spiders

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Posted by Cornish Jack on 09/01/2013 11:47:57:

Quite like spiders – usually named Fred or Freda but the Norfolk variety have the most resilient webs i have ever come across – if you could knit them up they'd do nicely for suspension bridge cables! ………………………………….

Rgds

Bill

Quote:

"Spider silks are just about the toughest material on the planet. Stronger by mass than steel and more durable and flexible than Kevlar, they are also alive to ambient conditions and made to adapt and retain their tensility as humidity and temperature change"

See Here,

And someone said 'poison' – shame on you,

Best regards

Terry

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

And who could forget this lovely garment made from spider silk:

Regards

Terry

[Steve WithnellParticipant @stevewithnell34426]

Is it me or are they getting bigger too? Last week one bugger ran off with my lump hammer…no I didn't try and it snatch it back!

[Martin WParticipant @martinw]

Steve

That must have been one of the smaller ones then if it only got a lump hammer, should see the size of some of them round here .

[SiddleyParticipant @siddley]

I've got an interest in astronomy and have books on amateur telescope building dating back 50 years ( that's the books, not me )

One of the tips for making a 'graticule' for a telescope eyepiece, used to measure the angular seperation of things like binary stars and cloud belts on Jupiter, involves keeping a colony of spiders and using strands from their webs as the material to make the crosshairs. It's very strong for it's diameter apparently.

I'll just keep terminating them with extreme prejudice though, nasty horrible things 😀

[Clive BarkerParticipant @clivebarker72854]

My problem is cockroaches – which are endemic here. Not the small ones, but large ones that run fast and, for a short time each, year fly! Unfortunately, there is a drain near my workshop which means it is very difficult to completely keep them out. This time of year it is no problem, but when things warm up I will be using poison to keep them under control. The geckos eat them, but with some difficulty.

Clive.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Brian O'Connor on 09/01/2013 10:06:50:

… I propose that we have a game of taking turns to jump on each other. They tend to be a bit slow on the uptake so I usually have to demonstrate by having first go. …

B

Brian,

Let's be gratefull that these don't grow very big !!

MichaelG.

[Steve WithnellParticipant @stevewithnell34426]

Note from spider –

"Sorry Mate, bit of crisis last week, needed to peg down the web. Anyway I've put the lump hammer back on the bench, Yours, Chaco White Knee

PS: My Dad thinks your workshop is really cool".

Thought that was quite nice of him really.

Steve.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Siddley on 13/01/2013 01:51:17:

I've got an interest in astronomy and have books on amateur telescope building dating back 50 years ( that's the books, not me )

One of the tips for making a 'graticule' for a telescope eyepiece, used to measure the angular seperation of things like binary stars and cloud belts on Jupiter, involves keeping a colony of spiders and using strands from their webs as the material to make the crosshairs. It's very strong for it's diameter apparently.

I'll just keep terminating them with extreme prejudice though, nasty horrible things 😀

 

Siddley,

You might find this interesting

MichaelG.

.

Link to archive

 

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 13/01/2013 09:21:41

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Clive, you can use the cockroaches like a skate board, handy for moving things around the workshop, your self included. If you want rid of them, you'll have to get bigger spiders. Ian S C

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

I've got loads of spiders, and I like them, wife doesn't. A major use for spider web was blood-clotting, apply a small lump to wound and bleeding stops. I'm told that spiders were bred up here ( NE Scotland) during the first war and the webs collected and sent off for this very purpose. So next time the other tool in the four-way holder gets you just use your own resource.

[nigel jones 5Participant @nigeljones5]

If you let them crawl out of the bath they will crawl into your ears when you are asleep in bed and lay eggs there!!!!!!

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

I love them because the local H&S inspector doesn't

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

I have to relate this story, many years ago in Hong Kong I worked in the Instrument shop and we had a rather vocifereous young Scot who was having trouble cleaning the optics of a pair of Barr and Stroud binoculars.

Come dinner time the lad was off and while he was away the other lads put a small spider into the binos. When the lad came back he was amazed to see this magnified spider walking over the graticule and in some temper shouted out, 'Blxxdy Sassanach binos'. It was gently ponted out that they rere made in Glasgow!

Clive

[JAParticipant @ja]

Can I train them to catch mice?

JA

[Rick SpaidalParticipant @rickspaidal44040]

Wish I had some spiders for my lathe

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