Heat + Smash

Heat.

We can experiment on heat with materials such as wood and paper.

I brought in an old piece of treated and painted timber, and some toilet paper.

Wood, before heat.

Post heat gun.

The heat gun was quite effective on wood, cracking it, scalding it, and charring the paint.

The large crack was a result of the concentrated heat, as was the blackening.

The heat gun melted and burnt the paint.

Marks made by a soldering iron.

The effects of the soldering iron were underwhelming and slow.

You needed to melt through the two layers of paint very slowly in order to have an effect on the timber.

No, thats not a dirty piece of loo paper, it is a scorch mark. I thought the soldering iron would heat the paper up enough to burn it and ignite a flame, but no, in fact the TP was rather unreactive.

I could hold the paper tight around the soldering iron and this is the best scorch I got.

I decided to try boiling the wood to see what would happen, it softened the wood a lot, softening the glues, and refreshing the smell of pine it once had.

After boiling the wood for a few minutes I smashed it a bit with a hammer. This split both the paint and the timber itself.

Splitting of paint as a result of heat.

It was revealed that teh timber was a lot softer after being boiled and soaked in water. This made it more maleable, the hammer not only split the wood but also squashed it in places.

When the wood had time to cool it hardened as before, yet also retained its squashed, smashed, and split state.