What's This Called?

[painshill]

Matt PM'd me... he now has it!
It's not Lake Superior agate... and it is man-made but from a particular kind of process that's no longer in use as such.

[CMD]

I know what it is! I know what it is! Lol....
Good ole Henry Ford!

[chase]

I got it! I could a ford to take a guess and id be rite. but I will wait. Lets here Roger paint a picture of the story.

[painshill]

Yep... you're there (Matt got it first).
It's known as "Fordite" and also as "Detroit Agate", "Motor Agate" or "Auto Agate" among other names.
Layer upon layer of hardened paint from the hand-spraying of automobile bodywork before assembly became mechanised and painting moved to robots and the electrostatic process. The paint accumulated on the tracks and skids where the chassis sections were painted before the whole lot was pushed into the ovens used to cure the paint. Eventually the paint built up to a thickness that obstructed the tracks and had to be chipped off, but often it has seen as many as a hundred baking cycles.

[Hoss]

Chase you were so close with Matchbox cars man. So close I wonder if Matel made the same kind of stuff in it's paint rooms.

[rmartin]

Now that's something I have heard of! Great thread Roger

[kreative]

Posted by [GarScale]:

Educational as always!  BUTTTTTTTTTTTT...... The MFG is natural and the artifacts are REAL.