A Tool I Had Never Seen

"A great-uncle was quite proficient in using black powder and we always had a can of it on the farm. It was used mostly for blowing stumps and rocks but also for making holes for set or corner posts as well as splitting logs. The splitting was done by drilling a hole in the just the right place and angle. If there weren't 2 halves left after the charge went off, what remained together could be easily finished with a mall and wedge.

Martin"

Okay, I want to know how to blow post holes with black powder.

__________________
Peace,
Caliann

"First, Show me in the Bible where it says you can save someone's soul by annoying the hell out of them." -- Chuck

Corner posts weren't your ordinary half of a 6" white oak sapling but often a whole 8" or 10" log about 8' long. They needed to handle a lot of stress and were set in about half their length. No problem if working in the silt creek bottoms but the shallow soils on top of hardpan and limestone weren't something that could be handled with just a manual post hole digger. One went down as far as that could go and then next was with about a 1½" star drill. A hole was made down through the center as deep as one wanted, filled with powder and fuse, and a few inches of mud packed on top of that. Fuse lit and powder went off. Mud prevented any of the charge from going out of the hole so everything was directed sideways. All one had to do then was remove all of the little bits and set the post. Black powder was a farmer's jackhammer in those days!

Martin

I bet you can get one at Harbor Freight cheaper.....(you put a "firecracker" in it!)

geo