UK Newspaper Article

[McCudden]

The attached article http://www.pressdisp...ine/viewer.aspx was in the Daily Mail recently and set me wondering if fuses are as dangerous as that Paramedic thought. I have several fuses and always assumed they were spent and benign. Can anyone please advise on this?

Grateful thanks

Alec

[Sepoy]

Alec

I have tried to load your link without luck. What were the fuses?

Personally, I would treat all fuses or supposedly inert items with caution. Over the years one friend, John Pimlott, was killed by a fuse that he picked up on the Somme and another friend, Carl, lost a leg when moving a granatenwerfer at the MOD Pattern Room.

Sepoy

[McCudden]

Thanks Sepoy and apologies for the duff link. Attached is a picture of the article with text below

"WHEN Bert Hendy dialled 999 for help for his dying wife he didn’t expect a visit from the bomb squad.

But the first paramedic to reach his home called in explosives experts after spotting a wartime shell on the pensioner’s mantelpiece.

Jean, Mr Hendy’s wife of 63 years, had died before the ambulance arrived but her body was not moved for another four hours while the bizarre incident unfolded.

Accompanied by police, the explosives experts examined and photographed the device before eventually taking it away to a police station.

The couple’s son Steve, 62, said: ‘This was typical of mum – causing such a drama. In a way it was a fitting finale – she certainly went out with a bang.’

He said his mother, 1, slipped into unconsciousness shortly after waking up last Sunday. ‘ By the time paramedics arrived, mum had sadly passed away,’ he added. ‘But while he was here, the paramedic noticed the nose cone of this bomb on the mantelpiece.

‘He kept picking it up and looking at it and then said to us that he thought it was live and he was going to have to call the police. We couldn’t believe it. Mum had just passed away and all this was going on around her.’ Mr Hendy, 5 and a former Navy officer, was given the First World War British shell ten years ago in Hotton, Belgium.

He was visiting a graveyard in the town where his brother, Fred, 19, was buried after being killed in the Second World War.

Steve said: ‘He drilled the shell and ground it so it would fit on this plinth. At no time did any of us think it could be live – it is 100 years old. It’s one of his pride and joys and had just been sitting there for years.’

Police have now returned the nose cone to Mr Hendy’s Bristol home and issued him with a certificate saying it is safe.

A police spokesman said: ‘At around .15am on Sunday, July 2 , we were informed by the ambulance service that they had found some sort of World War One device. We attended the property in Allerton Crescent and took photos of the object.

‘At 12.30pm the Explosives Ordnance Disposal advised us that they were happy with the object and it could safely be removed to the local police station.’"

[Sepoy]

I am fascinated to read that the Police returned the fuse to the owner together with a certificate stating it was safe......

[Gunner Bailey]

I have only ever heard of one instance where a fuze picked up on the battlefield ignited. 99%+ of fuzes found on the battlefields have already gone off and those that haven't have probably been rendered safe by water ingestion over 90 plus years.

I wouldn't panic over this.

I also thought that John Pimlott was killed by a Mills 36 from his collection that went off in his home. I've never seen mention of a fuze before.

John

[Seadog]

They are dangerous, drop one of these on your foot and you would howl! Isn’t Brasso brilliant.

Norman

[McCudden]

Thanks for the comments. My small collection of fuses have clearly all been fired; they have stripped threads and numerous dents and gouges so I assume and hope they are safe!

Alec

[Seadog]

Yes!!! if they look like the ones above, the dangerous ones (which are rare) are those which have a sealed tube still attached to the bottom of the fuse which is called the "gaine" and contains explosive to ignite the main contents of the shell. I have never seen such in the fields of the western front or of course those places where such things are sold. If you ever have any concerns just post an image here as I am sure members will be able to help.

Norman

[PhilB]

Brasso brilliant? On the other hand, naked as nature intended!

[Seadog]

Dirty!!!

Norman

[Seadog]

A good diagram of a British type 100 fuse complete with the gaine here:

Do not touch if you find similar!

Link

http://en.wikipedia....FuzeDiagram.jpg

The L/H fuse in post 6 is a type 100 (ex gaine) and safe

Norman

[Sepoy]

I also thought that John Pimlott was killed by a Mills 36 from his collection that went off in his home. I've never seen mention of a fuze before.

It was reported in the press as a grenade, but I understand from Police investigators, that it was a fuse complete with gain, which he had picked up by High Wood. Either way, John was one lost friend too many. Carl's (who I believe is or was a Forum Member) story is awful and related to the degradation of primer explosives over 80 years or so, and that was in a Museum!

I have a few fuses, which can be stripped down and two converted as ink wells which I know are safe, but personally I would not collect examples from a battlefield just in case. It is simply not worth it.

Sepoy