NeuroKoan's Journal: A Big Hammer Solution

So, senior year in high school, my buddy and I create one of the gnarliest catapults for our high school physics class. The main spring was from a dirt bike shock that we disassembeled (boy was that fun). The rest of the machine was built from rusty metal we found around my friends-dad's scrap yard. Fun. We didn't win the competition, our welds broke from the force of the motorcycle spring when we did our first run. Fun. We still got a trophy for having the most violent looking catapult our physics teacher had ever seen.

5 years later...

I come home on spring break from UCSB and notice that there is (for lack of a better term) only about one lynch-pin left holding the thing together. This is bad. The dirt-bike shock spring is still compressed 1/2 an inch (as it has been for the past 5 years) and there is one bent and rusty little bolt keeping my catapult from turning into my own version of a Bouncing Betty.

Problem: disable this rusty piece of crap for crap without hurting myself or giving myself tetnus. Fun.

First thought: maybe if I find a hacksaw, or cutting torch in my dads tool shed, I could cut the necessary welds or something (I am trained in using both of these tools, so its not quite as bad of an idea as it may seem). Crap. That would put me inches away from the thing while I release the old'n'rusty spring.

Second thought: drop it from a really high vantage point and let gravity do the work. Gravity decided to laugh at me. The contraption didn't budge after the 25 ft. fall to *soft* ground. Fun.

Third thought: Use a big rock, and let gravity do the work. After three tosses, I just ended up bending everything. Once again, gravity ended up being entirely unhelpful. Fun.

My dad saw what I was attempting to do and came down with large sledge hammer and a pair of saftey goggles. After a few quick swings, he turns to me and says in his best mocking-Ward-Cleaver voice "You see, there is a big hammer solution to just about every problem."