r/oddlysatisfying • u/bendubberley_ • 6d ago
Pulling nails out of a beach bonfire site with a hydraulic scrap magnet.
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u/hefecantswim 6d ago
I hate to admit it but when I was 18/19 I used to do this in Ocean Beach in San Francisco circa 2004. I just never thought about how the pallets had nails or staples that didn't burn.
It was a few years later when I realized, oh shit, I left a bunch of nonsense at that beach.
It only happened 3 or so times but I still feel pretty bad about it. When you're an adult and you look back on that kid 20 years ago, that guy was kind of a dumbass.
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u/MissingMoneyMap 6d ago
Pallets! Thank you I was wondering why there were so many nails
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u/AwesomePerson70 6d ago
Yeah I was wondering why people were dumping a bunch of nails on the beach. At least a pallet fire isn’t as bad
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u/V6Ga 6d ago edited 5d ago
Pallet wood is treated with incredibly toxic chemicals so they do not collapse in use
All those chemicals that are no longer allowed in construction lumber are still regularly used for the wood in pallets.
Edit: apparently enough people are rich enough that they do not regularly see wooden structures collapse from insect damage, and fiber collapse.
Now imagine what insect and water damage from is like on a $50,000 piece of equipment loaded onto a wooden pallet that collapses because it got hot wet and insect eaten.
Anyone who think shippers are not using the most chemically treated wood available for every shipment has never worked in, or even knows the meaning of logistics
If yiu ship a $200,000 chiller on un chemically treated would, insurance will not cover that loss.
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u/iddrinktothat 6d ago
Has nothing to do with collapsing and everything to do with invasive species of pests being spread in shipping materials… pallets are either heat treated or fumigated with methyl bromide and stamped with an MB stamp, don’t burn those ones.
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u/3BlindMice1 5d ago
Is that what makes them burn with the intensity of the damn sun?
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u/Whedonsbitch 5d ago
You were just hallucinating the brightness from the poison smoke you were breathing
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u/Difficult-Row6616 5d ago
MB is super volitile, and reactive. not much should make it out. copper or arsenic based treatments are non volitile and will remain in the ash.
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u/DatabaseThis9637 5d ago edited 5d ago
I think the point of this particular post is Do Not Burn Pallets On The Beach. Think of all the people who get injured by a nail in the butt, or feet, and birds, etc dogs... Although, yeah, also, don't leave toxic ash etc either. All this concern about pollution, and protecting baby turtles, and then someone thinks they deserve a beach bonfire...
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u/Miserable-Admins 5d ago
someone thinks they deserve a beach bonfire...
A lot of people are incredibly selfish and entitled unfortunately.
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u/More_Wasted_time 5d ago
Not nessisarily.
Most pallets are simply soft pine that's been heat treated, only those that see extensive import/export traveling are chemically treated.
Look for an IPPC stamp, if it says HT (Heat treated), it should be good, if it says MB, it's chemically treated and isn't safe to combust.
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u/Tentacle_elmo 6d ago
Some are just kiln dried.
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u/VenerableVivacious 6d ago
And some contain formaldehyde which is extremely carcinogenic. Best to just not take the chance...
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u/PickerPilgrim 5d ago
No need to leave it to chance. There are usually markings to indicate how it’s been treated.
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u/Fuzzy_Commercial_806 6d ago
Who are the assholes dropping nails on the roads? How does it happen so much?
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u/Stock-Mission-7561 6d ago
Tire shops
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u/ThisIsPaulDaily 5d ago
Roofers. On my way to work, a truck spilled a box of "extra sharp" roofing nails from an open tailgate while driving through an intersection.
I noticed and stopped. Then spent about 5 minutes picking nails up from the street while being accosted by drivers who didn't see that I wasn't the person who spilled them.
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u/SnickerbobbleKBB 6d ago
Character development 👍
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u/Amori_A_Splooge 6d ago
This is it. Recognize it's wrong. You can't fix it, grow from it. We can all only do better going forward.
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u/DragonBitsRedux 6d ago
Do you mean "Never admit you are wrong. Lie. Deflect. Punch down" isn't the best philosophy?
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u/Serrisen 6d ago
Clearly they're lying. Ignoring and deflecting responsibility is the cornerstone of mental health. Self reflection and responding with hostility to critique are valuable skills
And just in case someone tries to show me the error of my ways, I must go. And unfollow replies, of course
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u/Frostemane 6d ago
I completely disagree with everything you said, but I will not elaborate whatsoever and proceed to block you to protect my fragile ego. Checkmate.
/s and upvoted btw
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u/Financial-Bid2739 6d ago
How dare you!? I shall clutch my pearls and scream into oblivion
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u/OfficialDampSquid 6d ago
If you don't hate your younger self sometimes you haven't grown as a person
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u/Turbulent_Lobster_57 6d ago
I only wonder what I’m going to hate myself for 10 years from now
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u/Climaxite 6d ago
Oh, you probably know already.
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u/Ephemeral_Being 6d ago
Poor health choices. Eating too much. Not exercising. Not taking the drugs your doctor prescribed.
Do better.
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u/Turbulent_Lobster_57 5d ago
Are you watching me right now? How many fingers am I holding up?
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u/gizamo 5d ago
or you had good guidance from an older figure
We did fires on the beach, but everyone had big metal disks for catching the leftovers. I was probably 6-8 years old when my big brother explained to me that the bowl was for catching nails and to prevent the sand from glassing under the heat.
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u/Large_slug_overlord 6d ago
I jumped off a gazebo as a kid onto what I presumed was soft sand only to have a 5” framing nail go directly into my heel. Sounds like I know who to blame now.
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u/tasman001 6d ago
Fuck, 5 inches?? Did you die??
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u/Large_slug_overlord 6d ago
I had to go to the ER and they actually cut my heel open more to extract some bits of rusty nail. I had this cast/bandage they kept weight off the wound area and I wasn’t allowed to get in the water.
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u/V6Ga 6d ago
Started a band once he got taller
Imma say twice as tall
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u/tasman001 6d ago
Lol, I know you're making about a joke about NIN, but for the life of me I can't understand how what you said makes sense though. Like... He stepped on a nail, and it made him taller, and when he was twice as tall (not the nail) HE was now a nine inch nail?
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u/Chuggles1 6d ago
Grew up surfing and walking bare foot to the beach. Got one straight up into my heel. Felt like I was pulling it out forever, was a long little bastard. Started squirting blood after that. Thank god I'd gotten my tetanus shot recently.
Don't litter beaches, and pick up trash if you ever visit one and see any.
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u/stillnotelf 6d ago
I think foot wounds are just squirters the way head wounds bleed. I wrote my story then decided you probably didn't want to read it, it was gross
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u/Chuggles1 6d ago
It's reddit, hard to beat the rotting cumbox and bloody jolly rancher story.
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u/Least-Back-2666 6d ago
The guy who accidentally grew mushrooms just jerking off onto the wall next to his bed...
Swamps of dagobah is still the champ in my book.
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u/ThePhoenixus 6d ago
I remember when I was about 8 years old i was playing in the woods behind my neighborhood and I stepped on a 2x4 that had a nail protruding directly upwards. It punctured the soft rubber sole of my shoe and went about halfway into the middle of my foot.
I walked back home with the 2x4 attached to my foot like a wooden ski nailed to my foot and we had to go to the ER for a tetanus shot.
I distinctly remember it not hurting at all. It was just like "oh there's a piece of wood nailed to my foot" and the worst part was walking home lopsided because I didn't also have a 2x4 nailed to my other foot.
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u/hpfan1516 6d ago
I was going to ask how on earth this happens, but this comment was a sudden revelation
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u/El_Chairman_Dennis 6d ago
Pallets usually have 30-50 nails in them. So if you ever burn pallets you need to come back and clean up all the nails
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u/CurvyVolvo 6d ago
Good chance that the Surfrider foundation was cleaning that up the following Saturday. Shout out those guys
Did a cleanup with them there once and pulled SO many nails out of the beach. You definitely weren’t the only one!
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u/V6Ga 6d ago
The thresher/sifter for the beach sand at Hanauma Bay used to pull 10 tons of cigarette filters out of yhe sand a year.
You know those plastic filters that weigh a gram each.
10 tons a year.
Humans are, in general, locusts. And smokers are by necessity the most narcissistic locusts, because in order to feed their addiction they have to ignore every single person in every single space they are in.
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u/GoldfishGrenade 6d ago
Ocean Beach bonfires were a rite of passage in SF in the early 2000s.
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u/Froot-Loop-Dingus 6d ago
My step dad owned a masonry company and he would let me drive the flatbed full of pallets down to La Jolla Shores to sell when I was in high school. So I was definitely part of the problem as well.
But it was a decent way to make some extra play money and it was literally my dad’s idea so I didn’t think it was an issue until I got older.
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u/savageboredom 6d ago
I had my fair share of bonfires at La Jolla when I was younger. I’m also guilty of burning pallets, but at least those bonfire pits are enclosed so the leftover nails are contained in an area that anyone is unlikely to step on.
I still wouldn’t do it anymore though.
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u/FeelingReplacement53 6d ago
To be fair those cheap nails will rust away so damn fast. I was just thinking you could never do this in SF because the magnet would suck all the iron powder out of the sand at OB
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u/LevelStudent 6d ago
I'm surprised there isn't a bit in a horror or action movie where someone is tied to the bottom of one of those.
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u/kikistiel 6d ago
You're looking for The Brave Little Toaster if you want a real horror scene with one of these. Absolutely scarred me as a kid.
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u/Cosmic_Quasar 5d ago
This guy freaked me out lol. But the cries of Toaster calling out "Blankie!" during the storm still haunt me sometimes, decades later lol.
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u/LevelStudent 6d ago
It's only a matter of time until it hits the public domain and gets the Whinnie the Pooh treatment.
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u/Bosterm 6d ago
It's gonna be quite a while. The last year to enter public domain was 1929, and the Brave Little Toaster came out in 1987.
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u/daemon-electricity 5d ago
1987? Holy shit. I thought it was from the early 90s.
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u/Nearby-King-8159 5d ago edited 5d ago
Close enough. But you probably thought that because the VHS release was in July '91.
Same thing happened with a ton of older Disney animated movies released before the '90s; they didn't get home releases until the peak of the VHS boom in the 90s.
- Snow White released theatrically in '37 but was released on VHS in '94
- Peter Pan released theatrically in '53 but was released on VHS in '90
- 101 Dalmatians released theatrically in '61 but was released on VHS in '92
- The Jungle Book released theatrically in '67 but was released on VHS in '91
- The Arisocats released theatrically in '70 but was released on VHS in Europe in '90, the UK in '95, and the US in '96
- Robin Hood was released theatrically in '71 but had it's permanent VHS release in '91
- The Rescuers released theatrically in '77 but was released on VHS in '92
- Fox & the Hound released theatrically in '81 but was released on VHS in '94
- The Black Caldron released theatrically in '85 but was released on VHS in '98
- The Great Mouse Detective released theatrically in '86 but was released on VHS in '92
- Oliver & Company released theatrically in '88 but was released on VHS in '96
And then there was the myriad of movies that had limited-print home media releases the same decade the came out but were later re-released as part of the "Master Collection" in the '90s.
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u/Bosterm 5d ago
I mean, it's not that far off. If it came out three years later it would have come out in the early 90s.
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u/ShittyHCIM 6d ago
That movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, I was afraid of anything electronic in the house
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u/thunderbird32 6d ago
Yeah, made me terrified of window unit air conditioners for a while.
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u/iforgotalltgedetails 6d ago
Made me appreciate my blanket a lot better though since blanket was so kind.
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u/Cincodeffe 6d ago
D: I guess we need people whose minds go to these places for writing the next SAW movie script...
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u/rW0HgFyxoJhYka 6d ago
Then you'd realize the person would die so fast it would be bad for a SAW movie script.
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u/Coal_Burner_Inserter 6d ago
This video plays like the intro to a Bones episode. After it cut, there would be a body that a lady discovers just covered in empty holes from the nails, and she'll scream. Then the scream will fade to Booth yawning as Brennan puts on gloves to examine the body.
If none of this made any sense to you, watch the show. It's good. And you'll be able understand that there few sentences.
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u/willfoxwillfox 6d ago
You’ve gotta watch James Bond: The Spy Who Loved Me.
Nobody does it better.
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u/dover_oxide 6d ago
And that folks is why it's always a good idea to be up to date on your tetanus shots.
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u/ravenpotter3 6d ago
I got my updated one last year! I’m glad to be in a time when humans are able to prevent and train the body against infections and diseases via vaccines! I’m thankful I live today and not 200 years ago when a rusted nail could lead to death.
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u/nocommunicatio 6d ago
I feel like one would be a lot less likely to find a rusted nail on the beach 200 years ago, and that sounds appealing, too.
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u/StockTank_redemption 6d ago
Tetany bacteria lives in dirt, soil, etc. not metal. You could step on a twig on the ground and you could be fucked. Has nothing to do with nails or other metal objects.
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u/whatWHYok 6d ago
Wait, so the fact that it’s a rusty nail has nothing to do with it possibly harboring bacteria? Is it because a rusty nail is also likely super dirty?
