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Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
One of my gardening books suggests using old aluminium cans to make permanent
plant labels. I assume you scratch the plant name onto the shiny metal side of the aluminium foil. Excuse my ignorance, but does this work... erm how long do they last ? (Does the metal colourize over time ?) |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
al wrote:
One of my gardening books suggests using old aluminium cans to make permanent plant labels. I assume you scratch the plant name onto the shiny metal side of the aluminium foil. Excuse my ignorance, but does this work... erm how long do they last ? (Does the metal colourize over time ?) I've not used this technique but it would probably work somewhat. You would just cut the can into strips and write on the inside with some sort of stylus (an old ball point pen would work). The metal is soft and will take an impression of the writing if you back it up with a couple of sheets of newspaper on a hard surface. The writing is just impressed in the metal surface and is not colored, so it is not easy to read from a distance. Aluminum does oxidize over time, particularly when exposed to acid rain. However, the metal labels you buy at the garden center will likely have the same problem. The cans have the advantage that they're anodized to prevent corrosion by the stuff they put into them. The strips of aluminum can will have sharp edges, so you might want to bend them over to avoid hazards to small children and pets. The labels will have to be mounted on something to hold them up. A length of galvanized wire can be bent around the strip and hammered tight to hold the label. Wood supports will rot. |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
Dwight Sipler wrote:
The strips of aluminum can will have sharp edges, so you might want to bend them over to avoid hazards to small children and pets. I think cutting up a bleach jug and using a permanent marker might be a better idea. No sharp edges and the plastic lasts a long time. Could be a use for old floppies too. Thread a wire or string through the hole and write on the floppy with a marker. |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
In article , al wrote:
One of my gardening books suggests using old aluminium cans to make permanent plant labels. I assume you scratch the plant name onto the shiny metal side of the aluminium foil. Excuse my ignorance, but does this work... erm how long do they last ? (Does the metal colourize over time ?) The Rhododendron Species Foundation has sometimes used aluminum tags for field-grown species shrubs -- as these labels have to last several years before the shrubs are old enough to put on sale. The tags must be removed from plants before the shrubs are sold, as one rarely sees any of them, but I obtained one rhody from them that I later found had an aluminum tag that had the attached end deeply imbedded in the bark. The aluminum had been EMBOSSED with species name, date it was planted (or a least tagged, a decade earlier), & initials RSF. There must be some equivalent of those plastic label strips to emboss aluminum strips instead of plastic. The surface of aluminum turns black over time & rubs off, though I wouldn't call that "colourize" which is what I thought crazy rich *******s did to classic black & white films. Man-made aluminum & aluminates MIGHT have some involvement in the development of alzheimers disease, though years back when Science Digest did a whole issue about it, looked like only about one out of ten researchers thought it much likely. A few researchers think the link is plausible; others think the aluminum deposits are an incidental side-effect of other causes. From a lay perspective though it seems that the only other possible explanation for these deposits, other than from our continuous exposure to man-made aluminum, is that the human body can go wacky & begin to manufacture aluminum from boxite, which is all around us in the natural environment whereas aluminum is not. For there's no question but that the majority of alzheimer patients have amazingly high levels of aluminum deposits in the brain tissue. So while the science proving or disproving a source of explanation for these deposits has failed to clarify the issue, in the meantime anyone with aluminum kitchen pots & utensils should toss them immediately; & check medications & deodorants for aluminates with which we may be dosing ourselves orally or through the skin every day. As for aluminum beverage cans, they are coated inside & out -- everwhere except where the key-hole opening bares the raw aluminum in the one place we'd put our mouths. So I avoid those too. I wouldn't want aluminum in the garden, first because it would be, like plastic, an eyesoar, for I like things to look as woodsy-natural as possible. Plus, even if a few aluminum tags here & there would likely be harmless whether or not aluminum's connection to severe loss of mental faculty can be shown to be factual, it'd still be like hanging symbols of humanity's self-invented doom all around the place, & I prefer the symbolism of my gardens to refer more to Eden rather than some futuristic city designed by Albert Speer. -paghat the ratgirl preferring to die from UNrefined sugar -- "Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher. "Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature. -from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers" See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/ |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
If a sharpie marker or some paint would stick to the aluminum, you could
