Toilet Stove

Thread title reminded me of an actual incident that was reported back in the 1960's. A woman was doing her morning routine, which included hairspray. Nozzle was clogged, so she upended the can and sprayed hairspray into the toilet until the nozzle cleaned itself out. Later, husband comes in and sits on the toilet for part of his morning routine. Tossed his still-lit cigarette butt between his legs into the toilet, and...boom, the hairspray exploded beneath his own butt. Believe it or not. Rick

My great uncle had one of those on the farm. It's a "trash" burner. High end burn barrell. His was in a concrete room of the milking barn. Could have been used your way, for all I know. :-S

My sophomoric sense of humor will be chuckling about the hairspray and the cigarette for some time to come.

I recall visiting the Saratoga battlefield and noting the clear warning not to put cigarette butts into the composting toilets.

fossil said:

Thread title reminded me of an actual incident that was reported back in the 1960's. A woman was doing her morning routine, which included hairspray. Nozzle was clogged, so she upended the can and sprayed hairspray into the toilet until the nozzle cleaned itself out. Later, husband comes in and sits on the toilet for part of his morning routine. Tossed his still-lit cigarette butt between his legs into the toilet, and...boom, the hairspray exploded beneath his own butt. Believe it or not. Rick

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My friends used to use aquanet for accelorant in their potato cannons, so.... yep.

You see the mythbusters on that one? I loved it when they put 1/2 can of black powder in the toilet and lit it off... now THAT got the thing to go bang However, they didn't get even a flash out of the various sprays. Gasoline did, however, give them a little flash up as I recall...

Yeah, man, I dunno for sure. Just reporting a memory from ~40 years ago. I do know, however, that in those ensuing years a whole lot of changes were mandated in the propellants used in aerosols...everything from hairspray to paint to deodorant, and that "MythBusters" has only been around just (relatively) recently. Maybe they're right, and it never happened, I dunno. I just know what I remember, and I don't put a hell of a lot of stock in that anymore myself. :-S Rick

ETA: We did get a kick out of lighting hairspray out of the can with a match and using it to melt our plastic toy army men down on the dirt basement battlefield...flame thrower!

Yes, hairspray made a great blow torch in a pinch, course when we were kids we did stupid things, like the time I burned down my neighbors barn.... thats a whole nother story.

Hairspray would be good to light my wood stove?

kenny chaos said:

Hairspray would be good to light my wood stove?

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Only if you can find some pre-EPA hairspray. Rick

I don't know about now, but 40 years ago the hairspray use to burn alright!
I remember as a kid, about 7 or 8, playing in the basement, with my big brother and one of his friends, with a can of hairspray, some copper pipe and matches. I can't remember exactly what we were doing, or trying to do, but I do remember the liquid hairspray spilling all over the cement floor and catching fire. I remember one second we were trying to put out the flames, a moment later we were running up the stairs gasping for air. Fortunately there was nothing flammable close to where we spilled the stuff and it burned itself out, so the house never burned down, but after that I sure had a healthy fear for playing with fire indoors and the way it can make the air un-breathable in seconds.

Flash forward 30 some odd years, a mechanic friend of mine who worked from home in his garage had his parts cleaning tank catch fire inside the garage while all the doors were closed, he stupidly tried to put it out,,,, he didn't make it. He didn't get burned at all, the fire didn't spread to anything in the garage, but they found him face down in the storage room at the back asphyxiated from the fumes. If only he had the experience I had when I was a kid, maybe he would have just ran out of there.

If my memory is correct that stove is an Ashley Automatic. My family had one when I was growing up.

fossil said:

kenny chaos said:

Hairspray would be good to light my wood stove?

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Only if you can find some pre-EPA hairspray. Rick

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Great! That's what the little woman still uses.

Jack Straw said:

If my memory is correct that stove is an Ashley Automatic. My family had one when I was growing up.

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Probably correct - I have had at least 2 of them or similar........
good stoves, actually!

Back in the old hippy days they were 90.00 special order in West Virginia.

Then I bought one from the junk dealer that needed new sheet metal - I found some old ductwork which I made into a new oval body. The thing worked like a champ!

When we moved back to NJ, we found a new one in Trenton at an appliance shop - about 1976.

That hairspray propelant was tolulene. Nasty stuff. If you want to see destruction check this out:

http://connect2utah.com/content/fulltext/?cid=58121

Yes, Ashley! It deserves more respect than it is getting.
A high tech stove built to be affordable. The box you see on the front (in the slim chance anyone has read this far and is still interested in the stove...) is the automatic thermostat. These stoves were great for being close to, but not quite airtight (a fairly new concept at the time) and could be fed LARGE chunks of wood, and capable of a long, controllable burn (with plenty of creosote)

When brand new, the sides were blued sheet steel (not painted, but more like gun blueing) and all the finger prints from handling became permanent marks at the first good hot burn.
I remember these being priced at well under 200. in the 70's. They had some great features, but being thin sheet steel with a liner, they did not inspire confidence.
They held a lot of wood, held a lot of ashes, and were a pain to clean out, radiated heat quickly, and laid groundwork for high tech stoves to come.
I'd call it the "missing link" between the evolution from potbelly to blaze king.

that looks alot like a short version of a nat gas trash burner that i've seen at a number of old houses around here.

Which way do you face when you sit on it?

kenny chaos said:

Which way do you face when you sit on it?

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depends on if you want to feed the fire or put it out :lol:
oooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

A friend and I once started our camp fire with a can of Right Quard spray deodorant and a lighter. Not particularly safe, but it proved effective.

BrotherBart said:

Pagey said:

A friend and I once started our camp fire with a can of Right Quard spray deodorant and a lighter. Not particularly safe, but it proved effective.

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And probably the best use ever made of Right Guard. Or as college students called it "Shower In A Can".

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I have to say, it was some pretty rank stuff. :sick: