I don't know just how many out there had this little beauty of a school in their list of educational doctrines to brag about later in life, but I , for one, was one who went there because some pencil jockey thought he could get rid of me for three days.
The school was in a hot, musty, downstairs classroom on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay. And it was so well hidden, I almost didn't find it at all, which MAY have been a blessing, but now days, I am glad I went there and collected some smarts about a few things.
The class was about how to patch a leak or a hole in a pipe aboard ship and involved using two part resins and other materials to get the job done. I learned all about things like kick times, temperature controls, different types of resins and epoxies, what could be used as a dam to control the resins, or what could be used to put into the resins to bolster their strength and make a better patch on a leaking pipe.
I never used a single bit of anything I learned in that school while I was in the United States Navy. Really. No kidding at all here.
BUT...And I am sincere with this....I have used it a lot since I have been OUT of the Navy. In my work here at home and at a professional job, I have used quite a bit of epoxy resin and cyanoacrylates, as well as one and two or even a few three part resins to do some real neat stuff.
I don't want to be accused of any advertisements for products on here, because I don't work for any of these outfits. Nobody pays me a dime for using their crap. And that is a pity, because I could sure use the bucks.
My skills as a Navy MOLDER showed me various ways to make a cavity, or mold form, that would produce a desired shape to a given material if I could get it in there and allow it to set and become a solid piece that I could use to make a project work. Modeling clay, cellophane tape, wood and metal forms and framing have all been applied to cast a resin liquid into a solid part. It is really cool to do it like this.
I have made many different parts and pieces for projects and even made a mold to make mold for a friend which he and his family are using to produce a moose call, which is being sold in stores right now as I write this. They sell pretty well, too, and he has even got a few videos out on how to use the moose calls he makes, and even I placed second in a moose calling contest at the Anchorage Sportsman's Show a few years ago using the very moose calls made from my molds.
Working with resins has been a real treat for me. Controlling the temperature to make it set quicker or slower and mixing colors and other items to achieve a desired effect, Using different types of resins to do a particular type of job.
It's been interesting and fun.
One item I discovered in the store is called "JB Weld" This stuff has been used by me to patch holes in engine heads, cast a draw stop for my son's compound archery bow, fix my Lazy-Boy recliner by casting the stuff into holes and using cellophane tape as a dam and embedding parts into a location to form a base for some of my gun smithing projects.
Using the different Cyanoacrylates has been fun. Slow set, quick set, gels and using it for stuff like wood and metals. Way cool. I can glue just about anything to anything else.
Other stuff such as contact cements and slow set glues are a real blast to use on things if I want to make them do different things.
Doing stuff with fiberglass and materials in this class of Polyester resins has allowed me to make repairs on my canoe out in the bush and be able to get it to set even if it is cold out and knowing how to control the kick time is important here,.
Silicone and latex caulk aren't just for the bathroom either. They can be a real time saver in the out doors too.
After my wife wrapped my Datsun pick-up around a tree one winter, it took some real knowledge and skill to plug up the holes where the body of the truck once was. And the new windshield didn't fit quite right either. Some foam rubber coated with a nice silicone caulk of the appropriate color and stuffed into the large holes helped keep the warm air inside the cab so I wasn't quite so cold driving around.
All this from an obscure school on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay.......
What a Blessing it has been for me.
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