John and Walt, First, John, I don't currently have any blasting needs so no photo-ops. In Oklahoma the lisc is controlled by the the state mines beureaucrats. A few years ago (4-5) there was a fast track application and the conventional application. Getting the permit was no more difficult than getting a concealed carry permit, probably less restrictive as to get the carry you can't be a spouse abuser or a bunch of other things. Maybe I should compare it to getting an applicators permit for ag sprays. Just a hoop to jump through. I guess it is reasonable to track who buys quantities of explosives so after the fact the Tim McVays (SP?) of the world can be tracked down.
I live in a fairly rural area. I am on 160 acres as is my neighbor to the south. To the west is a few hundred acres of pasture and to the north there are 4 houses in a mile of highway (E-W.) We are a mile to a mile and a half of a town of 400, 6 miles to another town of that size, and 12 miles to one of 1000. We are about 25-30 miles to a Wal-Mart in any of three directioins (W, S, or N) Things get more rural to the east. Blasting here is not a big hassle with neighbors since there is nothing that needs blasting near my 1/2 mile of highway frontage or the 1/2 mile of graveled sectioin line frontage. IF I did blast near the hiighway frontage, I'd have to not toss debris onto the state highway and disturb the occasional motorist.
As to "communicating" the blast over a continuous rock ledge... There are different "speeds" of explosives. Speed does not neccessarily follow a simple relationship with power. You can have a powerful slow explosion or a fast but not powerful one. Any combinatiion is available. In demolition work they use a fast explosive to cut steel girders and I-beams or to cut/shatter concrete beams.
If you use a really fast explosive in a "cord" form (Prima Cord) some of which burns at 22,000 ft per sec you can shatter a rock with proper placement but not toss much debris or telegraph a lot of noise through a rock shelf. Suprisingly some of the fastest explosives are not even near the loudest.
When I was in highschool we used to make some of our own explosives but some of the ingredients are now hardeer to get thanks to the terrorists and the fear factor. Even on TV the MYTH BUSTERS 'FUZZ OUT" the labels on some of the stuff they use. When I was in grade school all yo had to do was open up the encyclopedia (Britanica, Americana, or whatever) and you could learn the process of making gun cotton (nitro-cellulose), nitro glycerine, gun powder (black or smokeless) and lots of other neat stuff in pyrotechnics. I used to make some of my own fireworks.
Anyway if you have only a small number of opportunities and have alternate means at hand and neighbors are too close, maybe blasting is not for you. Although yo are missing out on a lot of fun.
Pat
