Prowpheshiunal mekaniks advyse

[GAHorn]

Never smash a can of WD-40. Even if your friends say you can star in a video of the matter:
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/darwin-at-work

[doug8082a]

So did they place the can on a small fire or attach something flammable to it? There is definitely a flame present before Joe Schmuckatelli does his impersonation of a roasted marshmallow.

[GAHorn]

I have no idea. I was just doing a little research on WD-40 and it led to the "action video".
I'd guess that Schumukatelli was already not too full of "hot" ideas.

[bsdunek]

The term 'get a life' comes to mind. I can understand kids trying this (someday I'll tell a story about two of my friends, me, and a can of black powder), but an adult?

Dumb, Dumb, Dumb

[GAHorn]

I once was planning to move out into the country and as a last "new years celebration" at my earlier home (a cul de sac off of another cul de sac in a quiet outside-city-limits community) I decided to create a spectacular fireworks display for the neighbors.

I had 4 lbs of black powder I never intended to use (having sold my muzzle loaders), and I had about 10 lbs of smokeless powder (I had lost interest in handloading ammo) and also had about 10 lbs of long strings of firecrackers I'd purchased years earlier and had no idea when/where I'd use them.

I laid a 1000-yard long weaving trail of smokeless powder throughout the neighborhood streets (think of some of those huge falling domino-chains you've seen) which led to 5 large brown grocery bags in my cul de sac in a huge circle. The bags were filled with loose firecrackers (several pounds of them I'd un-strung...probably a couple hundred per bag) and then I poured a full one-pound can of black powder into the bag on top of the loose firecrackers.

At midnight all my neighbors and their kids showed up and stood back (good thing) as I lit the beginning of the powder trail (which was in front of my house, and we all watched the slow-burning smokeless disappear down the street and into the neighborhood. We opened more beer and waited until the burning train re-appeared after wandering throughout the neighborhood, and the cheers began to mount as the burning/fuming flame re-appeared as it arrived back into view several minutes later.

I had a new labrador puppy sitting in the garage watching the crowd. I really feel badly about the mortal fear that pup experienced as the crowd's roar began to mount and when the powder train reached the center of the cul de sac it branched out into 5 spider-legs leading to each of the 5 grocery sacs.... which each erupted into a volcanic mushroom cloud laced with bazillions of firecrackers which blasted much more than anticipated all over the entire area.

It was one of those anticipatory moments when you suddenly realzed.....this monaster may be much BIGGER THAN I PLANNED!


It was spectacular, and thank God no one was hurt.

I don't doubt everyone was glad I was leaving the neighborhood. Most of those women and soccer Moms had no idea they'd been living for years next door to all that firepower!

[mrpibb]

George, I noticed you mentioned smokless powder as your trail. My friend learned a valuble but painfull lesson on internal ballistics. I was coaching him on the basics of reloading, but before I got into the burn rates of smokeless vs black powder in a unpressurized IE atmospheric conditions he proceeded one day to make a fuse trail ( short one) of black powder to a 1 pound pile of FFF. thinking after I guess him witnessing me burning off some smokless powder and seeing how slow it burned he would do the same not knowing that black powder burns the same rate in and out of a chamber. Well it took about a year before his hair would fully grow in, needless to say also banned from any further firearms related endevours.

[GAHorn]