“This piece of crap phone never works” is a phrase I heard – with the occasionally more profane exclamations from time to time – every single day for more than a decade back when I worked on cell phones for a major carrier. It was a career that paid the bills and really did teach me a lot of things that, for better or worse, I won’t ever forget. Namely, the smell of burning cell phones. It usually happens with liquid-damaged phones that short out, and, in more cases than you’d think, when a customer thought they’d be sly by literally microwaving away the liquid they spilled on their phone.

Yeah, people are dummies from time to time. Now, if you ever get the chance to smell a burning cell phone… don’t do it. That is not an opportunity on which you will be happy to capitalize. Speaking from experience, burnt cell phone is a mixture of burned plastic, old solder, and broken dreams. Instead, watch this video from the mesmerizing YouTube series Red Hot Nickel Ball – RHNB if you nasty – by carsandwater as they bring to light a universal truth. Older cell phones are goddamned indestructible beasts.

For those who have yet to get lost in their videos, the magic in the beautifully simple series RHNB lies in three simple steps.

Step 1: Heat up ball of nickel until it’s red-hot.

Step 2: Put aforementioned red-hot ball of nickel on things.

Step 3: Enjoy!

It’s a formula that has captivated the minds and bandwidth of millions. They’ve put the RHNB on fruit, candy, wax, ballistic gelatin, ice, and other household items to varying effects. The thing to notice with this Nokia 3310 is that the circuit board pretty much survives and would probably, with a few new parts and solder, be relatively salvageable. These phones could survive almost anything you threw at them.

What would you like to see the RHNB be placed on? Let us know in the comments below.

h/t LaughingSquid