Had a call yesterday to repair 2 safes at a restaurant that had been wet from Hurricane Katrina. Both where very old H.H.&M's. The 1st one went easy as the owner couldn't get it to lock and the parts where cleanable. Took less then an hour to have it working. Then came the big double door safe. As the owner was trying to get it open for me he told me the history of the old monster. Seems his father bought it when he opened the restaurant some 30 years ago from an old jewelry store. After over 2 dozen runs of the combo it opened for him. After he opened the door and I was working on removing parts, he said he thought it had tear gas in it some where. It just happened that I had the tray with the tear gas in my hand as he was talking about it. Turned it over and there was 2 tubes, about 6 inches long, full of a clear liquid. Told him I needed ice and he had a worker bring me an ice chest half full so I could start chilling it. I took it and all the parts I removed back to the van to work over the crud on the wheel pack and all the rusted items removed. Put the gas in the front seat and started wondering about my sanity at that point. Not only did I have 2 "hot" tubes of tear gas, I also had 2 30lb. propane tanks in the van for my FEMA trailer. Would be a perfect time to get into a wreck with some 30 miles to drive back home. By the time I got home I decided the freezer was out of the question. If it froze and cracked the glass I'd have a mess airing out the trailer for sure. So I left it outside hoping the neighbor's lab wouldn't get it. Maybe I'll give it to the police so they can use it to disperse protesters.
Only the second time in over 32 years that I've ran across a safe with it still there. What's next? Nitro?