Destroying it yourself
Tabby
paperwork unreadable? The shredder's gone unfortunately, and fire
would take ages.
I've got an electric cutter, but chopped paper is still legible. I'm
half tempted to pulp it, but would really rather avoid the work. There
has to be an easier way!
NT
jgharston
> Whats the easiest way to render about 700 pages of confidential
> paperwork unreadable? The shredder's gone unfortunately, and fire
> would take ages.
Why would fire take too long? That's 1 1/2 reams, so about 2 inches
stacked A4. Put the whole stack in a metal container and burn it.
Imagine it's a very large barbaque brickette.
JGH
ARWadsworth
Post it to yourself via ParcelForce and mark it fragile?
--
Adam
Ronald Raygun
> Whats the easiest way to render about 700 pages of confidential
> paperwork unreadable?
How confidential, i.e. what sort of info is on it?
> The shredder's gone unfortunately,
Gone temporarily? Then just wait for it to come back. Gone
permanently? Tsk, now you know why you had it! Consider
getting another.
> and fire would take ages.
Would it? At 5 seconds a sheet that's only an hour.
> I've got an electric cutter, but chopped paper is still legible.
Depends how finely you chop it.
> I'm
> half tempted to pulp it, but would really rather avoid the work.
Thinking of building a fence? You could let it soak in a vat of
water overnight and then mix it in with the cement for anchoring
the posts.
> There has to be an easier way!
Send it to me, and I'll burn it in my fireplace. Enclose £20
fee for my trouble.
Send it to any impoverished pensioner to burn it in their
fireplace, thus saving them a quid or two's worth of coal.
Send it to MI5. They specialise in confidential stuff.
Send it to anyone. Use the right courier and they'll lose it,
and losing it seems as good a way as any to make it unreadable.
Piers Finlayson
BBQ + blow torch
michael adams
"Tabby" <meow...@care2.com> wrote in message
news:add04576-4c62-42ca...@s9g2000vby.googlegroups.com...
> Whats the easiest way to render about 700 pages of confidential
> paperwork unreadable? >
Why not put a cover on it entitled -
----
"A new Novel by Jeffrey Archer"
Proof Copy
----
Failing that, the solvent in the polish you use on your tinfoil hat
might also dissolve ink. Worth a try maybe.
Or bleach, white spirit or ammonia. Though not mixed together obviously.
The smell should be enough to put put people off, if nothing else.
michael adams
> NT
ARWadsworth
You would need thermite.
--
Adam
Owain
> Whats the easiest way to render about 700 pages of confidential
> paperwork unreadable? The shredder's gone unfortunately, and fire
> would take ages.
Easiest way is to pay one of the shredder-in-the-van confidential
waste companies to come and shred it while you watch.
Or stick it in the loft or under the floor and introduce Mr and Mrs
Mouse.
Owain
Invisible Man
Londoner
"Tabby" <meow...@care2.com> wrote in message
news:add04576-4c62-42ca...@s9g2000vby.googlegroups.com...
Soak the lot in Formaldehyde or burn
Frank Erskine
wrote:
Soak it thoroughly in wallpaper paste and squeeze it all together to
form a block of papier mache.
--
Frank Erskine
ARWadsworth
Angle grinder is the correct answer
--
Adam
Frank Erskine
Or a Bosch PMF180.
--
Frank Erskine
ARWadsworth
Not at that price. (price = lots of money)
A chainsaw or chainsaw attachment to a petrol stimmer may work
--
Adam
Another John
<add04576-4c62-42ca...@s9g2000vby.googlegroups.com>,
Tabby <meow...@care2.com> wrote:
> Whats the easiest way to render about 700 pages of confidential
> paperwork unreadable? The shredder's gone unfortunately, and fire
> would take ages.