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u/StockTank_redemption 6d ago
Yep, dirty nail, dirty stick, dirty anything. The bacteria resides in the dirt(ground). A puncture from any object could harbor the tetany bacteria. Not sure why they drilled it in our heads about the whole nail thing. That bacteria is everywhere.
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u/whatWHYok 6d ago
Probably because if you step on a twig, you might get a slight puncture but nowhere near enough to draw blood/enter your bloodstream. Stepping on a nail is an almost certain ouchie (I believe that’s the scientific term).
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u/StockTank_redemption 6d ago
Probably so. A nail going through your foot would be a bit more problematic. But the whole ‘rusted nail’ thing is a myth. But back to science, an “ouchie” is for 0-3 yrs. 4-99yrs is considered a “boo boo”.
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u/whatWHYok 6d ago
Shoot… I’ve misdiagnosed my 11 month old. I gotta go… need to update their file and deliver new prognosis.
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u/StockTank_redemption 6d ago
A respected Dr. will never change an boo boo diagnosis to an ouchie. He could be turned into the Medical Board and lose his license along with yrs of lawsuits. Srry but you gonna have to lie to your kid for quite awhile.
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u/Theron3206 5d ago
Thorns were a common source in the past, dead sticks can also break in a Sharon enough way to go deep. But even a small cut can do it if you don't clean it well.
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u/Dragnoran 6d ago
tetatnus does come from stuff in the soil not rusted stuff just often goes hand in hand
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u/dingleberry-terry 6d ago
But things like nails on pallets have likely directly contacted the ground, dirt, and potentially manure and are more likely to have tetanus spores than, say, sea shells. Tetanus spores can also survive for many years and are resistant to extreme heat, so there is likely a more significant risk from rusty pallet nails than anything else on that beach.
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u/Large_Yams 6d ago
Tetanus has nothing to do with nails or sand.
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u/shicken684 5d ago
In this situation it's absolutely relevant. Tetanus is caused by an anaerobic bacteria that produces a toxin. The toxin is what kills you. The bacteria is found in the wild, and is practically everywhere. The reason it's associated with rusty nails is for a couple reasons. A non-rusted nail doesn't have much area for the bacteria to nest into, but once it's rusted there are many pores for the bacteria to reside. The other reason is the nail punctures your skin deep enough that it's likely to go into tissue where there's poor blood flow, and thus low oxygen.
Edit: Clostridium tetani, the bacteria that produces the toxin, is also extremely resistant to heat. Probably not giant bonfire heat, but clostridium is a very, very tough bacteria.
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u/Grimm199 6d ago
Hydraulic magnet, or electromagnet?
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u/TheNewNumberThirteen 6d ago
I guess it could almost be considered both? An electromagnet which is moved around using hydraulics.
It's a stretch though.
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u/gerkletoss 6d ago edited 6d ago
That's actually very likely what this is.the excavator arm is hydraulic but you can strap on a generator for electrically powered attachments such as electromagnets and augers, or for some machinrs the engine has built-in generator capability.
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u/TheNewNumberThirteen 6d ago
Exactly. But fyi... All the augers I have seen were also hydraulic.
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u/karma_the_sequel 6d ago
No such thing as a hydraulic magnet. The only hydraulics on that thing are the parts that move the arm.
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u/redlaWw 5d ago
Apparently the hydraulic system is used to generate the electricity that powers the electromagnet.
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u/kagato87 6d ago
No, no.
This is a battle between the beach and the crane.
The beach is giving everything it's got, but the crane is winning.
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u/f0dder1 6d ago
Looking at the size, quantity, and machinery engaged for cleanup, is say this was saying kind of very large, organised pallet-bonfire, where an agreement was struck beforehand about cleanup.
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u/xTechDeath 6d ago
And what shall I do with my outrage then?
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u/JimiDarkMoon 6d ago
Let me borrow the magnet to get rid of some evidence in a police lockup?
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u/Severe_Proposal_7834 6d ago
It's actually the aftermath of the biggest bonfire in the world, Scheveningen, The Netherlands: https://youtu.be/qEfoPyoOaXs?si=C_ax1p3-YcdZWkc1
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u/SomethingElse-666 6d ago
Where was this magnet after my shingle roof was replaced
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u/nbaumg 6d ago edited 3d ago
Anyone have a longer video I could watch this for ages
Edit: buncha upvotes but no link :( I remember looking for one last time this was posted. Couldn’t find one
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u/Arkryzel 6d ago
I always thought it was a dumb rule that some beaches don't allow fires. Now, it seems like a damn good rule.
