Lacrosse Sticks Frozen Fish Products Flashlights Paintbrushes
Today on "how it's made"... Lacrosse sticks... Frozen fish products... Flashlights... And paintbrushes. Lacrosse is north america's oldest sport. It was back in the 1400s that native people got the ball rolling, playing with a distinctive netted stick. French missionaries decided the stick resembled the stafflike crosier, or cross, carried by bishops. And so the game became lacrosse. Lacrosse has never been more popular than it is today. To make a lacrosse stick, they split a hickory log down the middle. This tree was cut in the fall when the sap is out, so it's easier to work with. They continue subdividing the log into eight pieces. Each piece then goes through a band saw, which trims it to a width of 2 1/2 inches. Hickory is the wood of choice because it's tough and can withstand the high-impact game of lacrosse. But to work with it, they need to soften it up, so they steam the sticks for 45 minutes. Then a craftsman places the hickory stick in a jig. In this steamy state, the wood is completely flexible. He easily curls one end around a form by hand. He loops wire around it so it will hold its crooklike shape while the wood dries for one month. At the end of that month, he puts the other end of the stick in a steamy jig and bends it back just below the crook. This is called the back bend. He sets it on a rack to dry and harden. This is the basic form, and as you can see, it resembles the bishop's crosier, the one that inspired the name of the game. After two weeks of drying, the stick is ready to be carved. Using a drawknife, he shaves the bark from the stick. Then he sculpts it thinner, following the bends of the stick. The carver is an artisan who has the experience and skill to do this job well, which is important because the stick must be approved by the toughest judge, the player. Next they drill holes in the curve of the stick-- 21 in total. Then they give it a heavy sanding. The surface has to be absolutely smooth so the player won't get any splinters. Then, using a rag, they rub linseed oil into the stick to keep the wood from getting too dry. The brand name goes on. And now it's time for the weaver to build the sidewall of the net. In the old days, they used rawhide for this, but today they weave with nylon string. He interlaces it with leather runners that have been threaded through the holes at the back bend. He brushes polyurethane on the completed side web to stiffen it. Next he attaches the other end of the leather runners to the top of the crook. The player will be able to change the depth of the netted pocket to his or her preference. He interlaces the leather runner weave with the nylon sidewall... And then pulls the woven pocket over a post to give it some shape. He loops the ends of the leather runners in a half hitch and snips off the excess. Every detail of this lacrosse stick has been handcrafted. It's a process that's taken three months. And now let the games begin. Since prehistoric times, the innuit have used quick-freezing to preserve fish. They threw their catch onto the arctic ice to instantly freeze it. It wasn't until the early 20th century that the rest of the world discovered that this was better than slow freezing. It's a case of progress moving at a glacial pace. Fish that's rapidly frozen right on the ship is more flavorful and retains its texture. This is minced cod frozen solid. It underwent quick-freezing in china and was shipped in this frozen state all the way to this nova scotia facility where it will be turned into fish sticks. A worker loads the fish blocks into a machine. A powerful ram forces the blocks through knives, which slice them into logs that are about 19 inches in length. Workers load the logs vertically into slots. Below, more knives slice the logs into sticks. They get 85 fish sticks from one log. They check for breaks as the sticks move to the next station. At another production line, they dump quick-frozen haddock fillets into a big, steel hopper. It funnels them to a flighted conveyor. The conveyor meters the fillets and drops each bunch onto a vibrating table. The vibrations separate the fillets as they move into lanes... And shuffle down to an inspection station where flaws can be easily spotted. Now it's time for a hot shower. It lasts just a second. The hot water melts the fillets' protective glaze but doesn't thaw the fish itself. Deglazing allows the coating mixture to stick to the fish. The fish sticks are now traveling through a curtain of batter made of flour, water, and spices. The excess collects in a pan below and coats the bottoms of the fish sticks. Back on the haddock production line, they're loading a toasted wheat blend into a machine called a breader. It creates a thick shower of crumbs below that evenly coats the fillets as they journey through. Then the breaded, frozen fillets head for the fryer. The fish sticks go through a fryer, too, for 28 seconds, just long enough to cook the outside coating, but the fish remains frozen on the inside. With the coating baked on, the fish sticks and fillets are now en route to the freezers. Meanwhile, over on a third production line, they dump oil and red peppers into a high-speed mixer. They add some parsley for seasoning, then hand-stir it while it steam-cooks. The red-pepper sauce cascades from an applicator, saturating these frozen tilapia fillets. This coating sticks without being fried, so the tilapia fillets head straight for the spiraling freezer. The fish sticks and breaded haddock fillets are in similar freezers. After 45 minutes, the haddock slides down a chute which weighs it to portion it out. Heated jaws seal the bagged haddock fillets. An oscillating feeder deposits the fish sticks into boxes. One last inspection and they're ready for retail. They vacuum-pack the tilapia fillets, and this meal is sealed. And now there's plenty of fish to fry, depending on where your tastes lie. The flashlight can illuminate any situation, but the first version, invented in the late 19th century, wasn't all that efficient. It produced