Casein picks and sweaty fingers - be careful!

[bufflehead]

Originally Posted by UncleJesse

Signed,

Quarantine day 14

Thanks for pointing that out. I'm on lockdown Day 22, and was already considering whether if I should replicate the experiment.

[Charmed Life Picks]

Originally Posted by Robin, Wales

This has me intrigued! So much so, I put ground coffee into the bottom of a mug, threw in one of my casein picks (1.3mm large teardrop), poured in boiling water and left it to stew for 10 minutes. Then I rinsed the pick off with boiling water. The pick did feel a little more pliable when it was very hot but went back to completely stiff after a cold water rinse. No ill effects.

I wonder if the compound is slightly different in the sheets and bars of casein I buy in the UK to make my own picks?

Robin, hiya. It's even weirder than that. We use about ten different colors of casein. They ALL sound different. Not dramatic, but sometimes noticeable if you listen closely.

When I first noticed this, I didn't say anything to anyone. I thought I was imagining it. But then two customers in the same week wrote separately to me to describe exactly what I was hearing on EXACTLY the same color casein. Bizarre.

I have no explanation for this, other than speculation that the coloring agent, different in each case, must have some effect.

sm

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by dneal

100% not true. Casein is hygroscopic.

Actually I'm 100% true that casein plastic is insoluble...….and so are you that it is hydroscopic. These are two different reactive processes.

[stringjunky]

Originally Posted by Robin, Wales

Actually I'm 100% true that casein plastic is insoluble...….and so are you that it is hydroscopic. These are two different reactive processes.

There may be different processes that make both your respective assertions true.

[jdto]

Interesting discussion! Thank you all for sharing your knowledge about casein.

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by Charmed Life Picks

Robin, hiya. It's even weirder than that. We use about ten different colors of casein. They ALL sound different. Not dramatic, but sometimes noticeable if you listen closely.

When I first noticed this, I didn't say anything to anyone. I thought I was imagining it. But then two customers in the same week wrote separately to me to describe exactly what I was hearing on EXACTLY the same color casein. Bizarre.

I have no explanation for this, other than speculation that the coloring agent, different in each case, must have some effect.

sm

That's just bizarre!

OK - so now we need to test if picks made from casein from cow's milk from herds put out to pasture sound different to picks made from cow's milk from herds raised in feed lots

[dneal]

Originally Posted by Robin, Wales

Actually I'm 100% true that casein plastic is insoluble...….and so are you that it is hydroscopic. These are two different reactive processes.

I really don’t want to be argumentative about this, but you’re simply wrong.

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/fo...e-a-bad-thing/

Pics in that link so you can see.

[Charmed Life Picks]

Originally Posted by Robin, Wales

That's just bizarre!

OK - so now we need to test if picks made from casein from cow's milk from herds put out to pasture sound different to picks made from cow's milk from herds raised in feed lots

Hah!

Making casein is expensive and involved, but I've often wondered whether, o extend your question further, sheep's milk, or goat, or camel, or elephant would sound different?

I'm not about to milk a mama elephant. Any volunteers?

sm

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by dneal

I really don’t want to be argumentative about this, but you’re simply wrong.

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/fo...e-a-bad-thing/

Pics in that link so you can see.

Ahh. We definitely have a 'lost in translation' moment here! Your link to the pen makers' forum shows that the material is hygroscopic in that its moisture content can vary. But it also shows that it is not soluble in that it is not susceptible to being dissolved in a liquid. If the casein plastic pen in the article was soluble it would have disappeared into solution with the water when the guy soaked it overnight. He would have come down in the morning to no pen (for example: if it was made of sugar).

Your bone nut on your guitar is hygroscopic but insoluble. The wood of your guitar is hygroscopic but insoluble. Your metal guitar tuners are neither hygroscopic nor soluble.

In most applications the hygroscopic properties of casein plastics was not noticeable in daily use. Just as in most applications the hygroscopic properties of wood is not noticeable in daily use (guitars are an exception, compared to, say, your kitchen table). For example, millions of clothing items made between 1910 and 1980s had buttons made from casein plastic - you probably have some at home. It was used for buttons because it could both withstand a normal wash (and the dry cleaning process) and withstand being touched by a hot iron (which other plastics of the time could not do so well). A quick search turns up a number of university scientific papers on the material.

The material is also biodegradable, so, given time, its structure will break down. And on those more historic items the pen makers could be seeing some of that natural breakdown effecting the hygroscopic tendencies of the material (ie if the material was very dry before it was soaked).

The surface checking on the pick in this thread could well be a hygroscopic effect. The question I have is why has this happened so early in this items life. As Scott has said - this is very unusual.

[dneal]

Definition of hygroscopic
1 : readily taking up and retaining moisture
2 : taken up and retained under some conditions of humidity and temperature

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by dneal

Definition of hygroscopic
1 : readily taking up and retaining moisture
2 : taken up and retained under some conditions of humidity and temperature

Opps - I should have proof read

[oliverkollar]

To the OP.....I've had casein picks in the past that were pretty old and played in that looked like this right before they cracked to pieces.

YMMV

[jdto]

Originally Posted by oliverkollar

To the OP.....I've had casein picks in the past that were pretty old and played in that looked like this right before they cracked to pieces.

YMMV

Thanks for the heads up. I guess my best option is to just keep playing it and see what happens. So far it seems fine and feels strong.

[StillStephen]

Originally Posted by Charmed Life Picks

Hah!

Making casein is expensive and involved, but I've often wondered whether, o extend your question further, sheep's milk, or goat, or camel, or elephant would sound different?

I'm not about to milk a mama elephant. Any volunteers?

sm

Scott, I assumed all of yours were from happy California cows!?

[Charmed Life Picks]

Originally Posted by StillStephen

Scott, I assumed all of yours were from happy California cows!?

Stephen, Well, can't speak for the whole state, but the cows in MY pasture are certainly happy campers. However, it would be cheesy for me to say so.

sm