(once the ink dried) spray over the label w/ some clear acrylic paint to lengthen the life span of your ID. My favorite idea for plant markers is to paint the name on a rock, also using a clear coat of acrylic to seal the paint. If your ground is anything like mine, you can dig up plenty of free labels in your own yard! :) Heidi Raleigh, NC paghat wrote: |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
|
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
I used a bunch of old CDs (those AOL sample CDs, etc.). Flipped them on the
"pretty" side and used permanent marker. They look neat and make pretty rainbows, too. ;-) -- -- pelirojaroja ----------------------------------------------- "There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colors are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again." -- Elizabeth Lawrence wrote in message ... Dwight Sipler wrote: The strips of aluminum can will have sharp edges, so you might want to bend them over to avoid hazards to small children and pets. I think cutting up a bleach jug and using a permanent marker might be a better idea. No sharp edges and the plastic lasts a long time. Could be a use for old floppies too. Thread a wire or string through the hole and write on the floppy with a marker. |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
paghat wrote:
...I'm picturing a garden decorated with cut-up Budweisser cans & Clorox bottles. How 'bout making an elaborate paper collage with the name of each plant somewhere on the collage, imbed the collage in a block of fiberglass resin, mount the block of resin on a three foot length of rebar, & pound these in the ground in front of each plant....plus several other suggestions... I know a couple of guys who would like their garden decorated with beer cans (Labatt's blue, not Bud), but it's not for everyone. The labels are generally meant to be unobtrusive, just there for information, so they might be small and not detract from the flowers (which are, after all, the main point). Also, the printed label part of the cans would be on the back, so you'd only see the "inside" of the can. Personally, I'd rather put my effort into the garden and not the labels, but then my garden is just there without any labels at all, so you will have to guess what's what. PS: plastic bottles are generally not protected against solar UV, so they will disintegrate with exposure. Anywhere from a couple of months to a couple of years. |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
pelirojaroja wrote:
I used a bunch of old CDs (those AOL sample CDs, etc.). Flipped them on the "pretty" side and used permanent marker. They look neat and make pretty rainbows, too. ;-) Mine are all in use as coasters for the beer cans. |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
"....... One of my gardening books suggests using old aluminium cans to
make permanent plant labels. I assume you scratch the plant name onto the shiny metal side of the aluminium foil. Excuse my ignorance, but does this work... erm how long do they last ? (Does the metal colourize over time ?) ........" You cut the label to the size you want then using an old Ball point pen you inscribe the name, the indentation will last for years. If you want to label tree or shrub then make a hole at each end . Insert soft wire into one end, then wind several coils around your ball point pen to form a coil like a spring, then plain wire to other end of the label. As the tree or shrub grows there is plenty of slack in the coil, so nothing gets embedded in the plant. -- David Hill Abacus nurseries www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
|
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
In article , "pelirojaroja"
wrote: I used a bunch of old CDs (those AOL sample CDs, etc.). Flipped them on the "pretty" side and used permanent marker. They look neat and make pretty rainbows, too. ;-) Stop, yr killing me! -- "Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher. "Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature. -from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers" See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/ |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
Pat Meadows wrote in
: Or cutting up an old mini-blind. (Or a new mini-blind, for that matter.) A mini-blind makes hundreds of labels. Pat You should be careful using in old mini-blinds for anything, as older stuff (and even some newer stuff) used lead as stablizers. Probably only applies to vinyl blinds but I wouldn't be surprised if some really ancient stuff had lead in the paint. Do a search if it applies to you. - Salty |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
"paghat" wrote in message
... Man-made aluminum & aluminates MIGHT have some involvement in the development of alzheimers disease, though years back when Science Digest did a whole issue about it, looked like only about one out of ten researchers thought it much likely. Aluminum is an element and strictly speaking, is not something that is man-made. [snip]....So while the science proving or disproving a source of explanation for these deposits has failed to clarify the issue, in the meantime anyone with aluminum kitchen pots & utensils should toss them immediately; What credible authority recommends that? NIH doesn't. http://www.niehs.nih.gov/external/faq/alum.htm I wouldn't want aluminum in the garden, first because it would be, like plastic, an eyesoar, for I like things to look as woodsy-natural as possible. Considering that the earth is 8.1% aluminum, I'd say it would be entirely fitting to have some aluminum in the garden. Don |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
|
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
"Don K" wrote in
