Over the years a lot of experimental work I did was centered around high
strain rate phenomena in solids. Which, there are probably more people attending your hometown high school football game than are interested in that field.
I have always had an interest in steel, its chemistry, its properties, and also its role in human history.
Thus, my interest in knifemaking which embodies the art and craft of steel
as well as the science.
In testing explosives a steel witness plate is often used to give a quick
qualitative look at what the explosive output may have been. Often times
it's more of a convenient way to rest the test item on a more stable
surface. Over the years I must have used thousands of steel plates of
various sizes and deformed them, punched holes in them and generally
scattered them everywhere. I think I may have spent half a year out of my
life just collecting them up afterwards. Needless to say I still have a few
of them lying around.