Mike160304
Established Member
A great cheap amateur hobby is building ultralight CAR-TOP canoes/kayaks/dinghies etc with 3-5mm soft light okoume 3-ply plywood and relatively small amounts of liquid epoxy resin for glueing, taping seams, encapsulating and, sometimes, waterproof coating (e.g. 3 coats of epoxy soaked in and then protected from UV by almost any kind of paint).
Whether this is a hull or accessories, the hardness, for resistance to knocks, is important, but little discussed in "yotting" literature.
I like comparing finishes on tiny wood samples, for waterproofness - by soaking for 24 hours in water and then weighing the sample to check water absorption.
This is highly revealing, but also of interest is the hardness of the composite, before and after soaking, for resistance to knocks.
E.G. 7 coats of Rustins Danish Oil may be as waterproof as 3 coats of soaked-in epoxy, but how does the hardness compare?
For those of you still awake, my question is:
Is this cheap Shore A hardness tester likely to help me with this amateur experimentation? :
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1576446608.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.9.4b9b10b83j4xil&algo_pvid=c561ee45-f580-4e4c-bead-287be0b50e51&aem_p4p_detail=2024091402175211157833366231760012699448&algo_exp_id=c561ee45-f580-4e4c-bead-287be0b50e51-4&pdp_npi=4@dis!GBP!29.71!21.69!!!37.90!27.67!@210385db17263054729027539e2f6f!12000036655892678!sea!UK!0!ABX&curPageLogUid=dAsycrJ0gYDn&utparam-url=scene:search|query_from:&search_p4p_id=2024091402175211157833366231760012699448_5
It says that "Shore A" is for softer materials up to "resins", not for metals like Rockwell testers - and Okoume plywood is very soft when bare.
At this level of expenditure, it might be worth a go?
Mike
Whether this is a hull or accessories, the hardness, for resistance to knocks, is important, but little discussed in "yotting" literature.
I like comparing finishes on tiny wood samples, for waterproofness - by soaking for 24 hours in water and then weighing the sample to check water absorption.
This is highly revealing, but also of interest is the hardness of the composite, before and after soaking, for resistance to knocks.
E.G. 7 coats of Rustins Danish Oil may be as waterproof as 3 coats of soaked-in epoxy, but how does the hardness compare?
For those of you still awake, my question is:
Is this cheap Shore A hardness tester likely to help me with this amateur experimentation? :
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1576446608.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.9.4b9b10b83j4xil&algo_pvid=c561ee45-f580-4e4c-bead-287be0b50e51&aem_p4p_detail=2024091402175211157833366231760012699448&algo_exp_id=c561ee45-f580-4e4c-bead-287be0b50e51-4&pdp_npi=4@dis!GBP!29.71!21.69!!!37.90!27.67!@210385db17263054729027539e2f6f!12000036655892678!sea!UK!0!ABX&curPageLogUid=dAsycrJ0gYDn&utparam-url=scene:search|query_from:&search_p4p_id=2024091402175211157833366231760012699448_5
It says that "Shore A" is for softer materials up to "resins", not for metals like Rockwell testers - and Okoume plywood is very soft when bare.
At this level of expenditure, it might be worth a go?
Mike