only flashes of light, so it was named "flashlight". The flashlight shows us the way when things look dim. To make a military flashlight, they place an aluminum bar in a computerized lathe. Blades go to work and shape it into a flashlight body. As a drill hollows out the bar, coolant flushes over it to prevent the metal from expanding as the tooling heats things up. This blade cuts threads on the outside so they can screw on a flashlight lens cap later. A gripper now pulls out the tube so tools can work on the back half. A blade slims that section down and then carves the cross weave onto it. This heavy texture will make the flashlight easier to grip. Next they drill a hole in the flashlight's tail stud. It's an attachment for the wrist strap. After the flashlight body has taken shape, they give it a black, protective coating. Next, using tons of force, a machine injects hot plastic into a mold, which forms the lens for the flashlight. They place the lens in a jig and unscrew the mold core. The core has formed threads in the lens so it can be screwed onto the flashlight body later. They use another injection mold to make plastic flashlight bodies. The plastic flashlights are for more general use than the aluminum ones. For custom orders, they stamp a logo onto the flashlight using a hot-foil press. Next they insert light-emitting diodes into a circuit board. The diodes are electronic lamps that are very bright and can be used instead of traditional incandescent bulbs. They solder the diodes' lead wires to a circuit board and then trim them with snippers. The diodes are now secured and connected to the circuit board. For bigger flashlights, they use a lot of diodes-- up to 60 of them for this flashlight that's being made for search-and-rescue work. Next a stamping press shapes the bronze battery contacts. An ultrasonic welder bonds them to a plastic plate. Then they solder a wire from the diodes to the contacts. The lamp part of the flashlight is now built. Now they insert springs into the aluminum flashlight bodies. They load the batteries, and the springs hold them in place. They slide the lamp assembly into the flashlight cavity and screw the lens on. This aluminum flashlight has just been put together in a flash. They move on to the plastic flashlight. The battery contact and spring assembly goes in, followed by the batteries. The light-emitting diode lamp is next. They screw the lens onto the lamp. The plastic glare shield is the final touch. And now these flashlights are ready to shine. If you've got a paint job to do, the right type of brush can make all the difference. When you opt for latex paint, it's best to use a paintbrush with synthetic bristles. They're typically made of nylon or polyester. If you're painting with oil-based paint, you can use either a synthetic brush or one with bristles made of natural animal hair. For natural bristles, this factory uses pig hair imported from china that arrives in bundles sorted by length. Each paintbrush contains up to five different lengths. This bristle structure makes the brush sufficiently stiff. All five lengths go into a specially designed mixing machine. First it combs the bristles, straightening them out and removing any curved hairs. Then it spreads the bristles flat and mixes the lengths together. Now a worker takes a handful of bristles from the mixer and pats them on a vibrating table. Like human hairs, animal hairs have a root and a tip. The vibrations make all the butt ends line up flat. Each handful goes into a storage box until it's time to install the bristles in the ferrule, the steel band that goes around the paintbrush. This machine makes the ferrules. It shapes a thin steel strip that's 1.1 to 1.6 inches wide. Rollers imprint beads to make the strip more rigid and a herringbone pattern that is purely cosmetic. Then a blade cuts the strip into pieces that are long enough to wrap around the brush. The machine bends each piece around a forming horn, then joins the ends in a strong lock seam. Hammers flatten the seam, and the ferrule is finished. Back to the bristles now. A brush-making machine will join them to the ferrules. Workers load the mixed batches of bristles into one of the machine's feeders and the ferrules into the other. The machine picks up the required amount of bristles. Transfer jaws grab the tips and insert them in a ferrule. A vibrating device called a patter pushes the bristles in straight. A continuous strip of cardboard feeds the next part of the equipment. The machine parts the bristles, cuts off, and slots in a piece of cardboard. This centerpiece, as it's called, creates a well inside the brush head to help hold the paint. The machine then pulls the bristles out to the proper length, leaving about a quarter inch inside the ferrule. Once the brush heads come off the machine, workers pick out the loose bristles. The lightweight paintbrush handles are made of plastic pellets. A vacuum loader sucks the material up to a molding machine which melts the pellets at about 400 degrees fahrenheit. The machine then injects the molten plastic into handle-shaped molds. Five minutes later, the machine ejects the handles from the molds. Workers attach 30 handles at a time to sticks and hang them across paint vats, then lower the handles into the paint slowly to avoid creating air bubbles. The first coat is a primer. After a half-hour, the handles are ready for the next coat. This time, the vat contains colored paint. It dries to a matte finish in 30 minutes. The third vat contains clear lacquer. This coat protects the paint and makes the surface glossy. Now it's time to glue the bristles to the ferrules with strong epoxy glue. It seeps down into the bristle base. Workers now load the finished brush heads and handles into an assembly machine. The machine inserts a handle into each brush head, shooting two or three nails into each side to secure it. Finally, a printing machine stamps the company name onto one side of each handle. Paintbrushes come in a wide range of widths and thicknesses, providing different strokes for different folks.