On 24/08/2016 5:37 p.m., Mark Pfeifer wrote:
>My son just walked through. He’s 17. I’m OCD about making with wood. He makes
electrical things. Not just mix-n-match. He makes some stuff from household
scraps. He’s made a few light bulbs and is working on a motor.
>I mentioned my perplexity about flash rust.
>He told me he had a “handful” of D cell batteries “kinda explode” in his mad
science a few weeks back. He’s a good kid so he cleaned up the mess (I didn’t
even know) but now methinks it might have put enough acid into the atmosphere
that it might be accelerating the rust . . . . doors windows open tomorrow, may
sprinkle his work area in the shop with baking soda as if it was holy water . .
. .

Of the things I was expecting, this was not even on the list.

Have you considered, some kind of woodshed where you might keep him, 
because according to Cold Comfort Farm, something nasty was seen there.

But I have to say exploding batteries would not have been my first guess 
to that mystery.

I mean I have never thought of building a "stuff that might go terribly 
wrong" space in my workshop, but now I'm reconsidering, kind of like a 
fume cupboard, but you know, bigger.

Michael
NZ