Sometimes It's the Little Things: Polymorph

[TheProff]

After several requests to the wife wanting to hire me out I shall be uploading some posts about the tips, gadgets and tricks that have helped over the years.

Polymorph Plastic. There's loads of videos across Youtube about this stuff but for those that have not discovered it yet. It's a low temperature bistable polymer. Basically malleable like clay after immersion in hot water and sets solid at room temperature. Ideal for custom cutlery grips, splints or anything that needs a bigger handle fitted. Non-toxic and here's the real bonus, it's re-useable. So as needs change just drop back into hot water and squidge it into something else.

A one Kilo bag of the stuff is about £10 from any good craft shop or online retailer. You can also purchase food-safe dyes to colour the plastic if you don't like white.

Downside... in order to be worked into shape it has to be quite hot at 60°C (140°F). So for safety do wear gloves and try to work fast. Practice with smaller pieces to begin with to get the feel of how it behaves and stiffens as it gets cooler.

[alnapier Partner]

Hello! Welcome to the group. We are all very excited to hear about your handy work! I have never heard of this before but what a versatile product. This looks very similar to a hand brace I had once when I broke both my thumbs. Did you use your gloved hand as a mold or did you mold from a brace?

[TheProff in reply to alnapier]

For braces I get the basic shape using my own bare arm/hand then reheat bends & curved bits one at a time in small bowl of hot water tweaking the shape to fit the wife (Kohai). For cutlery I wrap the soft plastic in an old piece of wet cotton pillowcase so the heat is not too unpleasant when Kohai gives the grip its final squeeze. [There is supposed to be a version called 'CoolMorph' that only has to heated to 45C but not found anybody stocking it yet.]