While not only do I agree with your statement, and in a previous life I've handled thermite devices that were meant to rapidly reduce big GSA approved safes to pools of metal. This kind of thermite isn't exactly easy to acquire without certain licenses and transporting it is even more regulated. Trying to go around purchasing it is almost certainly going to put your name on the radar of the ATF.
For safes and such, you generally want therm
ate, as the added sulphur makes it burn
much hotter
. And thermite isn't remotely regulated, you can buy it in 10lb+ kits on Amazon with same day delivery - you just have to mix the two parts together.
After all, traditional thermite is literally just fine mesh aluminum powder and rust (ferric oxide, although ferrous oxide will work just as well in a pinch). You can technically use all kinds of metals - a thermite is just a mixture of a metal oxide, and another metal capable of forming a stronger/more stable bond with oxygen than the oxide you're using. I've made copper thermite to sandcast figured out of pure copper in the past.
Contrary to what they show on TV, thermite isn't going to melt iron or steel all that much, although the end product will be hot enough to weld itself to it. I've burned through 16-gauge sheet metal with it, but that's about the limit, unless you are using a nano-thermite, thermate, or one of the more exotic thermites. Basic thermite is great for casting elemental iron as long as you have a suitable (open-bottomed) crucible and sacrificial plug.
The exothermic reaction quickly reduces the mixture into airborne aluminum oxide and a liquid puddle of elemental iron (which is why it is also used to weld train tracks together - the iron fills in the often fairly large gaps, resulting in a continuous rail). It has also long been used in incendiary charges for equipment demolition during unscheduled exits where equipment has to be left behind, or for sabotage: dropping a thermite charge down an artillery barrel will result in it being permanently fouled, with iron welded to the interior, making it unusable.
Tons of people mess around with it in the maker/DIY community every day. I've seen people putting soda cans in an old coffee grinder and create the necessary rust in a plastic tub by electrolytic decomposition of a chunk of iron - I wouldn't personally recommend that method, as you can get several pounds of it for around $30, and the larger the particle size, the more it "spits", or sends small bits of molten elemental iron flying that you really don't want landing on you (or anything flammable).
The thing with thermite is that it is incredibly stable under normal conditions - you can even set a propane torch to it until it is red hot, and it still won't ignite. Hobbyists generally rely on a strip of magnesium to ignite it, and use a propane torch to ignite that.
The most important thing to remember about thermite is to NOT LOOK AT IT! And to be absolutely sure there is no way anyone else will accidentally look at it.
That may sound a little extreme, and of course, it's fine to look at it anytime before you ignite it, but the moment it ignites, the visual spectrum radiation it gives off can and will fry your retinas - even the slightest peek can cause permanent damage, and a welding mask is in no way sufficient.
FYI, most of this information (along with lots I didn't mention) can be found on Wikipedia, and sites like Instructables have tons of guides for using it for all sorts of practical purposes.
Thermite has gotten a rap as some sort of elite military concoction, due to being featured in TV shows and movies doing all sorts of unrealistic things like cutting through locks and doors, or, in the great Sean Connery/Nick Cage team-up film 'The Rock', where the military wants to destroy a terrorist bioweapon using fictional "Thermite Plasma" missiles. But it's actually a fairly humble, simple compound, made of everyday materials, and mostly seeing use in construction, as well as occasionally "extreme data wiping". Even in the latter capacity, you'd need to use a decent amount, at the right spot, to be entirely sure a hard disk ends up fully unrecoverable. SSDs, though? They wouldn't stand a chance.
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