PariahZero
Member
I’ve been playing a bit with dud recipes... buttermilk, various percentage milks, cream (fat), dissolved sodium caseinate (milk protein), and others.
I don’t believe in secret formulas, so I figure I’ll post my experiments here.
Overall, I try to measure what I can, both before and after working on the tips.
For each tip, I:
• Measure the tip hardness (Shore A and D)
• Weigh the tip to the tenth of the mg
• Wipe off as much chalk (Elk dust?), sand the base flat
• Mix up a soaking solution. Write down what I have.
• Soak the tip for some period of time (that’s a variable I keep track of)
• Press the tip. I don’t yet have a strain gauge yet, or pneumatic/hydraulic press, so I can’t measure how much pressure I’m pressing it. I try for the OEM length, though.
• Wait 8 hours or so
• Pop the tip out, let it dry completely for a few days at 20% RH
• Weigh the tip
• Measure the tip hardness (Shore A and D)
The scale is good - check weights verify no problem. The idea is that if a tip weighs more after soaking in milk, it’s an indication something was added by the milk.
I realize the hardness isn’t a true duronometer measurement, as the tip is not thick enough; still, it’s a decent relative measurement.
The thing that’s throwing me so far: The tips weigh less — by 20-40 mg — than they weighed before soaking and pressing. This runs counter to the idea that soaking in milk “adds” anything.
I suspect that fats (or maybe some soluble protein or salts) in the leather are dissolving and being removed by the solution.
My next try will be soaking in soapy water (specifically to remove fats), pressing, and weighing - so I can dissolve & remove whatever I can first.
Then I’ll re-soak with to see if I can show whether anything is added to tips by soaking in milk, cream, casein, etc.
If I can’t show if anything - fats, proteins, whatever - are added to the tips by soaking, I wonder if there’s any point in using anything but water.
I don’t believe in secret formulas, so I figure I’ll post my experiments here.
Overall, I try to measure what I can, both before and after working on the tips.
For each tip, I:
• Measure the tip hardness (Shore A and D)
• Weigh the tip to the tenth of the mg
• Wipe off as much chalk (Elk dust?), sand the base flat
• Mix up a soaking solution. Write down what I have.
• Soak the tip for some period of time (that’s a variable I keep track of)
• Press the tip. I don’t yet have a strain gauge yet, or pneumatic/hydraulic press, so I can’t measure how much pressure I’m pressing it. I try for the OEM length, though.
• Wait 8 hours or so
• Pop the tip out, let it dry completely for a few days at 20% RH
• Weigh the tip
• Measure the tip hardness (Shore A and D)
The scale is good - check weights verify no problem. The idea is that if a tip weighs more after soaking in milk, it’s an indication something was added by the milk.
I realize the hardness isn’t a true duronometer measurement, as the tip is not thick enough; still, it’s a decent relative measurement.
The thing that’s throwing me so far: The tips weigh less — by 20-40 mg — than they weighed before soaking and pressing. This runs counter to the idea that soaking in milk “adds” anything.
I suspect that fats (or maybe some soluble protein or salts) in the leather are dissolving and being removed by the solution.
My next try will be soaking in soapy water (specifically to remove fats), pressing, and weighing - so I can dissolve & remove whatever I can first.
Then I’ll re-soak with to see if I can show whether anything is added to tips by soaking in milk, cream, casein, etc.
If I can’t show if anything - fats, proteins, whatever - are added to the tips by soaking, I wonder if there’s any point in using anything but water.