NightHawkInLight, "A Better Way to Waterproof Fabric"
siiky
2024/09/25
2024/09/25
2024/09/25
video
Best video I've watched in a long time! Learned three things: how to waterproof fabric with simple(-ish) materials; how to make a "button" without a button; a cool slip knot. Also compares fabric to plastic tarps, and explains why plastic tarps start breaking.
Waterproofing
Key timestamps:
- 3min50s historical recipes, just in passing
- 6min7s ingredients and ratios
- 10min1s making the waterproofing material
- 11min5s letting it cool down for 2~3h -- possibly useful as a heat battery
- 11min28s taking the waterproofing material out of the pan -- put it in the freezer for a few minutes
- 12min39s waterproofing a tarp
- 18min33s evening out the waterproofing after-the-fact
- 19min31s flammability tests
- 21min55s waterproofing a jacket
Ingredients:
I suppose paraffin wax can probably be replaced by another wax (such as bees' wax?). The problem, to me, of paraffin is that it's a petroleum derivative, and that it's toxic when burned. The problem with bees' wax is that bees are exploited to produce it... :/ I don't know of other types of wax, have to research, but I wonder if tree sap/resin/gum/latex couldn't do the trick with some treatment... He mentions "boiled linseed oil" at 4min7s.
Mineral oil, I just discovered, is also a petroleum derivative... I wonder if other oils could work as well.
Making it
Melt the wax in bain-marie and mix it with the oil. Let it cool down to solidify, and take out of the pan. If tapping on the bottom doesn't do it, put the pan in the freezer for a few minutes and try again.
Applying it
For simple things, like sheets, simply cut in small chunks, slowly melt on top of the fabric and spread using an iron, for example. The thing should be able to pass through several layers and waterproof several layers at a time.
For more complex things, such as a jacket, rub chunks of it and use a hair drier or heat gun to melt.
Button and slip knot
Watch the video starting at 24min56s for the button, and at 26min19s for the knot (taut-line hitch).