I Know It Works
Oct. 13th, 2010 03:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stickmakerHow many have heard that a silk scarf or handkerchief will catch a bullet?
This isn't myth; there are multiple accounts, many of them well documented. In the Twenties and Thirties, thick, quilted silk vests were sold as protection against bullets. However, I've never seen it happen.
I bought some cheap silk handkerchiefs (around $1.75 each + S&H) and dedicated one to test this.
I tried multiple arrangements. Even the one most likely to succeed failed miserably. That was: Handkerchief folded into multiple layers as if to put in a pocket, stapled at the top to cardboard with nothing but a couple more layers of cardboard behind, being hit with a 250 grain lead flat point .45 Colt Cowboy Action Load. That was a big, slow, lead bullet with a flat nose.
Maybe, if the bullet had been a softer alloy, the results might have been different. I think the main failing was that this silk was low quality. (Which is why I was willing to shoot at it. :-)
This isn't myth; there are multiple accounts, many of them well documented. In the Twenties and Thirties, thick, quilted silk vests were sold as protection against bullets. However, I've never seen it happen.
I bought some cheap silk handkerchiefs (around $1.75 each + S&H) and dedicated one to test this.
I tried multiple arrangements. Even the one most likely to succeed failed miserably. That was: Handkerchief folded into multiple layers as if to put in a pocket, stapled at the top to cardboard with nothing but a couple more layers of cardboard behind, being hit with a 250 grain lead flat point .45 Colt Cowboy Action Load. That was a big, slow, lead bullet with a flat nose.
Maybe, if the bullet had been a softer alloy, the results might have been different. I think the main failing was that this silk was low quality. (Which is why I was willing to shoot at it. :-)
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no subject
Date: 2010-10-14 03:11 am (UTC)http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/09/spider-silk/
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Date: 2010-10-14 03:15 am (UTC)Both spider silk and silkworm silk are stronger for the weight than steel. The problem with silkworm silk is that it's too elastic. There are two types of spider silk, one of which is even more elastic, but the other is just about perfect for ballistic vests. In fact, researchers have been working for over a decade on methods to culture this protein to spin into fibers just for ballistic vests.