Anyway, Shane was surfing the net and came across pykecrete. I'm guessing he found it on one of his favorite sites, which is neatorama
So, he decided that he needed to make some for our camping trip. When you read this, it will already be made and in use, so I will have to let you know how it all turned out next week!
Anyway, all it is, is water mixed with sawdust. Adding the sawdust makes it melt slower, and makes it almost as strong as cement. I'm not kidding!
Apparently there was a "Project Habbukuk" during WWII where a man named Geoffrey Pyke decided that if they had ships with ice insulating them, the ships wouldn't sink when they got hit. Ice wasn't very strong, so they added wood pulp (sawdust) to the ice. Then they fired a gun at the block of ice. Of course, it went right through it. Next they fired it at the Pykecrete block...the bullet richoceted off!
So, basically what they ended up with was a really strong block of ice that melts slower than regular ice, and is much stronger. They bagged the idea when they felt like it would cost too much and the ships wouldn't be ready until 1945.
Anyway, back to our little experiment...would a pykecrete ice block keep our cooler food cold while we were camping for longer than ice? Therin lies the question...
The answer will have to be released next week when we are back! If you are curious and want to read where I got my pykecrete history you can click Here
Shane and Hazel sifting sawdust to make a "finer" pulp.
Hazel had a lot of fun with this!
The finished first batch with unsifted sawdust...unfrozen...looks like weird oatmeal...
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