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Mythbusters James Bond Special part two:

“Goodbye, 00-Buster!”

ODDJOB'S DEADLY DERBY

Myth: A steel-brimmed hat can cut through a stone statue.

Miss Moneypenny always seemed impressed by Bond’s ability to land his headwear on the office hat stand with an inch-perfect throw, but 007 isn’t the only character in Ian Fleming’s world of espionage that’s handy with a hat.

Bowler hats and deadly instruments of death aren’t often part of the same thought process, with one notable exception: Oddjob’s steel-brimmed derby from 1964’s Goldfinger. With its razor sharp metal brim, when thrown correctly it could take the head clean off the shoulders of a solid stone statue.

But is this just pure fantasy or could such a weapon produce the requisite power to cut through stone?

Kari, Grant and Tory prove whether or not one of Bond’s most iconic adversaries would have been a terrifying decapitating death dealer in real life, or as threatening as a butter knife wrapped in fuzzy felt.

JAWS'S JAWS

Myth: Steel teeth can cut through inch thick wire rope.

1979’s Moonraker re-introduced the viewing public to 7’ 2” Jaws, who, as well as being a hulking, menacing man-mountain, displayed the kind of dental work that would fuel the playground jibes of many a cruel kid toward those familiar with the orthodontist: steel teeth.

First seen in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me, his actions in Moonraker, specifically when he bites through an inch thick steel cable causing Bond to slip from the roof of the cable care it’s supporting, are what concern Adam and Jamie here.

Making a replica of Jaws’s metal gnashers from the film, and taking into account Jaws’s apparently superhuman strength, the team prove whether or not we need to fear for our lives should a seven foot, steel toothed hired killer need to bite through an inch of wire rope to get to us.

PEN GRENADE

Myth: A pen loaded with explosives can blow a person’s torso to pieces.

Is the pen mightier than the sword? If that pen is also a class four grenade, then the answer’s not too difficult to deduce.

A Parker Jotter pen with the ability to blow a torso to pieces, Bond makes good use of this gadget in 1995’s Goldeneye, timing his move to take advantage of the pen’s four second fuse, snatching it from Boris’s hand and throwing it into a puddle of fuel in Trevelyan’s Cuban headquarters, to suitably explosive results.

Adam and Jamie have no supervillains to stop, but they do have a number of dummies to blow to smithereens, and they seem quite content with that.

Hollowing out a regular pen and replacing the insides with explosives, the Mythbusters set out to prove whether or not such a small device can contain the explosive power to blow a poor dummy’s torso to pieces.