White “Graphite” Powder?

[Guest]

OK, it probably wouldn’t actually be graphite, but I really like adding graphite powder (and a dag of black pigment) in the epoxy mix when making black Dynel skid plates.

And covering that with gloss black enamel paint. But. . . .

. . . .gloss black shows every tiny blem in the cloth or epoxy, even from 30 feet away. I’ve never tried flat black for skid plates, maybe next time.

But white paint, even gloss white enamel, hides flaws better than any other color. And a white Dynel skid plate on a white hull essentially disappears if peel ply compressed as the epoxy sets up.

So, is there anything “graphite-like” tough, slippery and white opaque? I would still add a dab of white pigment, but the ultra fine powder seems to help fully color saturate the cloth, even with surface scrape reveals.

Aluminum powder?

 

[Dan Cooke]

In my machine building job we filled holes in anodized aluminum with epoxy, we often spayed it with spray paint to "color" the epoxy to match the color of anodize.

 

[Jim Dodd]

I'd like to find some White Graphite !

Graphite does add slippery to a canoe bottom, ! The black absorbs too much solar heat. I've seen some terrible bubbles in the epoxy / graphited canoe bottom, of a friends canoe ! It was left out in the hot Summer Sun !
I cringe just thinking about it !

 

[alsg]

Lead (they used to use it in cosmetics)?

 

[Guest]

I'd like to find some White Graphite !

Graphite does add slippery to a canoe bottom, ! The black absorbs too much solar heat. I've seen some terrible bubbles in the epoxy / graphited canoe bottom, of a friends canoe ! It was left out in the hot Summer Sun !

I have had no problems with the epoxy & G/flex black Dynel, graphite powder and (black) pigment skid plates, even atop the truck parked in the desert sun. But I wouldn’t want a full sized heat-sink black hull bottom done that way. It might be an oven under the cap.

The soloized Kee 16 I will never actually buy will look like this:

http://www.swiftcanoe.com/keewaydin-16

I really like white hulled boats, or more specifically boats with a waterline white scuff bottom, whether gel coated or painted or etc. The white doesn’t show scratches and scrapes as badly.

I like the “idea” that graphite powder makes the hull slipperier on grabby rocks (how much slipperier I do not know), but mostly I want some fine white powder I can add to the epoxy mix, along with a dab of white pigment, to help fully and deeply saturate the cloth with white.

White pigment in the epoxy mix, top coated with a sacrificial layer of white enamel paint, works well enough, and is easy to touch up, but I’m with you; I’d like to find a fine powder additive, even if without graphite-like slippery properties.

 

[deerfly]

Mike, I think this is the stuff you're looking for:

http://sandblastingabrasives.com/hexagonal-boron-nitride-powder-order-page-781.html

You can google around with the material name or even just hbn and find more uses as a friction reducer. Its touted by some as a better alternative to graphite powder although it is substantially more expensive. No first hand experience here tho. I almost tried it on my northwind, but decided to stick with graphite. I may try the hbn on a 16' skiff I'm getting closer to starting on.

 

[stripperguy]

Mike,
I cofounded an R & D company that is based on the principals of Tribology...We have some proprietary dry film lubricant coatings that were specifically developed for certain applications. (some were patented, others kept as trade secrets).

You can purchase Teflon powder to add to your epoxy if you want to decrease its coefficient of friction. There are a multitude of low friction bearing materials for dry film lubrication...try researching Torlons Rulon, some Polyamides, and even some Nylons...all have low friction coefficients and may give you some insight as to what else you may add to your epoxy.

Unfortunately, I can't morally (or contractually) provide any more specific information, but I hope I've offered up enough info to guide your search.

Edit: I just saw your response to Jim D.... If you're merely looking for a fine white powder, try some TiO2. It's readily available in various particle sizes and is relatively inexpensive as it is widely used as a pigment.

 

[Guest]

In my machine building job we filled holes in anodized aluminum with epoxy, we often spayed it with spray paint to "color" the epoxy to match the color of anodize.

Dan, thanks for the clarification; if I understand correctly, matching spray paint color spritzed and stirred into the epoxy mix.

I have a collection of color agent pigments, black, white, red, green, blue, yellow. Not quite the full ROY G BIV color spectrum, but close. But trying to mix pigments to achieve a certain tint is a crap shoot, especially when mixing multiple batches of tinted epoxy when each batch comes out a little different.

I had heard, but never tried, that acrylic paint could be used as well, but never thought about spray paint as a color agent.

Enamel spray paint is available in dang near every color under the sun. I’ll keep that in mind if I need to mix some off-color Kelly Green or Lime Orange.

 

[alsg]

Reviving this thread. I stumbled across this product and remembered Mike's quest for a white graphite powder.

This isn't graphite. Rather is an epoxy/teflon bottom coating originally developed for airboats (think Florida).

https://fascoepoxies.com/Fasco-9xn-2000-Super-Slick-Epoxy-Bottom-Coating.html

There's a page for numerous compatible pigments, including white.

http://fascoepoxies.com/Fasco-Pigments.html

I have no experience with this product and no idea how it would work on various canoe hull materials.

But I am intrigued.

 

[zski]

Reviving this thread. I stumbled across this product and remembered Mike's quest for a white graphite powder.

This isn't graphite. Rather is an epoxy/teflon bottom coating originally developed for airboats (think Florida).

https://fascoepoxies.com/Fasco-9xn-2000-Super-Slick-Epoxy-Bottom-Coating.html

There's a page for numerous compatible pigments, including white.

http://fascoepoxies.com/Fasco-Pigments.html

I have no experience with this product and no idea how it would work on various canoe hull materials.

But I am intrigued.

Thanks for posting this. I'm curious to know if anyone has used this product with white pigment - it looks like a great idea. There are a couple of videos with a Jon boat, would be good to see more

 

[goonstroke]

I missed this thread the first time around. I have no firsthand experience with the fasco products or any form of white graphite fairy dust, but it seems like one could use zinc oxide and/or titanium dioxide, aka the ingredients in most old school mineral sunscreens. They are "quite white", and also relatively safe.

 

[deerfly]

http://www.microlubrol.com/MicroLubr...5--micron.aspx

excerpt from link..
WHAT IS HEXAGONAL BORON NITRIDE?
Hexagonal Boron Nitride, also known as just Boron Nitride or hBN and sometimes called "white graphite,"

 

[Guest]

http://www.microlubrol.com/MicroLubr...5--micron.aspx

excerpt from link..
WHAT IS HEXAGONAL BORON NITRIDE?
Hexagonal Boron Nitride, also known as just Boron Nitride or hBN and sometimes called "white graphite,"

Deerfly, thanks for finding that. The “sometimes called white graphite” is encouraging, as is the compatibility with plastic resins and low coefficient of friction.

I may order a jar before I do the next boat with a white bottom.

EDIT: Ordered and on the way.

I expect to have a white bottomed sea kayak or an all-white Sawyer Loon in the shop this spring. I may try white skid plates first, Dynel and epoxy resin with a dab of white pigment and white hexagonal boron nitride as an initial experiment.

This kind of thing is why I appreciate Canoe Tripping, lots of curious and knowledgeable contributors, lots of questions answered.