: "paghat" wrote in message ... Man-made aluminum & aluminates MIGHT have some involvement in the development of alzheimers disease, though years back when Science Digest did a whole issue about it, looked like only about one out of ten researchers thought it much likely. Aluminum is an element and strictly speaking, is not something that is man-made. Arguably the stuff that comes to you is man-made (in the same way a wooden chair is man-made) as it needs to be processed from bauxite and other struddlishish stuff that I don't recall going by the name Hall-Herholtz process (or just Hall if you don't like simultaneous discoveries). [snip]....So while the science proving or disproving a source of explanation for these deposits has failed to clarify the issue, in the meantime anyone with aluminum kitchen pots & utensils should toss them immediately; What credible authority recommends that? NIH doesn't. http://www.niehs.nih.gov/external/faq/alum.htm That's all nice and good if you trust the government. The same government that said you can't get anthrax in the mail and spent beaucoup bucks fumigating government offices and didn't get around to giving el cheapo masks or gloves to postal personnel until later, but I digress. I agree it seems unlikely that you'll get aluminum toxicity from cans or cookware, it's more likely the stuff you eat and is passed as 'safe'. I'm a little wishy-washy on the subject, from my little knowledge of chemistry, the binding energy of aluminum oxide is quite high and anodizing it causes the protective layer of aluminum oxide to cover the entire surfaces (no significant gaps), so getting some aluminum out of that should be quite difficult, but then I'm reminded of the all the corrosion I've seen on aluminum storm windows and think, why take the chance? I wouldn't want aluminum in the garden, first because it would be, like plastic, an eyesoar, for I like things to look as woodsy-natural as possible. Considering that the earth is 8.1% aluminum, I'd say it would be entirely fitting to have some aluminum in the garden. If my garden is already 8.1% aluminum I don't see why it would be necessary to add more. -- Salty |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
"Dwight Sipler" wrote in message
... al wrote: One of my gardening books suggests using old aluminium cans to make permanent plant labels. I assume you scratch the plant name onto the shiny metal side of the aluminium foil. Excuse my ignorance, but does this work... erm how long do they last ? (Does the metal colourize over time ?) I've not used this technique but it would probably work somewhat. You would just cut the can into strips and write on the inside with some sort of stylus (an old ball point pen would work). The metal is soft and will take an impression of the writing if you back it up with a couple of sheets of newspaper on a hard surface. The writing is just impressed in the metal surface and is not colored, so it is not easy to read from a distance. Aluminum does oxidize over time, particularly when exposed to acid rain. However, the metal labels you buy at the garden center will likely have the same problem. The cans have the advantage that they're anodized to prevent corrosion by the stuff they put into them. The strips of aluminum can will have sharp edges, so you might want to bend them over to avoid hazards to small children and pets. I hung mine from varnished copper wire. (avail from TV, but galvanic action hurts aluminium) creating these is a very time consuming way to get very few and flimsy labels with sharp edges. I consider it an experiment from my youthful time-wasting youth. (redundancy) (unless you're Ted kascymski[sp] in a remote cabin with hand tools): I recommend you buy and ration the long lasting durable labels. use plastic (PVC) labels for seed staring pencil marks can be rubbed off. surviving plants receive permanent labels after proving their survival and other value (pollen or seed source, etc) The labels will have to be mounted on something to hold them up. A length of galvanized wire can be bent around the strip and hammered tight to hold the label. Wood supports will rot. |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
wrote in message ... Dwight Sipler wrote: The strips of aluminum can will have sharp edges, so you might want to bend them over to avoid hazards to small children and pets. I think cutting up a bleach jug and using a permanent marker might be a better idea. No sharp edges and the plastic lasts a long time. hdpe goes fast in uv's. all pe resists glues, paints, markers. btw, laundry marker lasts longer (1 yr) than sharpies (3 months) when exposed to sunlight. Could be a use for old floppies too. Thread a wire or string through the hole and write on the floppy with a marker. fwiw, aol cd's in sun don't hold sharpie very long either. |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
"Salty Thumb" wrote in message ... Pat Meadows wrote in : Or cutting up an old mini-blind. (Or a new mini-blind, for that matter.) A mini-blind makes hundreds of labels. Pat You should be careful using in old mini-blinds for anything, as older stuff (and even some newer stuff) used lead as stablizers. Probably only applies to vinyl blinds but I wouldn't be surprised if some really ancient stuff had lead in the paint. Do a search if it applies to you. - Salty I suspect the lead was used as color much as lead and titanium oxides in paint. http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...1995+%7C+1994+ Environmental Lead Sources .... Miniblinds In June of 1996, the US Consumer ... Mini-blinds which have been purchased since July 1996 should ... Safety Alert!...New Source of Lead Poisoning Identified ... stopleadpoisoning.com/enviroleadsources.html - 31k |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
