21 March 2021

Solid Mercury

Actually it's a bar of high tensile steel, but it looks rather like a capsule of solid mercury inside a block of maple wood, which has no marks, cuts, splits or joins.

So the question is, "How did it get in there?"









3 comments:

  1. Are we supposed to guess? Knowing you - either the wood was warped and repositioned after the steel was inserted or the steel was a different shape when inserted and then re-moulded once it was in position. Now you have to tell us the secret!

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  2. Spoiler Alert! The wood was either boiled or steamed, making it soft enough to insert the steel. Once dried, it leaves no marks and is hardened again. Tada!

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  3. Seager got it! Yup, I soaked the wood in hot (not quite boiling) water for about 45 minutes then just squeezed the capsule into the space. Unfortunately, this water treatment causes the natural roughness of the wood to swell up so I had to sand it smooth again with fine emery paper.

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