Personally I'd make a bonfire of it, screwing much of it up so that it
burns easily, and poking it around until it's all burned rather than
charred. I'd do it in a garden incinerator or other semi-enclosed
container (chimenea?) so that charred pieces didn't fly off over the
neighbourhood. It'd take about 20 minutes, but more to the point it
would be fun.
Or what about running the lawnmower over it inside the garage, until
it's all reduced to shreds?
(Nice question, Tabby!)
John
OG
I'd be tempted to put in the bottom of a BBQ, stick a load of briquettes
on top, add a couple of lighters and give it an hour or two.
Dave
Do you have a school nearby? If so give it the secretary and offer a
donation to the school funds. Their shredder will reduce it to the
tiniest parts you could imagine.
Dave
Toby
"Tabby" <meow...@care2.com> wrote in message
news:add04576-4c62-42ca...@s9g2000vby.googlegroups.com...
Thermite.
(Maybe a new default answer for next year?!?)
--
Toby...
Remove pants to reply
Roberts
(we have wheelie bins now) Just get a decent fire going at the start and you
will get rid of the paper easily. It works for me and I have destroy record
cards
Robbie
andrew
> Whats the easiest way to render about 700 pages of confidential
> paperwork unreadable? The shredder's gone unfortunately, and fire
> would take ages.
Fire wouldn't take long with a bit of help.
What diameter will it roll to?
Find a steel metal open topped container, I use an 8" ss flue stuck in the
ground I have also used a 45 gallon drum. Put the paper in and light it
with a bit of kerosene. Apply a slightly downward tangential air blast. I
use both my Earlex vacuum cleaner or a 12V fan from a laptop.
With the Earlex it took about 4 hours to incinerate a complete filing
cabinet contents a handful at a time, with breaks while it burned. The area
surrounding the fire snows flakes of paper ash.
A picture of the general layout of a top lit vortex burner is one I made for
some young friends:
http://energycafe.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/kettleboiled.jpg?w=199&h=300
AJH
Roger Chapman
Paper as a solid block doesn't burn easily but crunch it up so the air
can get to it and it burns very easily.
Lobster
Yes that's what I do - given up with my domestic shredder as it's too
slow, so I store the stuff up and feed it into a garden incinerator
chunks at a time (too slow doing it sheets at a time) and stand over it
with a garden fork to keep turning over the ash/paper mix - it gets hot
enough for the paper sheets to spontaneously combust when exposed to air
IYSWIM. Doesn't take long.
David
Tabby
Fire would be great but isnt doable, a lot too much flammable material
about.
NT
Bill
"Tabby" <meow...@care2.com> wrote in message
news:add04576-4c62-42ca...@s9g2000vby.googlegroups.com...
Paper as a solid block doesn't burn well - as I realised when I had to
dispose of a large number of old paperbacks that no charity shop would take,
and since my twice weekly waste collection is already full from both
recyclables and other waste, quite a while to dispose of through that way.
It was very much more entertaining to pass them through my B&D garden waste
shredder before incineration - although much of the book is rendered to dust
rather than paper chips...
BartC
"Dave" <dave...@btopenworld.com> wrote in message
news:ie3hlb$85k$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
Once they get around to it. Before then, it'll get lost and every kid in the
school will have one of the pages, ready to put the best bits onto facebook.
It needs to be unreadable before it leaves the house.
--
Bartc
Tabby
wrote:
> On Sun, 12 Dec 2010 10:52:18 -0800 (PST), Tabby <meow2...@care2.com>
> wrote:
>
> >Whats the easiest way to render about 700 pages of confidential
> >paperwork unreadable? The shredder's gone unfortunately, and fire
> >would take ages.
>
> >I've got an electric cutter, but chopped paper is still legible. I'm
> >half tempted to pulp it, but would really rather avoid the work. There
> >has to be an easier way!
>
> Soak it thoroughly in wallpaper paste and squeeze it all together to
> form a block of papier mache.
I think thats what I'll do, coarse chopping it all first. Thank you.
