Exploding rocks

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Das Troll
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Exploding rocks

Post by Das Troll » Wed Jul 22, 2020 11:48 am

If you ever need a cooking surface when out camping and you find a rock, be warned, they will often explode. A couple of tips for finding these little, super hot land mines.

1. Stay away from porous rocks. The explosion comes from super heated water that gets stuck in the rock. Don't take rocks from rivers if you can. Smooth rocks are a dead give away of a rock that's been in the river. Other bad rocks include rocks like sandstone, lime, and pumice.

2. When in doubt, put your rock outside of the fire for a day or so to try and cook out the water. Make sure you don't put it in the fire, you don't want it to explode if it's going too.

3. Good rocks are rocks like marble and granite. People say slate is good because its flat and comes off in sheets. As long as you don't have a crack its fine. I personally don't like slate because of that reasons.

Normally a rock will just split when it gets too hot, not explode. It is possible for them to throw off a sharp chip that can blind you or worse.

AngryIVer
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Re: Exploding rocks

Post by AngryIVer » Wed Jul 22, 2020 6:25 pm

Good advice. I wouldn't have even thought of that.


Ironic though because here in Minnesota we often use sandstone rocks to line fire pits.
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Das Troll
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Re: Exploding rocks

Post by Das Troll » Thu Jul 23, 2020 12:14 am

AngryIVer wrote:
Wed Jul 22, 2020 6:25 pm
Good advice. I wouldn't have even thought of that.


Ironic though because here in Minnesota we often use sandstone rocks to line fire pits.
They're probably cooked dry at that point. I've had some rocks explode on me in the past. When I was a child I used to toss rocks in a fire just to see them explode because I was a moron.

AngryIVer
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Re: Exploding rocks

Post by AngryIVer » Thu Jul 23, 2020 5:07 am

Ah, yeah, that would make sense.
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