|
FAQs
Is Gecko Glue like other waxes on the market?
Yes and No. It is white and sticky and applies like other waxes, but it has no
harsh chemicals.
Why is Gecko Glue Surf Wax round?
Well we feel that a round shape is easy to use and it is a shape that we like
to hold in our hands. Its nature taking its course.
So what else is round to prove this theory?
Cold bottle of beer
Paracetamol for the next morning
Your gecko of course
Some parts of the female anatomy
Can of Coke
Candles
Gear Shift Sticks
Your head
and the list goes on and on
What is Gecko Glue?
Gecko Glue surf wax is an excretion from the Cosymbotus platyurus
(common Australasian gecko). The Geckos excretory gland is located just forward
of the anus. The Gecko will only excrete the substance when they are sexually
aroused.
Are any Geckos harmed in the production process?
No they're not. The Geckos are housed in a specially designed Gecko farm, which
mimics their natural environment perfectly. Geckos have been known to live a long
life in this controlled environment. All geckos on the farm are treated humanely
at all times.
What do you feed your Gecko?
The Geckos are fed a controlled diet of Deschampsia cespitosa (Lemon grass) and
Gryllus rubens larvae, which are the Gecko's favourite food. This helps to keep
the Geckos happy and so increases the amount, and quality of the Gecko excretions.
How many Geckos does it take to make a 90g cake of Gecko Glue surf wax?
It takes about 10 geckos approximately 4-5 days to produce 1 cake of wax.
Are you for real? Does Gecko Glue really come from Geckos?
Yes we are completely for real.....well......some of it's true........well
........OK we make the wax!
But it doesn't mean we don't like Geckos!
***************************************************************************
How to wax a surfboard?
Wax goes on the deck (top) of the board. Usually comes in two coats, a base coat
which goes directly onto the deck in a thin layer and is quite hard, and then
a sticky coat over that which beads up to provide traction. Use long, quick strokes
with, light pressure to get a nice bead. Wax combs can be purchased to rough-up
wax as it gets worn slick and to strip wax for a fresh coat. There's no need to
buy any custom wax remover from a surf shop, just leave the board in the sun for
5 minutes and strip with a wax comb or any piece of hard, straight plastic.
***************************************************************************
Does Gecko Glue sponsor surfers?
Yes we do. We already sponsor a surfer from Re Union islands and are happy for
other surfers to email their portfolios. The sponsorship is small but will keep
you in a good supply of wax and other accessories. Gecko Glue in partnership with
saltwater Dreaming will also give sponsored surfers a good exposure on the internet
and the surfing world. Contact Gecko Glue for sponsorship
enquiries
***************************************************************************
Why Make Natural Surf Waxes
Petrochemicals are in 95% or all surf waxes today. Paraffin surf waxes are
the most common. Paraffin is the final byproduct in the petroleum refining chain.
It has been a reliable candle fuel. You can find many different grades. Petroleum
waxes are derived from crude oil. The wax is separated from the other components
during the refining process.
First the crude oil is subjected to atmospheric pressure distillation. This
step removes and separates all of the low boiling point components, such as gases,
gasoline, naphtha, kerosene and diesel fuel.
The higher boiling point components remaining are then processed by vacuum
distillation. The distillate cuts are usually solvent extracted to remove impurities
using polar solvents.
The residue and some intermediates are solvent extracted using a combination
of propane, phenol, and cresylic acid. The waxy oil cut is dissolved in a solvent
blend. The solution is then chilled to about -28 °C. At this low temperature
the wax precipitates from the oil, and can be removed using large rotary drum
filters.
The wax portion (slack wax) still contains a large amount of oil, up to as
much as forty percent. It is dissolved in solvent again (deoiling step), reprecipitated,
and filtered at about 5 °C. In some cases the deoiling step is repeated a
second time. However, petrochemicals remain in these paraffin based waxes.
Why is this harmful to the environment?
Wax will not stay on your board forever, the petroleum based wax
will eventually fall off. All of this wax in the water, on reefs, accumulating
on delicate ecosystems will eventually add up. Petroleum based wax although a
small contribution to reef degradation, multiplied with millions of surfers worldwide
has a large effect.
