Stump grinder versus German tank shells.

[treequip]

I'm sure 70 year old shells ain't as dangerous as people like to make out..

 

all the chemicals must of deteriorated in all those years...

 

Its like that peter Kay Joke about the swans, has anyone ever seen a broken arm..

 

Still, fascinating story none the less...

 

I was working in Berlin when the wall came down, the development of the east made ordinance finds a daily occurrence, they had a disposal site near our regular tip off sites and they made it go booooom at least once a week so the gear was still viable.

 

Making those shells do anything would be difficult since they are missing the detonators but if anything could a grinder would be a good choice:laugh1:

 

We found a pile of "88" shells whilst grubbing out a hedge in a village just north if Berlin, the neighbour showed us his collection of "finds" including a panzerfaust. The novelty soon wore off after a couple of sites we were working on got temporary shut downs because of munitions finds. It really was the "wild east" for a while back then.

[matelot]

To be fair to Vespasian I've been to an explosive course where the instructor said that all explosives (apart from dynamite) got safer over time. I personally can't see many explosives having much punch after being buried in soil for 70 years.

[Ty Korrigan]

Tell that to the farmers on the Somme...

 

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[David Cropper]

To be fair to Vespasian I've been to an explosive course where the instructor said that all explosives (apart from dynamite) got safer over time. I personally can't see many explosives having much punch after being buried in soil for 70 years.

Sorry mate, but I have a healthy respect for any explosives, whatever their age.

[eggsarascal]

Knowing nothing about WW2 shells I for one wouldn't have picked them up, that's for sure.

 

I'm not surprised people scattered when you moved them.

[Ty Korrigan]

It was Dave pretending to bowl a 'googly' as he limped down the garden which caused the panic.

Ty

[matelot]

Sorry mate, but I have a healthy respect for any explosives, whatever their age.

 

To be fair how many times have we seen news stories about people/ dogs digging up bombs and they don't blow up?

 

If I found a bomb in my garden I'd treat it with respect as well. However I'd be thinking that after 70 years in a wet environment it probably wouldn't blow up.

[Watercourse management]

Dynamite leaches nitro glycerin,TNT is a totally different explosive,TNT can also leach accelerants,Dave and his stump grinder would be seriously compromised if the shells were still viable.

[Stumpy Grinder]

I've got a rather strange belief that one day I will discover some kind of treasure beneath an old stump! Probably an old oak or yew that once had something buried alongside it or even within an old notch which has subsequently spread over hundreds of years!

So, a year or two ago I was clearing a load of stumps in an old cottage garden on the edge of an old Suffolk airfield (Horham).

The last stump was a smallish cherry tucked behind a shed right on the boundary with limited access. Lots of debris flying around as normal, and then I noticed yellow shards of metal. I pulled the machine out to see yet more yellow metal. Gold! I've struck Gold I thought!

However, closer inspection revealed that I had actually just smashed through some live .50 Cal ammunition which must have been buried there after the war!

Thankfully I'd gone through it sideways and not hit any primers which I'm sure would have gone off as they still looked very preserved and the powder still dry within. After serving 24 years in the army and survived being shot at several times, it would have been somewhat ironic to have shot myself with a stump grinder?!

My search for my pot of gold continues!

SG

[Gary Prentice]

So did you finish the grinding and get paid?