The cable-tv station The Discovery Channel has a series called “How It’s Made.” Have you seen it? It’s a 30-minute program that features about 3 segments that take you inside factories and show you how different things are made and the unusual oddities associated with them. Currently they are running back-to-back episodes at 7:00 and 7:30 pm Eastern on weekdays.
Last night they took a visit to the MSA/Cairns plant that makes leather fire helmets. I found it quite interesting because there are a lot more steps in the production process than you realize. And there is so much handwork involved that you can readily see why they don’t come cheap.
A couple of things that impressed me were, first the sharpness of the knives that they use to trim the excess leather after pieces have been sewn together. They just slice along like a hot knife through butter and that’s impressive in itself. It was to me, anyway. The other was the production step that they take to harden the leather after the helmet pieces have been sewn together and shaped. The shells are mechanically dipped in a vat of hot tree sap for 55 minutes (not 50, not 60, but 55) and then they are hung to dry out slowly for eight weeks.
There’s some more neat stuff there. These programs are mostly repeats that are recycled every few months in different combinations, so if you watch regularly then you will eventually catch the helmet segment again. The show is interesting anyway, so give it a try.
Update: One of our loyal readers Jon M. in Kuwait found the video story online for us. Here it is (runs about 5 minutes):
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Wednesday morning we were having some fun using a recent security study as a prop (HERE). You remember the computerized solution on where to find Osama Bin Laden? Well, that same day Bill Gabbert who publishes Wildfire Today took a more serious look into the study and has written a more thorough description of what all they have concluded HERE. It’s worth taking a look at.
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Firefighter Nation continues to roll along and the membership roster seems to be snowballing now. It just went over the 32,000-member mark the other day.
It’s time to get this equipment checked out now. When you’re done, scroll on down the page because FossilMedic beat me to the posting button this morning and has some news for us already. He’s out in the Central time zone today and I’m puzzled how he got his update done already. I suspect he’s just getting back from wherever he was last night. Better check it out. I’ll go make some more coffee.
