today meredith and i were on our way back from gasworks. we went out for a day of kite flying, but the wind was a bit sporadic so we headed home early. the burke-gilman trail takes us there and back pretty easily, but you have to break off at some point and head north. on my way back from work the other day i came up 8th ave and found 3 apple trees that were bearing fruit, and i wanted to check on them again. they were right where i left the, but the fruit hadn’t matured much in the last few weeks, so we kept right on and soon stumbled on something quite strange.
outside in front of a house just north of 42nd Street was this crazy looking lens about 3 feet wide fixed to a PVC pipe frame. meredith and i stopped and stared at it for a while and then read the sign that was attached. it explained what the thing was, but i wanted more info, so we hung out in the yard for a while hoping that someone would come out and show us what was up. soon enough, this guy (i forgot to get his name) came out and was very friendly. he brought us sunglasses (the concentrated light can get VERY bright) and went to work.
the fresnel lens that he was using is the same type of lense used in lighthouses. set atop a wire frame right at the focal point of the light was a special rock that could absorb some of the heat and help to focus it even more onto a single spot. the lense was about 3 feet in diameter and can generate heat up to 3000 degrees!
three thousand (3000) degrees!? what the hell was this guy doing with it? he was making jewelry, Sundrop Jewerly to be exact. it’s a very simple idea: melt the end of a piece of glass until it starts to drip, as it’s dripping remove it from the heat and let it cool as it drips toward the ground. after it cools, break the stalk above the droplet and make an earring out of it. done and done.
there are 2 videos on the website that i highly recommend watching:
i am totally amazed by this shit and i’m seriously considering buying this one from Edmond Scientific. the guy said that he got the one he was using from the same website for about $300, but i can’t find it. i’ll keep looking and let you know what i come up with.
Filed under: nerdery
that is the best thing i’ve seen in the month of july. if i had a spare 300 around i’d be on it. on a similar note, i was buzzing around some wilderness survival sites in an attempt to find a primative skills school and i found the following. definitely worth a try.
fire from coke
http://wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/fire/cokeandchocolatebar/
fire from ice
http://wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/fire/ice/rb/rbfirefromice2.html
Wow. that’s fun. Go for it.
that’s awesome pete. loved the links.