"Dwight Sipler" wrote in message ... paghat wrote: ...I'm picturing a garden decorated with cut-up Budweisser cans & Clorox bottles. paghat gave lots of creative ideas :) ilike the idea (modified) of using uv resitant paint (epoxy??) on cheap ceramic tile. How 'bout making an elaborate paper collage with the name of each plant somewhere on the collage, imbed the collage in a block of fiberglass resin, mount the block of resin on a three foot length of rebar, & pound these in the ground in front of each plant....plus several other suggestions... I know a couple of guys who would like their garden decorated with beer cans (Labatt's blue, not Bud), but it's not for everyone. The labels are generally meant to be unobtrusive, just there for information, so they might be small and not detract from the flowers (which are, after all, the main point). Also, the printed label part of the cans would be on the back, so you'd only see the "inside" of the can. Personally, I'd rather put my effort into the garden and not the labels, but then my garden is just there without any labels at all, so you will have to guess what's what. PS: plastic bottles are generally not protected against solar UV, so they will disintegrate with exposure. Anywhere from a couple of months to a couple of years. PET (recycling #1) last along time in the sun, 10 years and only partially weakened) but they resist marking. they could be scratched, but scratched names (such as Comtesse de Canker § will likely be illegible, due to limited control of the scrawling tool. ---- § Unfortunate Rose Names http://members.aol.com/mmmavocad2/RoseNames.html |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
"paghat" wrote in message ... In article , al wrote: The Rhododendron Species Foundation has sometimes used aluminum tags for field-grown species shrubs -- as these labels have to last several years before the shrubs are old enough to put on sale. The tags must be removed from plants before the shrubs are sold, as one rarely sees any of them, but I obtained one rhody from them that I later found had an aluminum tag that had the attached end deeply imbedded in the bark. The aluminum had been EMBOSSED with species name, date it was planted (or a least tagged, a decade earlier), & initials RSF. There must be some equivalent of those plastic label strips to emboss aluminum strips instead of plastic. yes i've seen old metal stamping sets (amateru) they are perhaps cheapo versoins of old manual typsetting lettering sets. look like the metal striking surface from typewriters. very time cionsuming to line teh blocks in a holder, though i've never tried. The surface of aluminum turns black over time & rubs off, though I wouldn't call that "colourize" which is what I thought crazy rich *******s did to classic black & white films. :) Man-made aluminum & aluminates MIGHT have some involvement in the development of alzheimers disease, though years back when Science Digest did a whole issue about it, looked like only about one out of ten researchers thought it much likely. A few researchers think the link is plausible; others think the aluminum deposits are an incidental side-effect of other causes. From a lay perspective though it seems that the only other possible explanation for these deposits, other than from our continuous exposure to man-made aluminum, is that the human body can go wacky & begin to manufacture aluminum from boxite, [bauxite in english] which is all around us in the natural environment whereas aluminum is not. For there's no question but that the majority of alzheimer patients have amazingly high levels of aluminum deposits in the brain tissue. So while the science proving or disproving a source of explanation for these deposits has failed to clarify the issue, in the meantime anyone with aluminum kitchen pots & utensils should toss them immediately; & check medications & deodorants for aluminates with which we may be dosing ourselves orally or through the skin every day. As for aluminum beverage cans, they are coated inside & out -- everwhere except where the key-hole opening bares the raw aluminum in the one place we'd put our mouths. So I avoid those too. I wouldn't want aluminum in the garden, first because it would be, like plastic, an eyesoar, for I like things to look as woodsy-natural as possible. Plus, even if a few aluminum tags here & there would likely be harmless whether or not aluminum's connection to severe loss of mental faculty can be shown to be factual, it'd still be like hanging symbols of humanity's self-invented doom all around the place, & I prefer the symbolism of my gardens to refer more to Eden rather than some futuristic city designed by Albert Speer. -paghat the ratgirl preferring to die from UNrefined sugar than from pol;yKeferiNacronates or KrapoOrganKeellerKryonitez? |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
"David Hill" wrote in message
... "....... One of my gardening books suggests using old aluminium cans to make permanent plant labels. I assume you scratch the plant name onto the shiny metal side of the aluminium foil. Excuse my ignorance, but does this work... erm how long do they last ? (Does the metal colourize over time ?) ........" You cut the label to the size you want then using an old Ball point pen you inscribe the name, the indentation will last for years. that was my final incarnation of my time wasting experiments. but was still too difficult to control the writing to be legible later. and my wire was still incorrect. SS wire might be better, but where to get at scrap prices? If you want to label tree or shrub then make a hole at each end . Insert soft wire into one end, then wind several coils around your ball point pen to form a coil like a spring, then plain wire to other end of the label. As the tree or shrub grows there is plenty of slack in the coil, so nothing gets embedded in the plant. or you can hammer a nail hole and stuff the wire radially oriented into the limb. would avoid this if would attract disease in your areas. David Hill Abacus nurseries www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
al wrote in message ...
