Vulcanized spacer material

[Guy Thomas]

What application is this stuff made for? I rather doubt it was originally manufactured expressly for knifemakers and I'm curious where else in the industrial world it might be found and used.

(Note: I'm not looking to cut the supply houses out of the loop, I'm just curious because I'm always looking locally for knifemaking supplies of all sorts. Even though I scavenge perfectly acceptable steel whenever I can I still order new steel for most of my knives. I just wanted to make it clear that I appreciate the fine people I've started to deal with at the various knifemaking supply houses.)

 

[A. Brett Schaller]

Others may know better than I and correct me, but I believe it is manufactured primarily for electrical insulation.

 

[SharpByCoop]

It sure appears to act and feel like gasket material. If so, it's simply bleached and dyed, or dyed only. Gaskets don't have to be gray.

Just a thought.

Coop

 

[indian george]

I am pretty sure Brett is correct. It works great in my Indian's distributor.

 

[george tichbourne]

It is an electrical insulation, sometimes called in the trade "fishpaper". How it got that nickname I can't possibly guess.

It is used a lot in electrical motors to prevent shorts between field coils and stator assemblies.