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u/PrecedentialAssassin 6d ago
Oddly horrifying. WTF
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u/RoughDoughCough 6d ago
Oh, how satisfying to think about thousands of rusty nails just beneath the surface all over the fuckin beach
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u/TootsNYC 6d ago
too bad there's not a magnet for glass shards
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u/brianbarbieri 5d ago
Be aware that this is not the normal amount of nails your average beach contains. This is a beach close to The Hague the Netherlands where they have an enormous bonfire each new year eve.
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u/Bulky_Specialist9645 6d ago
People are such assholes. It's a beach, don't put nails on it!
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u/gabacus_39 6d ago
Probably burning pallets and nails and screws are what's left over.
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u/OutrageousEvent 6d ago
And you shouldn’t burn pallets. You may not know if they are heat treated with chemicals. You don’t want that smoke in the atmosphere or your lungs.
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u/Impossible-Ninja-138 6d ago
Pallet expert here. Pallets that are heat treated will have a stamp on the side of it saying so.
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u/ToastetteEgg 6d ago
Idiots that don’t care about tainting a beach with nails probably don’t care about whether or not the wood is treated.
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u/OutrageousEvent 6d ago
I used to work in a warehouse and I remember something was visibly different but forgot what exactly it was. Thanks.
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u/dangerpoint 6d ago
Are there hazardous chemicals in heat-treated pallets? Are there hazardous chemicals in pallets that haven't been heat-treated?
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u/Sudden-Wash4457 6d ago
A lot of shipping pallets get sprayed down with pesticides in transit no matter what their treatment. Same reason why shipping container homes are a terrible idea.
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u/zehamberglar 6d ago
Does the stamp say "don't burn this". If not, it's practically useless in this scenario to the 99% of people who haven't read a comment like this warning them not to burn heat treated wood.
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u/GeoffdeRuiter 6d ago edited 6d ago
If I recall correctly this is from the Netherlands or so where they have a big festival or event where people are allowed to do this and this is an official cleanup.
Found the link https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlysatisfying/s/Sqe20Ua0QV
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u/ThatPlayWasAwful 6d ago
The comments in this post say that it is a new years tradition in many parts of the Netherlands
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u/Free-Illustrator7526 5d ago
Why tf are there 762 nails on that beach? What kind of bonfire includes 80 boxes of Home Depot screws?
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u/AQUEMlNI 5d ago
A few pallet fires over the years, most likely
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u/ASCII_Princess 5d ago
There is a tradition in several countries of burning massive hundred foot tall towers of pallets.
In Ireland its some kind of weird sectarian thing by the Unionists, don't know why the Dutch do it.
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u/No-Flounder4290 5d ago
How the actual F do 99% of these comments miss that there was a BONFIRE... ya know a large pile of wood, usually of pallets being the cheapest to obtain? The nails are kinda idk in the pallets holding them together and idk but last i checked "most" wood fires aren't melting metal
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u/bleue_shirt_guy 5d ago
If only there was such an efficient way to remove broken glass from the beach.
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u/copenhagen622 6d ago
Stop burning pallets
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u/Ok-Asparagus-9998 6d ago
Ooooohhhh. I was trying to figure out why so many nails would be left at a bonfire. Makes sense.
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u/B1gR1g 6d ago
As someone who breakdown pallets for firewood I can tell you how hard it is to pull out their style of nails and why never burn them whole, especially where people will walk even in shoes.
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u/MONEV_GOD 5d ago
This is the kind of effort that actually makes a difference. People leave behind dangerous junk without a second thought, and it takes real work to clean it up. More respect for those who do what others won’t.
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u/Old_Culture2535 5d ago
I’m looking for the answer but can’t find the comment, why are there a bunch of nails in the sand?
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u/WillTwerkForFood1 6d ago
If you play it in reverse, it's some asshole using huge machinery to drop nails all over the beach
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u/DangerousProperty6 6d ago
Why couldn't the crew that re-shingled my roof use one of these in my yard and driveway?
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u/brianthelion89 6d ago
Anyone else read that as snails at first? I was thinking “Damn…I had no idea snails were magnetic”
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u/Altruistic-Poem-5617 6d ago
Great... now that all nails got pulled the beach is gonna drift off into the ocean. Why cant people think before doing stupid shit!
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u/TheyCallMeJPS 6d ago
Now that all of the ferrous metals are gone I want to metal detect that site.