One of my gardening books suggests using old aluminium cans to make permanent plant labels. I assume you scratch the plant name onto the shiny metal side of the aluminium foil. Excuse my ignorance, but does this work... erm how long do they last ? (Does the metal colourize over time ?) Make a map of the garden if you need to know what is planted where. I have hundreds of plants on an acre of gardens and no labels. I am fortunate that I can identify and remember the name of plants. Draw the trees and shrubs and a border of the garden and any perennials, then laminate it, and use a china marker to put in the annuals. End of the season, you can wipe it clean and plan next years planting. Cheers, Ned |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
On Mon, 14 Jul 2003 14:24:10 -0400, Pat Meadows
wrote: On Mon, 14 Jul 2003 17:46:21 GMT, wrote: Dwight Sipler wrote: The strips of aluminum can will have sharp edges, so you might want to bend them over to avoid hazards to small children and pets. I think cutting up a bleach jug and using a permanent marker might be a better idea. No sharp edges and the plastic lasts a long time. Could be a use for old floppies too. Thread a wire or string through the hole and write on the floppy with a marker. Or cutting up an old mini-blind. (Or a new mini-blind, for that matter.) A mini-blind makes hundreds of labels. This subject came up recently and I was going to suggest just buying plastic plant markers. Then searched for them in the places I used to buy them, and they seemed in rather short supply. And a lot more expensive than I remember. The availibility of old mini (or maxi?) blinds, plastic jugs, etc., plus the labor of slicing 'em up seemed like a lot more trouble than just buying pre-cut labels and and outdoor marking pen. When I was heavily into growing greenhouse veg plants, I got packs of 50 or 100 plastic labels for a very reasonable price. I *do* agree with "waste not; want not" but only of one's own labor (and materials and tools involved) are over-plentiful. |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
I like the labels made from the narrow plastic venetitian blind slats.
For the lettering ink from a perm sharpie pen will eventually fade, but I've used enamel paint that lasts a long time. |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
On Mon, 14 Jul 2003 21:00:44 -0400, "Don K" wrote:
Aluminum is an element and strictly speaking, is not something that is man-made. That's correct, but I no longer buy soda in cans for my husband. I only buy plastic bottles and they all go to the recycle municipality in our city. There was a report, and I don't remember where, but I do recall it was credible that there is a lot of aluminum found in the soda they house. I never bought another can and only used frozen vegetables unless they come from my soil. What credible authority recommends that? NIH doesn't. http://www.niehs.nih.gov/external/faq/alum.htm Very true, but my guess is the cans we find soda in are not pure aluminum, but some sort of alloy primarily made up of aluminum. I also use parchment paper to cover oven cooked meals and put the aluminum over the paper so not to touch the food. It may all be silly and a part of the grand fear machine in the U.S. Who knows. Considering that the earth is 8.1% aluminum, I'd say it would be entirely fitting to have some aluminum in the garden. Don I-did-not-know-that! V |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
Guys - here is a source for plant tags -
http://www.nationalband.com/nbtplant.htm#2725 The type that you impress with a ballpoint works very well as there is no ink to wash off or fade. California Plastics has inexpensive aluminum tags that last years : http://www.calpp.com/gardenaccessories.htm (first product on the top of the page) |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
In article , "Don K"
wrote: "paghat" wrote in message ... Man-made aluminum & aluminates MIGHT have some involvement in the development of alzheimers disease, though years back when Science Digest did a whole issue about it, looked like only about one out of ten researchers thought it much likely. Aluminum is an element and strictly speaking, is not something that is man-made. Pure aluminum does not exist in nature, & its existence was not even known until 1808, & it was another 80 years before it could be extracted affordably from boxite & alumina. Boxite is found just about everywhere in nature; aluminum per se is not. When metalurgists first learned to purify aluminum from boxite, it cost more per ounce than gold. Nowadays it costs us here in the Northwest our salmon resources, there being no more salmon runs at all in rivers & streams near aluminum plants. -paggers -- "Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher. "Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature. -from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers" See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/ |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
In article ,