Help us be consciencious about what we put back into the water
after a long day of taking from the water. Phil's Original Organic surf wax only
requires a thin application to keep you on your board and with its all organic
materials has no effect on these ecosystems. Let's make it happen!
Phil's Original Organic Surf Wax
**********************************************************************
Feedback
"hi ,im wanting to buy 2x lots of gecko glue wax.i bought
some a while back and is the best wax i ever used. you peaple are awsom. please
send me info and price and how to order more please.
Thanks"
D.
Australia
-----------------------------------
""love this wax"
T.
Thailand
**********************************************************************
Got any more questions or comments?
Ask here.
Gecko's amazing sticky feet
Gripping gecko: The secret is in their hairy feet
The mystery of how geckos manage to scurry up walls and stick
to ceilings may have been solved by scientists. It seems the little lizards have
a network of tiny hairs and pads on their feet which produce electrical attractions
that literally glue the animals down. With millions of the hairs on each foot,
the combined attraction of the weak electrical forces allow the gecko to stick
to virtually any surface - even polished glass.
Californian researchers believe the reptile's sticky toes could now help them
to develop a novel synthetic adhesive that is both dry and self-cleaning. If a
human hand had the equivalent "sticking power", it could lift huge weights. "If
the hands were maximally attached, we estimate that kind of size would be able
to hold about 90 pounds (40 kilos) or so," Professor Autumn Kellar, one of the
researchers in the gecko study, told the BBC.
Noisy creatures
Geckos are small, insect-eating, and often very noisy creatures that have become
popular pets. Biologists have long admired the animals' ability to walk up smooth
surfaces but have never really understood how it was done. Suction was regarded
as an unlikely explanation since geckos can cling on to a wall even in a vacuum.
That astonishing trick of walking upside down on the ceiling would seem to rule
out friction. Furthermore, without any glands on their feet, it would be hard
for geckos to produce their own natural glue.
Close up on the gecko's setae
But a team of researchers, led by Professor Robert Full, now think it may all
come down to van der Waals forces - the weak attraction that molecules have for
one another when they are brought very, very close together.
Outstanding adhesives
The scientists looked closely at the feet of a Tokay gecko ( Gekko gecko)
which is native to South-East Asia. Close-up pictures reveal about two million
densely packed, fine hairs, or "setae", on each toe.
The end of each seta is further subdivided into hundreds to thousands of structures
called spatulae. Professor Full's team of biologists and engineers calculated
the combined adhesive force of all the tiny hairs lining the gecko's toes is 10
times greater than the maximum force reportedly needed to pull a live gecko off
the wall.
The spatulae - scale bar: one thousandth of a millimetre
"These billion spatulae, which look like broccoli on the tips of the hairs, are
outstanding adhesives," said Professor Full, head of the Poly-PEDAL (Performance,
Energetics, Dynamics, Animal Locomotion) Laboratory at the University of California,
Berkeley. He said: "Geckos have developed an amazing way of walking that rolls
these hairs onto the surface, and then peels them off again, just like tape. But
it's better than tape." Professor Full's team believe the stickiness of the gecko
can now be attributed to intermolecular forces so weak they are normally swamped
by the many stronger forces in nature.
Unbalanced charges
These forces come into play, though, because the gecko foot hairs get so close
to the surface. He said: "The hairs allow the billion spatulae to come into intimate
contact with the surface, combining to create a strong adhesive force. "Our calculations
show that van der Waals forces could explain the adhesion, though we can't rule
out water adsorption or some other types of water interaction." Van der Waals
forces arise when unbalanced electrical charges around molecules attract one another.
They are responsible for the attraction between layers of graphite, for example,
and the attraction between enzymes and their substrate
.
Hanging on to glass: The gecko's party piece
Though the charges are always fluctuating and even reversing direction, the net
effect is to draw two molecules together, such as molecules in a gecko foot and
molecules in a smooth wall. In yet-to-be published work the gecko hairs have been
shown to be self-cleaning, unlike any other known adhesive. Work has also begun
on building a mechanical gecko that Professor Full hopes will lead researchers
to a new, synthetic, dry adhesive.
The gecko research is published in Nature.
SEM images by Kellar Autumn & Ed Florance
Story from BBC
online Sci/Tech
|
