Anthony Cordasco contributed: > >Tony et al: >I have also been thinking of "alternative" materials for sundials and was >wondering if anyone has tried using phenolic. I am currently making a router >table using a sheet of it because it is hard and maintains a very flat >surface.
There is a version of phenolic sheet reinforced with woven cotton known in the UK as 'Tufnol' and it is just that - Tuff! They actually make silent-running gearwheels out of it. I'm not sure how it would stand up to prolonged ultra-violet light but a coat of aluminium paint under the colour coat would remove any risk. As it is usually a dingy brown colour a need a coat of paint might be essential. Formica decorative laminates, which are the same thing but reinforced with sheets of paper and a coloured melamine top layer withstands the weather wonderfully. While typing the above I remembered visiting our local Formica plant where we told that ANY drawing, artwork etc. could be placed on the top paper layer to be laminated permanently into the material. They kept an artwork department for designing just such single sheets. OF COURSE! WHY NOT! A Formica sundial! What could be better?....other than slate, stone, brass, bronze, stainless steel etc. Well, it's a thought! My guess is that it would be among the very best man-made materials for sundialling. Tony Moss P.S. The Formica people also kept a little museum of faulted sheets where 'foreign bodies' such as bumble bees and wasps had got into the press as it was closing. A modern-day version of flies in amber I suppose!
