Shelter: Varnishes and Sealant

This method makes the oil thicker, and thus a better varnish. Turpentine oil itself (), which is produced when the sap of pine trees (turpentine gum) is steam distilled, can be used as an effective varnish. This type of steam distiller, below, could be used in our world, with all of our already developed technology. But on Arda we would have to use simpler methods as will be described later. Steam Distiller (click for larger image) Figure 3.

 

While all these things we could easily find on Arda, in nature, we could also use chemical elements to create good varnishes. The three most effective all contain aluminum that we could get from the colonists working on metallurgy. The first, aluminum phosphate, is made by performing a double displacement reaction with aluminum sulfate and sodium phosphate. The equation is:

         

 

This compound is dissolved in alcohol to create the varnish. Aluminum oleate and Aluminum stearate both are used in varnishes to make the substance dry faster, stay thicker (for quicker application), and be more waterproof. Their formulas are:

     Stearate: 

     Oleate:    

These substances, when produced, would be a good alternative in case natural resources ever ran low or began to be less effective.

 

All the elements needed would be present in Arda itself and so could be isolated from other substances in reactions, synthesized, and then put through the reactions above. For practical reasons, however, we would need to originally produce varnish and sealant out of purely naturally occurring materials. Technology would not be advanced enough to create the chemical substances needed for the project. Thus our varnish would use linseed oil and rosin. Linseed is a slender plant around three feet tall with narrow leaves and blue flowers. The seeds are housed in "small spherical capsules" on the stems (Natural Health, 138).

Flax Seeds Figure 4.

 

These seeds would be collected, crushed in a metal bowl (fashioned out of metal provided by the metallurgy group) with a rock (or other heavy implement) and then strain through a perforated metal sheet. This would isolate the oil.