[Towertalk] OAKUM

[Jim White]

in addition to plumbers using oakum I do believe it was used in the building
of tall ships, etc. - as filler in between boards...seem to remember seeing
a tool for coercing it into the crack which you would hit with your mallet
while playing Noah - a chisel like blade to push it into the crack where
when it got wet it would only get tighter in there as it would swell up.

K4OJ

----- Original Message -----
From: "Eugene Jensen" <eugenejensen@nyc.rr.com>
To: <Towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, April 19, 2002 11:55 PM
Subject: RE: [Towertalk] OAKUM


> Since I actually use this fine material; we used to stuff it in conduits
> and because it swells when it gets wet, it basically was used as a way
> to keep bugs and other such items from going down with the wire runs.
> Also, and now my age is really now starting to show: they used to pound
> Oakum into a pipe joint and then you would either pour or pound lead in
> to seal it. Again, it was used where conduits were run in high water
> tables and high voltage cables to a degree were to be kept dry.  Also in
> the plumbing field it was used in water mains, and as such.  I would
> suggest that an easier solution for sealing a pipe or conduit would be
> simply to use duct seal; it comes in one or five pound bricks; and also,
> it is a much easier material to plug a hole and to remove when one wants
> to put another wire down that same conduit; and you can buy it at any
> electrical supply house or Home Depot, I have seen one pound bricks
> there. Another neat little trick for duct seal is if you are taping two
> irregular shaped items together, i.e., an example would be high voltage
> terminating ends you wrap duct seal around the terminators and then tape
> them. It's much easier to shape something round and tape it than it is
> to tape one that is rectangular or odd shaped. 73's Gene K2QWD
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-admin@contesting.com
> [mailto:towertalk-admin@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Mark
> Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2002 7:57 PM
> To: SF_ARES; W5OFY; WA6WPO; WA6TVQ; WD6HDY; norcalhams;
> towertalk@contesting.com; Antennas@mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [Towertalk] OAKUM
>
> Yo all ..
> Just because .. some of us  have had discussions of hole-filling
> materials
> in underground piping for our co-ax, etc. runs, and what I use for my
> through-the-stucco runs ... and, had folks ask as to what I was talking
> about .. here's some info on  OAKUM   .. whatta hey!   73 .. Mark AA6DX
>
> http://home.pacbell.net/aa6dx/oakum.html
>
>
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