Wonder if there's anything I can add to the paste to haste
destruction, mould, horribility or something.
NT
Steve Firth
> Whats the easiest way to render about 700 pages of confidential
> paperwork unreadable?
Send it to Julian Assange.
The Medway Handyman
Tony Bryer
> Whats the easiest way to render about 700 pages of confidential
> paperwork unreadable? The shredder's gone unfortunately, and fire
> would take ages.
Before emigrating I had a pile of old orders and invoices several feet
high (I should have culled them periodically, I know). A mobile
shredding firm sent out their lorry and did the lot for £70 - I
actually left them to it, but they would have let me watch had I wanted
to.
--
Tony Bryer, Greentram: 'Software to build on' Melbourne, Australia
www.superbeam.co.uk www.eurobeam.co.uk www.greentram.com
The Medway Handyman
> "Tabby" <meow...@care2.com> wrote in message
> news:add04576-4c62-42ca...@s9g2000vby.googlegroups.com...
>> Whats the easiest way to render about 700 pages of confidential
>> paperwork unreadable? The shredder's gone unfortunately, and fire
>> would take ages.
>>
>> I've got an electric cutter, but chopped paper is still legible. I'm
>> half tempted to pulp it, but would really rather avoid the work.
>> There has to be an easier way!
>
> Paper as a solid block doesn't burn well - as I realised when I had to
> dispose of a large number of old paperbacks that no charity shop
> would take,
Nudge nudge, wink wink...
F Murtz
> Whats the easiest way to render about 700 pages of confidential
> paperwork unreadable? The shredder's gone unfortunately, and fire
> would take ages.
>
> I've got an electric cutter, but chopped paper is still legible. I'm
> half tempted to pulp it, but would really rather avoid the work. There
> has to be an easier way!
>
>
Confetti shredder (small bits instead of strips)
Frank Erskine
wrote:
>On Dec 12, 8:24 pm, Frank Erskine <frank.ersk...@btinternet.com>
WD-40.
--
Frank Erskine
Piers Finlayson
> Piers Finlayson <ne...@packom.net> wrote:
>> On 2010-12-12 18:52:18 +0000, Tabby said:
>>
>>> Whats the easiest way to render about 700 pages of confidential
>>> paperwork unreadable? The shredder's gone unfortunately, and fire
>>> would take ages.
>>>
>>> I've got an electric cutter, but chopped paper is still legible. I'm
>>> half tempted to pulp it, but would really rather avoid the work.
>>> There has to be an easier way!
>>>
>>>
>>> NT
>>
>> BBQ + blow torch
>
> You would need thermite.
Frankly, everybody needs some thermite.
dennis@home
"Roger Chapman" <ro...@nospam.zetnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:M5OdnbaMeM-uyJjQ...@bt.com...
> Paper as a solid block doesn't burn easily but crunch it up so the air can
> get to it and it burns very easily.
It burns even quicker if you shred it first. ;-)
Colonel Edmund J. Burke
news:add04576-4c62-42ca...@s9g2000vby.googlegroups.com...
> paperwork unreadable? The shredder's gone unfortunately, and fire
> would take ages.
>
> I've got an electric cutter, but chopped paper is still legible. I'm
> half tempted to pulp it, but would really rather avoid the work. There
> has to be an easier way!
>
>
your tiny island nation. LOL
The Natural Philosopher
> Whats the easiest way to render about 700 pages of confidential
> paperwork unreadable? The shredder's gone unfortunately, and fire
> would take ages.
>
> I've got an electric cutter, but chopped paper is still legible. I'm
> half tempted to pulp it, but would really rather avoid the work. There
> has to be an easier way!
>
>
I find a ride on lawnmower makes a passable shredder.
The Natural Philosopher
> On 12/12/2010 19:57, ARWadsworth wrote:
>>>> paperwork unreadable? The shredder's gone unfortunately, and fire
>>>> would take ages.
