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

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.

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

Tabby wrote:

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.

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!



Post it to yourself via ParcelForce and mark it fragile?

--
Adam

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

"Tabby" wrote in message
...

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

Piers Finlayson 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.


--
Adam

On 12/12/2010 19:57, ARWadsworth wrote:
Piers 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.


wot, nobody suggested angle grinder yet?

?
"Tabby" wrote in message
...
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 the lot in Formaldehyde or burn

On Sun, 12 Dec 2010 10:52:18 -0800 (PST), 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!


Soak it thoroughly in wallpaper paste and squeeze it all together to
form a block of papier mache.

--
Frank Erskine

Invisible Man wrote:
On 12/12/2010 19:57, ARWadsworth wrote:
Piers 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.


wot, nobody suggested angle grinder yet?

Angle grinder is the correct answer

--
Adam

On Sun, 12 Dec 2010 20:41:50 -0000, "ARWadsworth"
wrote:

Invisible Man wrote:
On 12/12/2010 19:57, ARWadsworth wrote:
Piers 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.


wot, nobody suggested angle grinder yet?

Angle grinder is the correct answer

Or a Bosch PMF180.

--
Frank Erskine

Frank Erskine wrote:
On Sun, 12 Dec 2010 20:41:50 -0000, "ARWadsworth"
wrote:

Invisible Man wrote:
On 12/12/2010 19:57, ARWadsworth wrote:
Piers 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.


wot, nobody suggested angle grinder yet?

Angle grinder is the correct answer

Or a Bosch PMF180.

Not at that price. (price = lots of money)

A chainsaw or chainsaw attachment to a petrol stimmer may work
--
Adam

In article
,
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.

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

On 12/12/2010 18:52, 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!


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.

On 12/12/2010 18:52, 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!

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

"Tabby" wrote in message
...
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

Thermite.

(Maybe a new default answer for next year?!?)

--
Toby...
Remove pants to reply

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.

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.co...pg?w=199&h=300

AJH

On 12/12/2010 18:52, 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!

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.

On 12/12/2010 23:05, Roger Chapman wrote:
On 12/12/2010 18:52, 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!

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.

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" wrote in message
...
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,
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...

"Dave" wrote in message
...
On 12/12/2010 18:52, 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!

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.

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

On Dec 12, 8:24*pm, Frank Erskine
wrote:
On Sun, 12 Dec 2010 10:52:18 -0800 (PST), 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!

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

Tabby wrote:

Whats the easiest way to render about 700 pages of confidential
paperwork unreadable?

Send it to Julian Assange.

Invisible Man wrote:
On 12/12/2010 19:57, ARWadsworth wrote:
Piers 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.


wot, nobody suggested angle grinder yet?

Bugger :-)


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

On Sun, 12 Dec 2010 10:52:18 -0800 (PST) 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.

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

Bill wrote:
"Tabby" wrote in message
...
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...


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

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!


NT


Confetti shredder (small bits instead of strips)

On Sun, 12 Dec 2010 15:42:58 -0800 (PST), Tabby
wrote:

On Dec 12, 8:24*pm, Frank Erskine
wrote:
On Sun, 12 Dec 2010 10:52:18 -0800 (PST), 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!

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.

WD-40.

--
Frank Erskine

On 2010-12-12 19:57:30 +0000, ARWadsworth said:

Piers Finlayson 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.

"Roger Chapman" wrote in message
...

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. ;-)

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!


NT
I find a ride on lawnmower makes a passable shredder.

Invisible Man wrote:
On 12/12/2010 19:57, ARWadsworth wrote:
Piers 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.


wot, nobody suggested angle grinder yet?

Good idea. Won't work on a single sheet, but ideal for a fat block.
As is a table saw or a bandsaw.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Tony Bryer
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.

"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!


Bury it in the compost heap.
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

On 13/12/2010 10:28, dennis@home wrote:


"Roger Chapman" wrote in message
...

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. ;-)

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.

On 2010-12-12, Roger Chapman wrote:
On 12/12/2010 18:52, 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!

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.

--
Jón Fairbairn
http://www.chaos.org.uk/~jf/Stuff-I-dont-want.html (updated 2010-09-14)

Jón Fairbairn wrote:

On 2010-12-12, Roger Chapman 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?

On Tue, 14 Dec 2010 11:39:58 +0000, Ronald Raygun
wrote:

Jón Fairbairn wrote:

On 2010-12-12, Roger Chapman 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?

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

On Dec 14, 6:27*pm, wrote:

Kids today can hardly do anything dangerous,poor things.

They seem to manage OK for knives & handguns.