7 ms·
Harry Eng – Master Bottle Filler
- polemic 12y agoI suspect the "plank" is actually a wood veneer glued over a set of blocks. The veneers are extremely flexible (you could roll them up) and would look like this once carefully assembled. A side view of the 'plank' would be interesting.
- elwell 12y agoHow thick is this veneer that it is also engraved?
- lwhalen 12y agoI was just thinking the wood could be soaking in water for a few days to get it good and mushy, compressed and shoved through the neck via clamps. The knot you could tie (or partially tie) via thin shipbuilder's pliers. I have no clever thoughts on getting a metal nut or a lightbulb through the too-small neck of the bottle though.
- analog31 12y agoPerhaps the metal parts are manipulated from the outside with magnets somehow?
- michaelbuckbee 12y agoMy thought was that they weren't an actual bolt, but magnetically attached inside the bottle.
- samirmenon 12y agoWow, this makes me so curious... how does he do it?
- Aardwolf 12y agoThe description of the second last one gives a quite good explanation. That, combined with a huge amount of patience and craftmanship I assume.
- NaNaN 12y agoI may deal with the playing cards but I am still curious how to put the wood board into the bottle. :-O
- ElongatedTowel 12y agoProbably not how it was done, but is it possible to craft a bottle in such a way that the refraction index makes the content appear larger than it actually is?
- sergiotapia 12y agoThere is a trick where you can wet wood for a very long time and it becomes more malleable. This lets you do things like, place a solid metal beating within a single hunk of wood. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO7aFRO5WMw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO7aFRO5WMw
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- thefreeman 12y agoThis guy seems to have a pretty good idea: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7862320 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7862320
- userbinator 12y agoVery carefully... More seriously, note that he only claims the bottle hasn't been cut/modified, nothing about the objects within. To me, it's rather obvious that they're disassembled into pieces small enough to go in, then reassembled inside. Reassembly is the tricky part but it's not hard to see how things could be manipulated into position with string (or dental floss as he mentions), tweezers, sticks, and other tools. There are some good videos of doing it on YouTube too. (Also I observe that the "proprietary trade secrets" in this "industry" happen to be the complete opposite culture of the open-source/open culture/information sharing movement...)
- simonsquiff 12y agoIf you want to know more about Harry Eng, the creator of these, there is a fascinating post here http://www.everything2.com/title/Harry+Eng http://www.everything2.com/title/Harry+Eng Incredible man.
- raldi 12y agoSo, HN readers, how would you get a lightbulb in a bottle?
- amalcon 12y agoMost obvious options: - Use a large bottle - Use a small lightbulb - Construct the bottle around the lightbulb - Construct the lightbulb inside the bottle - Cut off and replace part of the bottle; this can be done almost seamlessly - There's no technical reason that a lightbulb needs to be made of glass, so we can make a collapsing one, and unfold it inside like a ship-in-a-bottle
- sergiotapia 12y agoPlease don't give interviewers any ideas.
- hfsktr 12y agoDepending on the wording I would assume that the small lights in a fridge or a small flashlight or maybe even Christmas lights count. I think those should fit through many bottles pretty easy.
- rMBP 12y ago> Our venerable curator has gone nearly blind with a magnifying glass but has failed to find any sign of breaks or glue in this plank. So the bottom was cut open and sealed by heat then.
- sanityinc 12y agoIt tickles me that "eng" means "tight" / "narrow" / "cramped" in German.
- raldi 12y agoOr the wood is soft and compressible when wet, but returns to its original shape when it dries. Some woods (including pine) are much more compressible than you might expect: http://www.ewpa.com/Archive/2006/aug/Paper_306.pdf http://www.ewpa.com/Archive/2006/aug/Paper_306.pdf
- jmpe 12y agoyou can bend/compress wood with steam. But look at the width of that bottle neck. The others I looked at (playing cards, rubicks cube, ...) can be disassembled in smaller pieces that go through. That's his technique. So how do you disassemble a plank? I think it's a hollow piece of thin plywood (1 piece, no seams) that was soaked, folded up and then filled with something (resin).
- dfc 12y agoMy favorite example of this is the "nail in wood block trick." Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEATei2wewY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEATei2wewY Instructions from the patron Saint of Woodworking: http://www.woodwrightschool.com/downloadable-plans/tooth%20and%20nail.jpg http://www.woodwrightschool.com/downloadable-plans/tooth%20a...
- colinbartlett 12y agoIn the link by simonsquiff, the artist claims he never cuts bottles. I'm inclined to believe him.
- 12y ago
- tritium 12y agoSo wait. Where's his book? The one with the numbers. Did he finish it? Did any copies ever get printed?
- chaseideas 12y agoI'm pretty sure his wife had it, last I spoke with her shortly after his death. Nowadays, it's likely his daughter might have it. Have a lot of great memories thoroughly enjoying that book as a kid. Used to flip through it and test him through-out our sessions. Loved every minute of it.