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Old 11-27-2019, 08:03 AM
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Mark Hatcher Mark Hatcher is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Green Mountains
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Default Dragon's Breath

The Woodsman guitar got me really looking at traditional guitar making techniques, both in building and finishing guitars. In my explorations I found a magical powder: Dragon's Breath.
I say this because it seems to have a million uses. For guitar making it is just the right color when making a filler for spruce tops.

Dragon's Breath is also called Lycopodium powder and it comes from several species of Club Moss. Locally here in New Hampshire we have Lycopodium Obscurum. Here it is growing in the woods behind my house:



The powder is the spores from the strobilus of the plant which are the cat tail like structures on top:



When drying the powder comes right out:



This powder is made up of extremely round and small spores that move like a liquid inside a jar. It is easily airborne and in science is used as a way to show sound waves passing through air.
It is hydrophobic (repels water) so it is used to keep pills from sticking together as well as latex gloves etc. Actually, the list of uses goes on and on.

The spores are packed with high energy proteins which gives it the Dragon's Breath name. It is the magic powder a sorcerer uses to throw flame. It was used in photography as flash powder and is still used for stage effects.

So you know I had to try that out!

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Mark Hatcher
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“Let me make the songs of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws.”. Andrew Fletcher

Last edited by Mark Hatcher; 11-27-2019 at 08:22 AM.
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