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Introducing: The Lightning Bolt!

Allegheny Tom

Allegheny Tom

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2018
Messages
6,053
Location
Western Pennsylvania
Haha, I got a crazy idea. I wondered if glow-in-the-dark paint, combined with clear marine grade heat shrink tube could make a glow bolt for climbing down in the dark. I hate looking for bolt locations while climbing down in the dark.

Here's the result, with a few questions yet to be answered...
1) Will this clear shrink tube hold up as well as the red stuff I use? That stuff is crazy tough.
2) How well will this continue to glow after an hour of diminishing natural light at dusk? A very quick 2 second dose of LED or UV flashlight makes this stuff really pop!

This 1st bolt I experimented on was already painted dark drab and it's 4 coats of glow paint. I'm sure if the bolt was premiered with a brighter, or white base coat , the glow would be more intense with fewer coats.

I've also considered substituting the glow paint with a strip of reflective tape or reflective arrow wrap which I already have. That would require needing a light to make it reflect (a red headlamp would work).
I would place the strip of glow paint, or reflective tape at 12 o'clock so it can only be seen from above...not visible to anyone walking by in the dark.
Just thought I'd share the idea with you guys.
Excuse the grainy photo...camera didn't focus well in the dark.20221015_160315.jpg20221015_160315.jpg
 
Allegheny Tom said:
Haha, I got a crazy idea. I wondered if glow-in-the-dark paint, combined with clear marine grade heat shrink tube could make a glow bolt for climbing down in the dark. I hate looking for bolt locations while climbing down in the dark.

Here's the result, with a few questions yet to be answered...
1) Will this clear shrink tube hold up as well as the red stuff I use? That stuff is crazy tough.
2) How well will this continue to glow after an hour of diminishing natural light at dusk? A very quick 2 second dose of LED or UV flashlight makes this stuff really pop!

This 1st bolt I experimented on was already painted dark drab and it's 4 coats of glow paint. I'm sure if the bolt was premiered with a brighter, or white base coat , the glow would be more intense with fewer coats.

I've also considered substituting the glow paint with a strip of reflective tape or reflective arrow wrap which I already have. That would require needing a light to make it reflect (a red headlamp would work).
I would place the strip of glow paint, or reflective tape at 12 o'clock so it can only be seen from above...not visible to anyone walking by in the dark.
Just thought I'd share the idea with you guys.
Excuse the grainy photo...camera didn't focus well in the dark.View attachment 73849View attachment 73849
Click to expand...

Keep us updated on how this wears and if the paint keeps glowing with use
 
BackSpasm said:
Keep us updated on how this wears and if the paint keeps glowing with use
Click to expand...
Okay, here is an early impression.
Do they work? I guess, but not exactly as well as I hoped. The glow paint does a good job but only as good as the light source that "charged" it. If I shine a small pocket light on it within a couple feet, for even 2 seconds, it glows pretty bright for at least the amount of time it would take to climb down. Daytime light also makes the paint glow great, but the problem is that during the period of late dusk to darkness when natural light is fading, the glow is actually "discharging". By the time it's actually dark, the glow has petered-out.
At that point, I still didn't consider this experiment as a complete dud because I thought a short burst of flashlight would charge the glow well enough to see them for the climb down...which is true, BUT I was hoping that a flashlight would charge the glow of ALL the bolts from the tree to the ground. Unfortunately the light that I used (a Fenix P3D, which is a great little light) won't seem to charge the glow beyond 6 feet or so. That's not necessarily a total failure. Climbing down with a quick headlamp shine on the closest few bolts makes them more visible than a plain bolt. Even with a decent light, sometimes a plain, or camo, bolt can be hard to see with shadows and such. YMMV...Your light, or your tolerance, or your natural night vision (or lack of it) would vary from guy to guy. I feel that just being able to glow the 1st 2 or 3 steps from the stand is helpful towards a safe climb down. It's just that you'd have to shine a light on them for a couple seconds. At that point, mine did glow for 10-15 minutes.

I still firmly believe that having a bright colored strip the length of the bolt, oriented in the "up" position, is a good practice towards making bolts safer for the climb down. Even after to glow has subsided, I can still faintly see the bolt better than if it was entirely drab-colored.

Which brings me to the other part of my experiment...The clear "marine grade" shrink tube. I've used some other marine grade (made with built-in adhesive) and I love the stuff. It's been very durable. But the jury is still out with my early impression of this clear version. I did have it start to peel away from the head of one bolt. It's still adhered to the shank but the head looks a little torn. I'm not sure if it's possible to have shrink tube in a clear version that will hold up as well as the solid colored stuff that I love...maybe it's a different type of material to make it clear versus solid??

Like often happens...The devil is in the details. So was this a failure? IDK. Maybe a different flashlight and a higher quality of clear shrink tube would be like night and day (no pun intended). I did see that the brand of tube that I like (XHF) is now available in clear marine grade. I might need to try some of that.

I'll let you guys know as time goes on with this. Meanwhile, you can experiment too. Let us know. Thanks.
 
Doesnt sound like a failure to me. Had a though though, could you a short piece of fiber optic under the clear shrink tube and poke a hole to stick the end through pointed up?
 
Is the idea to be able to use them completely in the dark with no light source at all? If so, I wish I you good luck, If planning to use with a headlamp what about pivoting to reflective tape or paint strips instead of glow?
 
thedutchtouch said:
Is the idea to be able to use them completely in the dark with no light source at all? If so, I wish I you good luck, If planning to use with a headlamp what about pivoting to reflective tape or paint strips instead of glow?
Click to expand...
Not pitch dark but very low light. I'd hoped that the paint would glow long enough from absorbing natural light and stay "lit" until climb down time. It would be nice to not need a headlamp but even with a headlamp, bolts are not always easy to see. Reflective tape was my plan B.
 
Now what about the possibility of wrapping the bolts with reflective tape like is on road signs and then shrink wrapping that with the clear wrap? I can imagine with even a very dim light you could see all bolts very well and don't have to worry about it fading with onset of darkness?

Edit: lol just saw this idea above
 
I wonder if you could charge the bolts with an infrared illuminator before climbing down. That way you would not be shining visible light around, but it is still light.
 
NMSbowhunter said:
I wonder if you could charge the bolts with an infrared illuminator before climbing down. That way you would not be shining visible light around, but it is still light.
Click to expand...
I tried a UV light. Atsko is now selling a decent little UV flashlight. It actually seemed to glow better than with a LED flashlight. But the distance that the UV light charges the glow paint is no better than the LED light.
 
I've used glow in the dark duct tape to label gear. It works ok but isn't very bright. Think arm's length. I'd use some reflective pinstripe instead of glow tape; it will fluoresce under your headlamp very well.
 
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