this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2023
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I worked night shift in a metal fabrication shop about 11 years ago.
Two bastions of humanity figured out that they could light an oxyfuel torch and adjust it to a neutral flame, snuff the flame out of a glove or something, and then use the torch to fill a plastic sandwich bag with a perfect mixture of oxygen and acetylene. They would then place this bag somewhere and light it on fire, which made a lot of noise. They had great fun until they tried it with a small office-sized trash bag. The word of the day is brisance. It made a tremendous bang which cracked some glass in the shop, but of course our two heroes were caught in the blast amd burned, because a sandwich bag made a loud pop, but a trash bag was more of a bomb. They lit the trash bag like they did the little bags, by holding a lighter to the plastic.
I was at an xmas party one year where the workshop boys did this with an upturned 44 gallon drum. It was the loudest bang I've ever heard. I thought we were under some sort of attack.
They expected the drum to launch a little but what actually ended up happening was the upturned metal bottom blew off and launched a LOT punching a hole in the workshop roof. It's a miracle that nobody was hurt (their hearing probably was). Somehow they didn't get fired.
When someone does something really stupid and shows remorse, you can be pretty sure they will never ever do it again. A new guy might though.
I was invited to a rural party for new years, I'm pretty sure it was 2003-2004. I drank entirely too much, and saw some friends crushing beer cans, and was inspired. I found an old 55-gallon steel drum, put a bunch of water in it, and rolled it into the bonfire. Once steam was shooting out, I put the bungs back on it and rolled it into the pond. After a few minutes, there was a metallic "bang" and the drum was folded in on itself.
The guy who invited me to the party told everyone for years that I used my head to crush a steel drum.