Source for silk

[Robert Zambelli]

A few years back, I head about a place called Thai Silks.

Anyone ever deal with them?

Still in business?

Contact info?

  THANKS, Bob Z.

[Dave_Trible]

I've ordered from them two or three times.  Nice product and very good prices.  Get the 'China silk' .  It's www.thaisilks.com.

Dave

[Dennis Adamisin]

Dave: THANKS for link

I see the silks are rated at 4.5mm to 15mm - what does that mean?  Which is acceptable?  Would you just use RIT dye to get the color you want?

[Dave_Trible]

Denny I just took it on good advice to get the 8mm.  Seems about right. They have a fair slate of colors but I guess you could dye white if you wanted.  I had good luck shrinking red and blue but for some reason had fits trying to get the silver to pull up.  No non-tautening or light coat dopes here!!!

Dave

[Robert Zambelli]

Thanks for the advice.
I was away from model aviation for a while but now I need to order the silk.
Bob Z.

[Guy Markham]

As I under stand it, the 8 mm, 12 mm, 5 mm etc refers to the number of threads per millimeter.  Sometimes you see it listed as 5 momo, etc.  8 mm is plenty tight enough weave for model planes.  5 mm is a tad loose and take much more dope.

You have to consider the weights: example- 8mm silk per sq yard is 1.22 oz and 5mm silk would be .765 oz  per sq yard. Who knows the weight of dope per sq yard of difference? 

[Paul Smith]

I bought some 5 mm & 8 mm.  The 5 is good for covering.  The 8 is too heavy for anything except reinforcement.

I buy from dharma. Go with the widest width offered to reduce scrap loss.

[Warren Wagner]

Hi gang,

Just for clarification on how silks are rated physically, here is the Wilipedia definition
of Momme:

     Mommes
Mommes (mm), traditionally used to measure silk fabrics, the weight in pounds of a piece of fabric if it were sized 45 inches by 100 yards (1.2 m by 90 m). One momme = 4.340 g/mē; 8 mommes is approximately 1 ounce per square yard or 35 g/mē.

The momme is based on the standard width of silk of 45 inches (1.2 m) wide (though silk is regularly produced in 55-inch (1.4 m) widths, and, uncommonly, in even larger widths).

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Units_of_textile_measurement#Momme

You will have to do your own calculations to *ounces per square yard*.  Eight Mommes is ~1 oz/ sq. yard, so you can extrapolate
from there to get approximate weights for other Mommes.

Good ole Wilipedia....it's knows everything.  Almost as smart as Google.

Cheers.

Warren Wagner

[Lyle Spiegel]

How does the 5mm weight conpare to the Easaki silk we have used? I think now Easaki only sells rhe tissue.  I only wish checkerboard pattern silk was available. Maybe there is a way to take white silk and have checker pattern added by silkscreening?

[Norvaldo]

Ordered from here a while back.
https://www.dharmatrading.com/fabric/silk/silk-fabrics.html

[Guy Markham]

Ordered from here a while back.
https://www.dharmatrading.com/fabric/silk/silk-fabrics.html
[


You can obtain some 6mm colored silk as other weights at http://www.thaisilks.com/

[Larry Renger]

You can obtain some 6mm colored silk as other weights at http://www.thaisilks.com/
[/quote]

Umm, 6 millimeters is nearly 1/4". Isn't that a bit thick for covering a model?  Any idea how that is really measured? .06 might make sense.

[Fredvon4]

I have tied both Thai and Dharma and a now solid Dharma customer

Funny how Bob resurrected his own two year old "silk thread"...a pun

I find the WEIGHT difference between 5 and 8MM to be a non issue....initially thinking the 5mm was better and lighter...but in practice the dope is where the weight gain comes... 8mm fills much quicker with less coats IMO

On a typical 36 to 60 inch wing the variance in just the silk weight is of no consequence.... only a few precious grams

In other words the physical weight diff between 5 and 8 is fractions ...but the tighter weave, slightly--- heavier 8mm, fills faster with less coats...

ONE MUST pay strict attention to the shrink bias... I bough 1 square yard once, and no easy way to see length 7~8% shrinkage vs width 1~2% shrinkage orientation...only buy min 2 yards at a time now