by NZcaver » Aug 26, 2013 7:41 pm
Yes, you can crush it. My old caving club used to buy bulk carbide which came in fist-size chunks, and then we would use an oversize mortar-and-pestle type arrangement to crush it. The base was a short length of large diameter heavy walled steel pipe welded onto a flat steel plate. The crusher was a long steel rod with a larger diameter steel head on the end. Sit the base on the ground, drop your carbide in, and lift and drop the crusher a few times. Worked great!