Greg,
Due to domestic tariffs, Europe had quite a sugar beet 'empire.' The amount of sugar beets grown in Poland and Germany -- especially back then -- would surprise you.
[ The alternative was to import sugar from cane -- something that mercantilist politicians did not favor.
It's a strange, but true, fact: the Nazis obtained their poison gas as a byproduct of sugar beet refining (and does it ever stink, the refinery, that is)... and many other chemicals.]
I never read of the French underground being encouraged to use salt. I would think that salt would stop the concrete from even setting up properly in the first place -- resulting in prompt detection.
The soda pop cure only works on FRESH concrete -- much less than one day old -- so I've been told. From time to time, I've read of fellows pulling such cures off. I've never actually seen it done on any job myself.
Let's hope that concrete in PVC is a rare thing indeed.
In the case mentioned, the slab was jack hammered for days on end. The fouled up pour delayed the completion of the store by three full weeks. (!) The perp was thrown off the job and another outfit was brought in on a panic basis.
No grocery store for miles around ever had the troubles that particular build had. It cost the superintendent his career, multiple foremen lost their jobs or ended their careers,... Ages afterward, that stinko job was still the talk of the local trades. The word had really gotten around. Everyone involved lost their shirt.
Most of the blame properly belonged on the superintendent and the GC that put him in charge. He couldn't handle the pressure or the work flow.
From the Telegraph cited above:
"Sucrose, which is mainly found in cane and beet sugar available in supermarkets, is probably the most effective cement retardant. This is the sugar that most people will put in their cup of tea or their breakfast cereal.
Depending on the kind of cement being used, even small amounts of sugar can double the amount of time it takes to set.
Tests have shown that adding just 0.04% of cane sugar can cause a cement that normally takes 1 hour 18 minutes to set to increase to one two hours 36 minutes.
At concentrations of more than one per cent in a cement mix, sucrose can delay complete hardening almost indefinitely. "
As for the war: there are countless tales of sabotage successfully pulled off.
Tank restoration buffs that went entirely through salvaged German tanks have found that every single one of them had been sabotaged over and over -- in subtle ways -- usually in the lubrication system. No wonder wartime accounts constantly reported German tanks being tied up in the shops being repaired -- one more time. (!)
The slaves/ forced labor were unhappy in their work!
Last edited by Tesla; 04/11/15 10:04 AM.
