How to make a knife handle from colored pencils

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/05/14/how-to-make-a-knife-handle-fro.html

3 Likes

These things are mostly epoxy resin and will probably outlast the Sun

5 Likes

I figure that’s the problem! Brittle, very hard, while the underlying mix of wood, paint and wax is so soft it doesn’t amount to anything useful.

1 Like

So - useless as an emergency tactical pencil?

5 Likes

When you combine a matrix that is strong in compression (like cement or epoxy) with a mesh that is strong in extension (like jute or wood) you generally get something that is much tougher than either. That’s, like, the whole basis of the sixties-style thin-shell concrete structures that architecture students build on a Wednesday afternoon and then realise they physically can’t get rid of so it just festers outside for the rest of the year with smokers sitting on it.

But IDK how it works with these pencil materials because the paint on the pencils probably stops the epoxy actually diffusing into the wood. And presumably the wax can just melt and run away if you leave it on a hot dashboard.

8 Likes

These were cool videos! I’d like to see it just as a display material… I could see a Chuck Close type “painting” made using the same technique.

everybody should learn some good old fashion prison crafts for the coming Trump imposition of martial law and suspension of election results.

This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.