Don’t forget, as a very squishy bike messenger weaving through endless cars driven by homocidal toddlers, that the ceramic in spark plugs goes right through auto glass, and they’re certainly not something such a messenger would carry on their pocket —much like how U-locks are totally not hammers, just waiting silently from their arms-reach holster to defend you. 🫡
the ceramic in spark plugs goes right through auto glass
I’ve tried that and been entirely unsuccessful at it. Bounced right off with no damage whatsoever, even when hurled from very close as hard and as fast as I could.
It’s just too small and too light to actually break anything.
Some glass can be surprisingly strong to the extent that it feels wrong and unintuitive.
Not auto glass in my anecdote, but last year I had a medium sized aquarium (30 gallons, ~114 liters) where the bottom got broken. I didn’t need to fix it because I had a bigger spare waiting, so I decided to break it apart to more easily package the glass into a safe container for disposal or recycling.
I was able to smack that thing on a wide flat surface with a HAMMER and have it bounce right off. They were really hard swings too. My biggest concern was how freaking loud the hits were, like I was going to disturb a neighbor in their house or make them think they heard a gunshot. My second biggest concern was that I was going to fling glass across the yard using so much force. I believe put it into a large bin or wrapped it in something before I got the courage to turn it up to 11 and break the fucker.
I think I used a 3lb drilling hammer too, which looks like a mini sledgehammer. Heavier than a standard claw hammer, just not very pointy.
I’ve not personally attempted it, ahem but AFAIK it’s fairly foolproof —though my sources* also preferred to grind/scuff down the metal bits a little to help improve kinetic transference. Who knows. 😉
Don’t forget, as a very squishy bike messenger weaving through endless cars driven by homocidal toddlers, that the ceramic in spark plugs goes right through auto glass, and they’re certainly not something such a messenger would carry on their pocket —much like how U-locks are totally not hammers, just waiting silently from their arms-reach holster to defend you. 🫡
I’ve tried that and been entirely unsuccessful at it. Bounced right off with no damage whatsoever, even when hurled from very close as hard and as fast as I could.
It’s just too small and too light to actually break anything.
Some glass can be surprisingly strong to the extent that it feels wrong and unintuitive.
Not auto glass in my anecdote, but last year I had a medium sized aquarium (30 gallons, ~114 liters) where the bottom got broken. I didn’t need to fix it because I had a bigger spare waiting, so I decided to break it apart to more easily package the glass into a safe container for disposal or recycling.
I was able to smack that thing on a wide flat surface with a HAMMER and have it bounce right off. They were really hard swings too. My biggest concern was how freaking loud the hits were, like I was going to disturb a neighbor in their house or make them think they heard a gunshot. My second biggest concern was that I was going to fling glass across the yard using so much force. I believe put it into a large bin or wrapped it in something before I got the courage to turn it up to 11 and break the fucker.
I think I used a 3lb drilling hammer too, which looks like a mini sledgehammer. Heavier than a standard claw hammer, just not very pointy.
I’ve not personally attempted it, ahem but AFAIK it’s fairly foolproof —though my sources* also preferred to grind/scuff down the metal bits a little to help improve kinetic transference. Who knows. 😉
^*: NYC alley cats, '97-'11^
Sounds like it’d only work for side windows not windshields.