[pct-l] silk backpack

[Bighummel@aol.com]

My wife just informed me that silk wouldn't work out as a backpack material.  
If you snag a thread and bust it (although tough, at 3-4 miles per hour, it 
probably will loose the tug of war) on a branch the rest of the material will 
begin to unravel and unlike nylon you can't singe it to stop it.  She 
questions the durability also as silk-screens (as in silk-screen printing) 
are only used about ten times before being replaced.

Ah well, if you think about it, you can say that all materials are natural in 
that they all have come directly or indirectly from the earth.  This is an 
interesting exercise that I challenge 4th through 8th graders with in my 
geology discussions.  Try to name a material in your house that didn't come 
directly or indirectly from the earth!  It starts to take the term 
"synthetic" and question where the fine line is drawn between man made 
materials and "natural" materials.

Now I have these really cool corrugated plastic sheets, 4' x 8'.  A tent made 
of this stuff with about 34 square feet and a height of .  .  .  .  

Musings of a mad, homebound, hiker,

Greg "Strider" Hummel
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