How about Jackrocks?

**Ole WV Coot** · 08-11-2008, 12:04 PM

Anyone besides me? I know the men from E. KY know what they are. I have a few where in an emergency your drive or road can be blocked. Miners are known to use them during a strike to stop large coal trucks and personal vehicles. Two nails bent at 90 degrees, crossed and connected, mine by a tack weld and heads cut off and sharpened or just cut at an angle with a pair of bolt cutters. They also work on people, nasty and always are pointy end up.

**Beo** · 08-11-2008, 12:21 PM

We have caltrops here, is a weapon made up of two (or more) sharp nails or spines arranged in such a manner that one of them always points upward from a stable base. Caltrops serve to slow down the advance of human troops and the like such as unwanted people, and wheeled vehicles with pneumatic tires.
Look like this: Cost about $3 to $5 bucks a pop. Or you can make them cheaper.
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I got six from my department, love them though never had to use them.

**Ole WV Coot** · 08-11-2008, 11:07 PM

Originally Posted by Beowulf65

We have caltrops here, is a weapon made up of two (or more) sharp nails or spines arranged in such a manner that one of them always points upward from a stable base. Caltrops serve to slow down the advance of human troops and the like such as unwanted people, and wheeled vehicles with pneumatic tires.
Look like this: Cost about $3 to $5 bucks a pop. Or you can make them cheaper.
Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.
I got six from my department, love them though never had to use them.

Those have been used here since I was a kid and very effective. That's a lot to pay for them. They have been used around here since the 1950s and are still made and used. They are cheap, effective and their long use speaks for itself. Those look hollow, would bleed a tire faster I guess.

**Fargus** · 08-17-2008, 04:01 PM

Caltrops are ancient devices, I believe they were originally made popular in Biblical times as cavalry deterrents. I vaguely recall adaptations used in WWI and WWII for use against horse drawn transports and those newfangled pneumatic tires. There was even a version that was designed to untrack tanks, not sure how successful that was though.

They are completely illegal here in Florida though. We aren't even allowed to use those small concrete pyramids (similar in theory to the concrete mushroom caps) to deter people from parking on your yard or from cutting corners and tearing up your grass. The police here use stop-sticks, a fairly equivalent device.

**Ole WV Coot** · 08-17-2008, 04:43 PM

I am sure they aren't legal around this area. Their primary use was to stop or slow down coal trucks and vehicles driven across picket lines. If the strike was necessary for whatever reason (I'm not making a judgment) they were always used along with shooting motors. They could easily be used in a true survival situation, woods or road.

**Fargus** · 08-17-2008, 05:01 PM

The only downside is that (like landmines) it is extremely difficult to un-caltrop an area. In a woodlands area, once they are down, that area is going to be a hazard for friend or foe indiscriminately for quite some time. Unlike landmines, caltrops can shift, change location, and wind up in areas where they weren't intended to be. They can also be rendered ineffective by muddy conditions.

**Rick** · 08-17-2008, 06:04 PM

The only time I've ever seen them used was in Illinois during coal mine strikes. Don't understand using them but I was never a coal miner.

**Ole WV Coot** · 08-17-2008, 10:52 PM

They were used in every strike I can remember to stop company vehicles and strikebreakers. They have been used by others besides miners that I am personally aware of. To my knowledge they were used only on roads, and were and are very potent.

**Fargus** · 08-18-2008, 12:53 AM

Ahh, never seen them in use. I was raised anti-union, so the tactics of those involved with them were never of much interest to me. The company my father owned voted to go union after 70 years of operation. Right after the employees voted to unionize, he closed the doors, put 250 people out of work and reopened in a right-to-work state. One of his workers was a part-time teacher in my middle school. He threatened me with violence in school in front of witnesses and made threats against my parents. He spent the next five years in prison. I have no use for unions nor their members.

**Sam Reeves** · 08-18-2008, 01:08 AM

Originally Posted by Ole WV Coot

They were used in every strike I can remember to stop company vehicles and strikebreakers. They have been used by others besides miners that I am personally aware of. To my knowledge they were used only on roads, and were and are very potent.

Around here they would weld nails to a chain and paint it white to match the marble dust. Then they would stretch it across the road and wait for the truck to come after the rock. After the the truck ran over the chain they would just pull the chain back to them and go home.

**Ole WV Coot** · 08-18-2008, 02:29 AM

Originally Posted by Fargus

Ahh, never seen them in use. I was raised anti-union, so the tactics of those involved with them were never of much interest to me. The company my father owned voted to go union after 70 years of operation. Right after the employees voted to unionize, he closed the doors, put 250 people out of work and reopened in a right-to-work state. One of his workers was a part-time teacher in my middle school. He threatened me with violence in school in front of witnesses and made threats against my parents. He spent the next five years in prison. I have no use for unions nor their members.

I have no use for unions nor their members - You are trying to make this personal? Paint everyone with the same brush? This thread isn't about UNIONS, I personally have NO use for YOU. I don't make threats, don't know anyone stupid enough to make threats. Guess that silver spoon in your mouth got a little tarnished. Threatened you with violence??? Ah, that's a shame, how long before you stopped wetting the bed? Sleeping with the light on? I am curious, never met anyone like you but I would sure like to sit down with you and explain the error of your thinking. Any half wit can hide behind a computer and mouth off. Me I have plenty of time, I ripped a company off for a nice fat pension and retired at 52, plus other bonuses without working being a rep for a long, long time.

**Fargus** · 08-18-2008, 03:37 AM

So? An adult threatening an 11 year old is showing big balls? A continuation of this would probably not serve much purpose. I really don't know your history nor your occupation(s). If you want to take it personally, go right ahead. I'm certainly not losing any sleep over the matter. As you say, any half wit can hide behind a computer and mouth off. You do a good job on behalf of half wits around the globe.

**Rick** · 08-18-2008, 08:22 AM

Let's end it here.

**Beo** · 08-18-2008, 08:55 AM

Hmmm Unions or no I thought we were talking about jackrocks and caltrops, we use them here to stop a car from leaving, when serving a high risk warrant on a home with cars in the drive or on the street we take them (ones like I posted) and place them under two tires in the back, if during the warrant service the subject tries to escaape by jumping in the car he has instant flats on both rear tires.

**Ole WV Coot** · 08-18-2008, 10:43 AM

Originally Posted by Beowulf65

Hmmm Unions or no I thought we were talking about jackrocks and caltrops, we use them here to stop a car from leaving, when serving a high risk warrant on a home with cars in the drive or on the street we take them (ones like I posted) and place them under two tires in the back, if during the warrant service the subject tries to escaape by jumping in the car he has instant flats on both rear tires.

Good idea, cheap and effective. No chase, no danger. I don't know of any local department that does anything but block with their cruiser.