>>>>
>>>> I've got an electric cutter, but chopped paper is still legible. I'm
>>>> half tempted to pulp it, but would really rather avoid the work.
>>>> There has to be an easier way!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> NT
>>>
>>
>> You would need thermite.
>>
>>
Good idea. Won't work on a single sheet, but ideal for a fat block.
As is a table saw or a bandsaw.
Grimly Curmudgeon
drugs began to take hold. I remember Tony Bryer
<to...@delme.greentram.com> saying something like:
>Before emigrating I had a pile of old orders and invoices several feet
>high (I should have culled them periodically, I know). A mobile
>shredding firm sent out their lorry and did the lot for �70 - I
>actually left them to it, but they would have let me watch had I wanted
>to.
What a brilliant wheeze.
Charge the customer for a service and when back at the depot, turn the
waste material into a fuel.
TheScullster
"Tabby" wrote
> Whats the easiest way to render about 700 pages of confidential
> paperwork unreadable? The shredder's gone unfortunately, and fire
> would take ages.
>
> I've got an electric cutter, but chopped paper is still legible. I'm
> half tempted to pulp it, but would really rather avoid the work. There
> has to be an easier way!
>
>
Then next year it is transformed into soil conditioner.
OK, it's not instant destruction by any stretch, but at least it's put to
some use.
Phil
Owain
> Invisible Man wrote:
> >>> BBQ + blow torch
> >> You would need thermite.
> > wot, nobody suggested angle grinder yet?
> Bugger :-)
BBQ + blow torch + WD40 ?
Owain
Roger Chapman
Depends what sort of shredder you have. Paper in thin ribbons burns very
well but according to a friend of mine a secure shredder that cross cuts
the paper into little squares produces scrap that is almost as hard to
burn as a solid pile of paper.
Jón Fairbairn
When sodium chlorate weedkiller used to be supplied
uncontaminated, paper soaked in a solution and dried out
would burn /very/ quickly.
--
Jón Fairbairn Jon.Fa...@cl.cam.ac.uk
http://www.chaos.org.uk/~jf/Stuff-I-dont-want.html (updated 2010-09-14)
Ronald Raygun
> On 2010-12-12, Roger Chapman <ro...@nospam.zetnet.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>> Paper as a solid block doesn't burn easily but crunch it up so the air
>> can get to it and it burns very easily.
>
> When sodium chlorate weedkiller used to be supplied
> uncontaminated, paper soaked in a solution and dried out
> would burn /very/ quickly.
Ah, the good old days! I remember making rockets with the stuff
when I was at school. Teachers were not amused.
Is there anything one can do to remove the contaminants?
damdu...@yahoo.co.uk
Burn it?
Sodium Chlorate as a weed killer is banned in Europe now so if you
have any you need to keep quiet about it , Making Rockets and Bombs
from it goes against this. Kids today can hardly do anything
dangerous,poor things.
G.Harman
Andy Dingley
> Kids today can hardly do anything dangerous,poor things.
They seem to manage OK for knives & handguns.
ARWadsworth
And alcopops and cigs.
--
Adam
Jules Richardson
Yes, I burn significant quantites too as our shredder's useless for more
than a few sheets. I usually throw a few logs into the mix as they keep
the heat up and stop the fire from going out before the paper's all
finished burning. I've got a big fire pit that I dug out back, and the
spring assembly from a old mattress that I rest on top which does a good
job of stopping big bits of loose stuff from taking off while still
alight.
cheers
Jules
Tabby
wrote:
> Andy Dingley <ding...@codesmiths.com> wrote:
> > On Dec 14, 6:27 pm, damduck-...@yahoo.co.uk wrote:
>
> >> Kids today can hardly do anything dangerous,poor things.
>
> > They seem to manage OK for knives & handguns.
>
> And alcopops and cigs.
I cant help but wonder if the huge rise of knife use is partly the
result of banning everything kids used to find interesting, and that
were lesser risks.
NT