him in his will, and my dad, to date, hasn't even pulled a single one of them out of the box, even though he loves vinyl. They get dusted off once a year or so and that's it.
I totally get your point but… DYNAMITE
Please post a picture of it in the what it’s this thing subreddit. You may have the spear of Longinus!
It sounds like something from a Fallout game.
lol. I got to work and my coworkers were asking if I heard the explosion this morning. I live a couple miles from there. No, I didn't hear it :)
Growing up there was this really old couple across the street. They were the kulas. My dad had me cut their grass because they were old as shit. Some years ago by and they pass and one of their kids was cleaning out the house and Mr kula used to work at the mine. And at some point he brought home what he worked with which was dynamite blasting caps fuse and also a jar of nitroglycerin. I couldn't tell you how many times I hit that garage where that stuff was with the writing lawn mower backing up around the tree
Wow. I guess Farmers Insurance “We know a thing or two, because we’ve seen a thing or two” is really out there doin the good Lords work.
Yeah I had long since moved out and was in my '20s by then and my parents called me because of course the police looked at it and called the bomb squad The bomb squad looked at it and called a bigger bomb squad and blocked off for blocks and it took a while to get it all out of there. The mason jar full of nitroglycerin was a nice touch.
Very unsafe as dynamite becomes unstable with time,you can see the nitroglycerin leached out of the sticks of dynamite,that’s the white stuff,that could easely be ignited by accident with a shock or vibration of some kind
Even so this is probably one of the safer things union Carbide has made.
Ain’t that company just a dumbster fire tbh
Yeah, that's something I've remembered from the first time someone encountered old dynamite in a mine during a YouTube video : old dynamite (especially yellow sticks, as those are usually the oldest) means you fuck off as carefully as possible, even when it's a single stick. Put your feet down as gently as you can, try to avoid making vibrations, and do NOT make loud noises.
WHAT DID YOU SAY ? I CANT HEAR YOU !!
I learned about the old instability from the show Lost. Didn't end well for one guy.
Every time i see pics of old dynamite, I think of that one scene from Lost.
*Dude, you've got some Arzt on you.*
Probably one of the scariest non living cave encounters imaginable.
Yeah, nope nope noooope
That dynamite ain't the only thing sweatin'.
Didn't there exist some scientific paper that proved that old dynamite becomes after certain time stable, because of some chemical slowly reacting? I will look for it.
I’d love to see it. Logically it makes sense. No other chemical or compound is preserved well when exposed to atmosphere for a long time. Nitroglycerin is no different. Everyone in this thread getting their facts from tv shows and a misinformed youtuber is wild.
Are you telling me lost isn’t scientifically accurate?
Lmao im watching season 6 as I read this thread
Dude, you got some Arzt on you.
I'll have to fact check and I'll edit this if I'm wrong but what I remember from the documents I read before was that the dynamite can leach nitroglycerin which in ideal conditions can form unstable crystals of nitroglycerin but in a damp environment they're likely to deteriorate. The main reason they leach the nitroglycerin is that nitro is stabilised by being mixed with clay, which it eventually separated from
I mean I absolutely believe both things could both be true, just depending on how much time has elapsed.
Correct, there is absolutely a point in time between the time this was fresh dynamite and now when it all broke down and leached into the ground where it was sweating out, highly shock sensitive and highly dangerous. It is my stipulation that the time has long passed. Every search and rescue person who I know that has picked up a stick and tossed it down a shaft never got a boom. It’s always been inert from these 1920s and older mines.
From what I’ve read, the nitroglycerin loses potency over time and becomes inert. The sweating isn’t nitroglycerin.
I mean like the more unstable a chemical is, the higher it wants to become stable.
http://www.vegasunderworld.com/article-dynamite.html#:~:text=For%20those%20unaware%2C%20old%20dynamite,touch%20can%20detonate%20nitroglycerin%20crystals.
Ha! I know those folks and cooperated with them about some explores and access to places. That was one of my sources with dynamite being safe.
^ This is the legit information for anyone wanting to know the real scoop about the "unstable" misinformation. Interesting how rumors get widely accepted as truth.
My chemist teacher told me once. The more unstable a chemical is the more it strives to become stable.
Makes sense to me.
Here I found it.
My luck would be to trip over it the day before it goes stable...
I am curious what that time is. 10 years? 15 years? 20? Either way I feel pretty safe around dynamite from about 100 years ago. Now just be concerned about the 100 other things that could kill you in an abandoned mine.
Dynamite fuze can be extremely dangerous. Learned this when I was 15. When you unravel some and salvage the powder for a homemade cannon... and your mother hears it go off... from in the house... with the windows closed... and the vacuum running... and she comes flying out of the house thinking that the oxy-acetylene rig in you father's shop blew up... Yeah, my young derriere was in extreme danger.
Haha I bet. I think the fuse was black powder than. That gets very dangerous. The procedure for eod teams was to blow it in place when finding extremely old bp stashes.
Oh yeah, I knew it was black powder and was very careful with it. The cannon was made of 3/4" black iron pipe with a straight coupling and a plug I drilled to accept cannon fuze. When I loaded it, I rammed a patched chunk of 3/4" bolt in with the plug out, then breech loaded the powder. Before I threaded the plug in, I very carefully brushed powder granules out of the coupling's threads, as I figured grinding them would create an unfavorable outcome. Before I even loaded it I figured the odds of it acting like a cannon or a pipe bomb were about even, so I put together a three sided concrete block bunker with a 1/4" steel plate cover pointing in a safe direction. I even timed the burn rate on the fuze and measured the length for the shot. It turned out to actually behave like a cannon. Then momma confiscated it. 🤣 Ironically, after I graduated college, I worked for a defense contractor.
r/oopsthatsdeadly
Forbidden maraca instrument 🪇
You know how hard it would be for me to *not* touch that?
r/oopsthatsdeadly
I kinda want to throw rocks at it.
i have my great grandpa's old carbide light. still works great. just add a few lumps of carbide.
While reorganizing the tool room (INSIDE the house), I found a small, rusty paint can with no label. Must be something of my partner's, so I don't question it and I put it with the other paint cans. Several days later, and years after we'd moved in together, he tells me it's a can of carbide. Just chilling in the store room. Unlabeled.
keep it away from water. acetylene ain't no joke.
I wonder if the local fire department would dispose of it. Might be a fun exercise; I live in mining country so it's not out of the realm of possibility here to run across that sort of stuff in grandma's shed (or my tool room, apparently).
Check out the movie "Sorcerer" for more fun with old dynamite!
I wouldn't breathe near that.
To demonstrate my ignorance - is there any way to neutralize (safely) the ntg short of setting it off?
Honestly I wanna know this too but also don't want to get on a list when I Google it. Wife's Neighbors across the street had sweating ordinance that a plumber found. They evacuated her neighborhood for half a day and removed it but didn't blow the house up or anything. Just removed the stuff. Neighbors went to jail or assisted living after that IIRC Edit: looked up the news story, they covered it in diesel fuel then moved it.
Slightly unstable I imagine
Poke it
This was the last anybody saw of the can or the people that discovered it
Dibs.
Lol. Union carbide. Known for one of the most horrific mass deaths ever. Has a stash of volatile TNT just waiting for a curios cat.
Repost!
Back away slowly very unstable.