Primacord safety fuse

Beth Heller <bheller [at] ischool__utexas__edu> writes

> .... The Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum director has
>asked me for storage and exhibit recommendations for a 500 foot reel
>of Ensign-Bickford Co. Primacord safety fuses ...

For a brief while I worked with a firm that specialized in
explosives and hazardous materials. Primacord is a detonating (or
exploding) cord that consists of an explosive core of PETN wrapped
in a textile jacket. It is used to link and detonate various
explosives. There is a brief document at

    <URL:http://www.dynonobel.com/NR/rdonlyres/
        984F0ECF-0651-4527-8B45-D70FB639C60B/0/DetonatingCord.pdf>

    **** Moderator's comments: The above URL has been wrapped for
    email. There should be no newline.

that may be of assistance. It specifies that Primacord and similar
materials are to be placarded as "Cord, Detonating 1.1D UN 0065 II"
and that storage is to be in a "cool, dry, well ventilated
magazine." The shelf life of this cord is about 5 years, I believe.

Every state has a bureau that licenses and regulates explosives and
their use. I would check with that agency regarding (1) safety
issues (2) storage, and most importantly (3) licensing to have and
store the item. I'm really not certain that this is the sort of
thing that museums ought to be housing.

Michael Trinkley, Ph.D.
Director
Chicora Foundation, Inc.
PO Box 8664
Columbia, SC  29202
803-787-6910


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 18:12
                  Distributed: Friday, August 13, 2004
                       Message Id: cdl-18-12-005
                                  ***