Human hair for bow belly

[sleek]

I wonder to the compressive strength of hair if bound in a hide glue. Perhaps a good soak, tightly bound and vaccume bagged.

[Nasr]

is human hair strong in compression?

[Nasr]

i mean ive heard that hair is stronger then steel in tensile strength but idk how true that is

[sleek]

The museum in natural history in London has this to say.

Hair is strong. A single strand could hold 100g (3oz) in weight: the combined hair of a whole head could support 12 tonnes, or the weight of two elephants. Weight for weight, it is not as strong as steel: more like aluminium, or reinforced glass fibres or Kevlar, which is used to make bulletproof vests.

[Nasr]

damn that is impressive but isnt that tensile strength?? or m i missing something

[Tim Baker]

sleek:

Cool idea and worth testing. Most new ideas don't work, but so what. When used as a bow string it has a lot of stretch, so might have high hysteresis. Easy enough to find out. Horse tail might be the easiest, being so coarse. Hide glue might not like sticking to it. Maybe test that separately. When ready for the belly test maybe glue up thin bundles, as if preparing sinew for backing, letting each fully dry before setting in place and pouring glue on. This will way speed belly drying time, and reduce shrinkage, 

[sleek]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.researchgate.net/publication/280610881_Evaluation_of_mechanical_properties_of_human_hair_bombyx_mori_silk_fiber_reinforced_epoxy_based_biocomposite/amp


This is fascinating. Not as much info as I am searching for, but still makes me think hair can work in a bow, but more likely as a back than a belly.

[Ryan Jacob]

Hmm... So hair is made of keratin right, and so are finger nails and rhino horn, those last 2 are definitely a good deal strong and flexible. I also looked it up and hair wont melt, it just softens then burns. Maybe you could make a test piece of hair in a glue matrix and test it out first.

[sleek]

Hmm... So hair is made of keratin right, and so are finger nails and rhino horn, those last 2 are definitely a good deal strong and flexible. I also looked it up and hair wont melt, it just softens then burns. Maybe you could make a test piece of hair in a glue matrix and test it out first.

too bad it wont melt, then i could melt it into a mass.
Of course, different hair colours will have different strengths. Mines brown. Diet may matter as well. 

Im gonna go to the barber for a trim, see what can be done as a test. I need to figure out the test parameters. How well it holds together in a glue matrix, resistibe forces etc...

[Bryce]

SMH

[sleek]

SMH

Lol what? SMH? Shaking My Head or Shaving My Head?

[PatM]

I presented my horsetail horn hypothesis on here years ago.  The problem with hair is finding glue that sticks to it as well as the natural binders of keratin in horn..

 It's easy enough to experiment with  modern glues but that kind of defeats the purpose.

 One of the things often overlooked when gluing natural fibers is that they tend to have surfaces as slick as the rind of bamboo.  So you may think you are gluing them up well but on the inside the glue is not actually sticking to the fiber at all.

[Bryce]

SMH

Lol what? SMH? Shaking My Head or Shaving My Head?

Lol shake*

Hair.... well it’s kinda like baleen. And baleen makes a great backing material. Hair I think will be difficult to apply compared to baleen.

[sleek]

I presented my horsetail horn hypothesis on here years ago.  The problem with hair is finding glue that sticks to it as well as the natural binders of keratin in horn..

 It's easy enough to experiment with  modern glues but that kind of defeats the purpose.

 One of the things often overlooked when gluing natural fibers is that they tend to have surfaces as slick as the rind of bamboo.  So you may think you are gluing them up well but on the inside the glue is not actually sticking to the fiber at all.

Perhaps using a chemical agent that will etch the surface of the hair to allow better bonding? Vinegar? Diesel? Maybe boil it in a soap water to remove oils?

As a last resort, grind it to a pwder and use it as an additive to the glue to make a thick paste to the point its almost not even sticky anymore. Then it will be more hair than glue, hopefully giving best results.

[PatM]

I presented my horsetail horn hypothesis on here years ago.  The problem with hair is finding glue that sticks to it as well as the natural binders of keratin in horn..

 It's easy enough to experiment with  modern glues but that kind of defeats the purpose.

 One of the things often overlooked when gluing natural fibers is that they tend to have surfaces as slick as the rind of bamboo.  So you may think you are gluing them up well but on the inside the glue is not actually sticking to the fiber at all.

Perhaps using a chemical agent that will etch the surface of the hair to allow better bonding? Vinegar? Diesel? Maybe boil it in a soap water to remove oils?

As a last resort, grind it to a pwder and use it as an additive to the glue to make a thick paste to the point its almost not even sticky anymore. Then it will be more hair than glue, hopefully giving best results.

  Yes, for advanced natural composites which are becoming more popular these days tackling the bonding problem is usually done with Sodium Hydroxide or similar and silane treatments etc.

 A lot of research goes into this.

You can get some pretty advancedFflax and Hemp fabrics these days that are used in demanding aplications where glass or carbon would typically be used.