Glowing Tool Handles

A while back I saw the Night Bike Instructable by Adobi which showed how glow paint can make a bike frame glow. I picked up a glow paint sampler from Glow, Inc. and tested it out. What I found was the results were not as I had expected. The owner of Kosmic Kreations contacted me about that blog post (there was a bug in the CAPTCHA for commenting) and explained that all glow powder would be very bright for a short time and quickly dim to barely-visible for hours. I abandoned the glowing bike idea but had the paints sitting on my nightstand.

Eventually I found a use for a long, dim after-glow: tool handles. Occasionally I would be working outside at night (e.g. camping, or in an emergency) and I would misplace a wrench or something. Sometimes I'd have to wait until day to find it. I also like to let people borrow my tools, and it would be nice if they were readily identifiable. I tried using duct tape with a pattern of colored electrical tape, but [blasphemy alert] I hate duct tape because the adhesive gets all gummy and it's not really useful for anything.

My ideal solution, then, would be a painted tool handle with an identifiable pattern/colors, a label with my name and some method of contact that would be reliable for a long time, and a clear, durable glowing coating. A quick search revealed that Plasti Dip (the tool handle dip stuff) comes in a clear variety so I was on my way.

Step 1: Supplies

• Paint primer
• A white (or very light base color) paint
• Accent color paint (I had this "frosted glass" blue which looked cool, but requires the base coat to be 24-hours dry or else it'll crackle)
• Optional masking for painting only the bits you want
• Optional stencil for putting a design in the accent color
• Some kind of label (My penmanship is pretty bad, so I bought full-sheet clear laser shipping labels and printed a sheet of labels.
• Acrylic spray coating (I didn't use this and the toner tended to stay put under the Plasti Dip, but Plasti Dip will dissolve any ink, so you may need to stabilize it.)
• 1-2 oz. wt. (25-50 grams) glow powder (e.g. Kosmic Kreations Aqua Glow Powder) per 10 fl. oz. (0.25 litre) of Plasti Dip (I bought 2 ounces of powder for 22 ounces of Plasti Dip and the glow is speckled, but perfectly adequate for my needs.)
• Clear Plasti Dip dip-can (e.g. from Amazon; or same link without me getting an associates kickback or it's also available as part of the "Create Your Own Color" kit which has the same clear.)

Comments

[OCLVig]

Cool idea! I might even adapt the technique for use on some Halloween props. :D

[jolshefsky]

Do try the stuff out. It is VERY dim after 15 minutes or so, although it readily charges under black light. It would be great for things like marking for safety in a dark stage.