wrote: On Mon, 14 Jul 2003 21:00:44 -0400, "Don K" wrote: Aluminum is an element and strictly speaking, is not something that is man-made. That's correct, but I no longer buy soda in cans for my husband. I only buy plastic bottles and they all go to the recycle municipality in our city. Plastic bottles are associated with an estrogen-like molecule believed to be partially responsible for the lowering fertility rate of American men. So, it's a choice between aluminum & alzheimers, or plastic & impotence..... I think you've made the right choice. There are already too many people. -paghat the ratgirl There was a report, and I don't remember where, but I do recall it was credible that there is a lot of aluminum found in the soda they house. I never bought another can and only used frozen vegetables unless they come from my soil. -- "Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher. "Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature. -from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers" See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/ |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
|
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
In article , "Don K"
wrote: "paghat" wrote in message ... In article , "Don K" wrote: Man-made aluminum & aluminates MIGHT have some involvement in the development of alzheimers disease, though years back when Science Digest did a whole issue about it, looked like only about one out of ten researchers thought it much likely. Aluminum is an element and strictly speaking, is not something that is man-made. Pure aluminum does not exist in nature, & its existence was not even known until 1808, & it was another 80 years before it could be extracted affordably from boxite & alumina. Boxite is found just about everywhere in nature; aluminum per se is not. When metalurgists first learned to purify aluminum from boxite, it cost more per ounce than gold. Nowadays it costs us here in the Northwest our salmon resources, there being no more salmon runs at all in rivers & streams near aluminum plants. Most mining involves dealing with nasty by-products. A lot of gold is also obtained by refining ore thru all sorts of chemical processes. Yet we don't refer to it as man-made gold. There's no alchemy involved. It's just recovering the gold that is locked up in other compounds. Gold can be toxic to the liver and kidneys. Perhaps a prudent person should stop wearing man-made gold while avoiding aluminum. Don Never heard about gold being toxic -- I guess I better not bury my great horde of dubloons in the garden -- but I've seen piles of extremely toxic rubble left over from gold mining. I still sorta feel there's a difference between gold which DOES exist in a pure state naturally (in addition to dissolved state in the ocean & finely powdered in some environments, & aluminum which as an ore is bauxite of quite a different character altogether. If pure god did NOT exist in nature until purified by human hands, I would regard it as man-made, yes, just as the transuranic elements can mainly only be brought about by the activity of scientists. But anyway, my only point was that the aluminum deposits in alzheimer-sufferers' brains is the stuff people purify, rather than resembling the ore that exists in dusty aspect in everyone's gardens. So either the brain's electrical charges must manufacturer it from the environment, or what SEEMS more likely, our daily exposure to created aluminum is making some of us stupider than we used to be. Here's a web article about the bits I worry about (from a school of biology p.o.v. rather than my ecology worry-wart p.o.v.): http://student.biology.arizona.edu/ad/bbb.html -paghat -- "Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher. "Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature. -from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers" See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/ |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
"Don K" wrote in
: Most mining involves dealing with nasty by-products. A lot of gold is also obtained by refining ore thru all sorts of chemical processes. Yet we don't refer to it as man-made gold. There's no alchemy involved. It's just recovering the gold that is locked up in other compounds. The difference is refined or man-made gold is more or less indistinguishible from naturally occuring pure gold (and nobody's saying gold isn't found in ore, although I question, historically, how gold has been recovered by refining from ores vs. how much was just laying around, more or less pure), whereas you just don't find sheets of aluminum or aluminum oxide lying around. Well, you might if you live in a junky neighborhood, but you still know it's in an unnatural state. Gold can be toxic to the liver and kidneys. Perhaps a prudent person should stop wearing man-made gold while avoiding aluminum. I can see how that could be a problem if you go around looking like Mr. T or have some Trumpesqe fascination with gilding things like spoons, forks and cups. But unless you're eating gold flakes for breakfast, it's still not quite the same. Drinking too much water *can* be toxic, but nobody's saying stop drinking water. - Salty |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
