[HN Gopher] There's no such thing as a fake feather [video]
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There's no such thing as a fake feather [video]
Author : surprisetalk
Score : 65 points
Date : 2025-12-18 17:14 UTC (4 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.youtube.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.youtube.com)
| exasperaited wrote:
| Indeed. Also very nearly always true with "fake" skeleton leaves
| used for crafting.
|
| A small percentage (usually enlarged designs of particular
| shapes) are made with sophisticated latex presses, but most are
| chemically-stripped and treated real leaves (Ficus and suchlike)
| because it's simply easier to make them in bulk.
|
| I was amazed by this at first -- I bought some for a photography
| project simply assuming that their flexible, slightly springy
| nature meant they were artifically-made latex. But no: ficus
| leaves automatically processed in baking soda, essentially. The
| latex ones aren't even cheaper.
| immibis wrote:
| That explains why the fake rubber moss I bought has an odd
| smell and the occasional bit of what seems like a real decayed
| leaf. Definitely feels like rubber, but if you're saying they
| took some real moss and chemically converted it to rubber-like
| material, that makes sense.
| exasperaited wrote:
| Seems possible. A bit of a google suggests that the process
| in that case would involve glycerin to replace the water
| content. So it could be that.
| jaggederest wrote:
| Well, ficus (ficus elastica and others) are _natural_ latex -
| their sap is one of the forms of latex that occurs naturally
| and used to be harvested, but these days latex is harvested
| from a different plant (hevea brasiliensis, the "rubber tree")
|
| So it's not so much as "the latex ones are cheaper" as "the
| real leaves are already made of latex, so why artificially make
| one out of latex?"
| exasperaited wrote:
| Ficus _produces_ natural latex. The entire plant or leaf isn
| 't latex!
|
| What is left from this process in the fake leaf is a mixture
| of latex sap and processed lignin, I think. It's certainly
| not _only_ latex.
| jaggederest wrote:
| Right, but if you process it with baking soda it coagulates
| the latex into the shape of a leaf with some strengthening
| fiber in it, which is approximately the exact thing you'd
| do with molded fiber-reinforced latex
| hnbad wrote:
| Given the incredible number of chickens that are processed every
| single minute across the world, this shouldn't be surprising but
| it's easy to see why you might be surprised if you never
| considered where all the stuff that isn't meat goes.
| hennell wrote:
| I found it pretty surprising. It would not have surprised me at
| all if we made fake plastic feathers and burned or buried even
| more real ones because it works out fractionally 'cheaper' to
| make new then collect and wash/treat the old.
| tobyjsullivan wrote:
| Honestly, I'd still be surprised to learn feathers in America
| are produced from American poultry. Far more likely the local
| ones get burned and everything for sale is shipped across the
| ocean because cheaper.
| butvacuum wrote:
| Feathers? Not a chance. Far too much volume per unit
| weight. And if they're compressed, you end up with only
| broken feathers.
| exasperaited wrote:
| Or they don't get burned but they do get shipped across the
| ocean to be processed, and then shipped back... that's the
| commercial way
| layer8 wrote:
| It's also because real feathers are similarly durable as
| plastic feathers would be. Plants are very cheap to grow as
| well, but plastic plants are nevertheless a thing.
| barrkel wrote:
| Plastic plants sell because they are free of maintenance,
| they don't wither and die, not because they are cheap to
| produce.
| satvikpendem wrote:
| Yes, they sell for the aesthetic. I have real plants but
| some friends have fake ones and honestly at a distance
| without scrutiny they look just as good. Hell, certain real
| plants look and feel plasticky themselves due to how
| they're composed, especially vinous plants.
| layer8 wrote:
| Exactly, that's what I meant by durable. And cheap was
| referring to growing natural plants.
| fundad wrote:
| Feather meal is used in animal feed.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feather_meal
|
| Manure is also fed to cows.
|
| https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g2077
|
| "Poultry litter can be used as a feedstuff... There are
| currently no federal or Missouri regulations governing the use
| of poultry litter as a feedstuff"
| zkmon wrote:
| Things that can't be faked are going to be a mystery, reversing a
| phenomenon of just a few decades ago, when faking a thing
| perfectly was a miracle.
| jolt42 wrote:
| I think it's a shame more real leather isn't used. It just goes
| to waste, but fake leather is cheaper.
| com2kid wrote:
| Fake leather is such an annoying scam. Real leather can last
| for a century if taken care of, fake leather lasts a handful of
| years before it literally flakes away into nothing.
|
| Though that reminds me of the time I bought a real leather
| couch set that had absolute garbage everything else, the legs
| broke after a couple of years. Really not the part I was
| expecting the manufacturer to have cheaper out on...
| 14 wrote:
| I too am annoyed by "faux leather" as it is so stupid to see
| some ad saying leather jacket and when you look at the
| details see faux leather. That is not a leather jacket it is
| a plastic jacket so cut the shit. Same level of ragebait as
| things like vegetarian "meat"balls.
| com2kid wrote:
| > Same level of ragebait as things like vegetarian
| "meat"balls.
|
| There is some _amazing_ vegetarian food out there. Both
| Buddhist and Hindu cultures have been making amazing
| vegetarian food for literally thousands of years and they
| are _really_ good at it.
|
| Also, vegetables are just yummy!
|
| Fake meat, no thanks. Incredible vegetarian and vegan food
| exists, stop trying to fake it. Same with gluten free
| foods, almond flour is an amazing ingredient but it is
| different than flour. It is funny that the keto community
| had amazing gluten free recipes years before the gluten
| free communities figured it out.
| satvikpendem wrote:
| Exactly. I find myself incidentally eating vegetarian
| most of the week, being Indian, just because it tastes
| good (and because it's cheaper, but that's another
| matter). My parents only eat meat on the weekends due to
| such cost so it's interesting to see people in the West
| eat meat for every meal such that its lack is noted.
| FuriouslyAdrift wrote:
| Agreed... when I was a vegetarian, I ate nothing but
| Indian/Malay/Thai etc and it was great. If I hadn't moved
| I would probably be vegetarian to this day.
| circuit10 wrote:
| What's wrong with vegetarian meatballs? As a vegetarian I
| find naming the products after what they're imitating far
| more helpful that coming up with some clumsy confusing name
| that's obviously trying to imply what they want to say
| without saying it... does anyone really read the word
| "vegetarian" and then still think it must have meat in it?
| I don't think that's a real problem
| Kirby64 wrote:
| Fake leather has a wide, wide range of quality. Polyurethane
| faux-leather used in many automobiles these days is
| considered to be superior to leather in terms of durability
| and longevity. Take a look at old examples of MB-Tex, which
| Mercedes has been making for ... 60-70 years by now.
|
| Similarly, plenty of leather that will disintegrate and flake
| into trash or crack and peel, especially if not taken care of
| well.
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(page generated 2025-12-22 23:00 UTC)