Fordite: A Jewel Made From Layers of Old Car Paint Fordite, also known as Detroit agate, comes in bright colors and psychedelic swirls, and are often crafted into eye-catching jewelry. But fordite is not a gemstone, rather it is dried paint that built up, layer upon layer, in factories that painted automobiles long ago. Especially in Detroit, and hence the name. Before painting cars became an automated process, they were spray-painted by hand. Overspray in the painting bays gradually accumulated on the tracks and skids on which vehicles rested while they were painted. Over time, hundreds of layers of paint in myriad colors would build up in the ovens where the cars’ paint was hardened under high heat. Eventually, the build-up paint would become obstructing, or too thick and heavy, and had to be removed. No one can say for sure when the enamel paint slag left the plants, but possibly some crafty workers with an eye for beauty took them home and fashioned them into beautiful jewels.
Pretty cool. I'll have to get some for my wife - she makes jewelry. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Imagine some poor archaeologist a thousand years from now finding some of this stuff.......I can imagine the theories his peers will come up with to explain how they formed naturally! Haha!
Used to work at Volvo truck in ohio and we still sprayed them with humans, used to take the racks and chip off big chunks and make key chains out of them . Turned out pretty cool. Long time since then...........
A whole set of shift knobs & dash knobs would be cool. Any makers? Sellers? Maybe Hamb store Fordite Knob sets would be cool?
Key chains sounds like the ticket John. Hope the ankle is mending like it should and Merry Christmas. I'll holler.
I doubt it would stand up to being a shift knob. Keychain, dash knobs, or jewelry would be ok. It is hard but brittle. Not really a good bond between colors.
I've got the sphere machines, and could turn knobs. One problem is finding large enough chunks to work with. That material is getting hard to find, and is bringing some high prices. Another thing. Fordite is fairly soft, (about Mohs 3 or 4), and would scratch or break easily. It'd be beautiful on a trailer queen show car, but wouldn't stand up to daily driving.
you can get almost the same thing from the floor of shop where they glass surf board but being fiberglass it is a lot harder
The Jalopy Journal