"paghat" wrote in message ... In article , "Don K" wrote: "paghat" wrote in message ... In article , "Don K" wrote: Man-made aluminum & aluminates MIGHT have some involvement in the development of alzheimers disease, though years back when Science Digest did a whole issue about it, looked like only about one out of ten researchers thought it much likely. Aluminum is an element and strictly speaking, is not something that is man-made. Pure aluminum does not exist in nature, & its existence was not even known until 1808, & it was another 80 years before it could be extracted affordably from boxite & alumina. Boxite is found just about everywhere in nature; aluminum per se is not. When metalurgists first learned to purify aluminum from boxite, it cost more per ounce than gold. Nowadays it costs us here in the Northwest our salmon resources, there being no more salmon runs at all in rivers & streams near aluminum plants. Most mining involves dealing with nasty by-products. A lot of gold is also obtained by refining ore thru all sorts of chemical processes. Yet we don't refer to it as man-made gold. There's no alchemy involved. It's just recovering the gold that is locked up in other compounds. Gold can be toxic to the liver and kidneys. Perhaps a prudent person should stop wearing man-made gold while avoiding aluminum. Don Never heard about gold being toxic -- I guess I better not bury my great horde of dubloons in the garden -- but I've seen piles of extremely toxic rubble left over from gold mining. I still sorta feel there's a difference between gold which DOES exist in a pure state naturally (in addition to dissolved state in the ocean & finely powdered in some environments, & aluminum which as an ore is bauxite of quite a different character altogether. If pure god did NOT exist in nature until purified by human hands, I would regard it as man-made, yes, just as the transuranic elements can mainly only be brought about by the activity of scientists. But anyway, my only point was that the aluminum deposits in alzheimer-sufferers' brains is the stuff people purify, rather than resembling the ore that exists in dusty aspect in everyone's gardens. So either the brain's electrical charges must manufacturer it from the environment, or what SEEMS more likely, our daily exposure to created aluminum is making some of us stupider than we used to be. Here's a web article about the bits I worry about (from a school of biology p.o.v. rather than my ecology worry-wart p.o.v.): http://student.biology.arizona.edu/ad/bbb.html By your reckoning practically all metals are man-made, as is concrete. I find it hard to think of anything other than wood which would by your standards be "natutal" Franz Heymann |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
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Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
"Franz Heymann" wrote in
: There are no such things as gold ores to my knowledge. Gold is an almost inert element. As far as I know, gold is always found as a simple metal. Gold has low reactivity, but isn't near as unreactive as the 'noble gases' (but I hear you can even make compounds with one of the heavier elements, Xenon?) . The one thing I remember is telluride ore, I'm not sure if that means tellurium or rare earth elements in general. I also don't know if it's chemically or merely mechanically bound. -- Salty |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
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Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
"Ned Flanders" wrote in message om... There are no such things as gold ores to my knowledge. Sure there is, Calaverite, Chalcocite, Bornite, Chalcopyrite and enargite, are a few.... Gold is an almost inert element. As far as I know, gold is always found as a simple metal. No. That would be native gold--which is rare. Most gold is in ores. That is incorrect. 95% of the gold mined in the world occurs as native gold, or as gold-silver alloys (or simple mechanical mixtures. I am not quite certain). The only gold ore of any significance id Calaverite, which is gold telluride, which is mined in quantities which are small compared to the native gold mined in South Africa. The other minerals you quote do not contain any gold in their chemical compositions. Franz Heymann Cheers, Ned |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
"Franz Heymann" wrote in
: That is incorrect. 95% of the gold mined in the world occurs as native gold, or as gold-silver alloys (or simple mechanical mixtures. I am not quite certain). The only gold ore of any significance id Calaverite, which is gold telluride, which is mined in quantities which are small compared to the native gold mined in South Africa. The other minerals you quote do not contain any gold in their chemical compositions. Here's a site that agrees with us: http://mineral.galleries.com/mineral.../gold/gold.htm "There are very few true gold ores, besides native gold, because it forms a major part of only a few rare minerals, it is found as little more than a trace in a few others or it is alloyed to a small extent with other metals such as silver. " and "A few of the tellurides are nagyagite, calaverite, sylvanite and krennerite. These are all minor ores of gold but their contributions to the supply of gold pales next to native gold's own contribution. " -- Salty |
Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
What is the relevance of gold mining to Plant labels????????
I can see a gold mine would help to buy all the plants we would like to have. -- David Hill Abacus nurseries www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk |
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