Posted on 08/05/2017 by Chris Stevenson
It’s the end of an era. Welcome to the era of Teslin.
Teslin, for those of you not up with the latest innovations in rogaining, is that “paper” on which we have started to print maps. Teslin is water proof and very strong. I used an unprotected Teslin map in the National Championships on the weekend and the unprotected map survived the event in almost perfect condition, unlike its carrier who has a scratched head from walking into a tree branch.
For those of you are interested “Teslin” is a brand name of its manufacturer PPG and according to their website “PPG TESLIN® substrate is a microporous, dimensionally stable, highly filled, single-layer, polyolefin synthetic material. A non-abrasive inorganic filler comprises 60 percent of the weight, and it is 65 percent air by volume.
The porous, uncoated nature of Teslin substrate absorbs inks, adhesives, coatings, and laminating films to form strong interlocking bonds with the substrate that secure printed data.”
It is interesting that the word “paper” is not mentioned and while Teslin claims it is recyclable I am not sure if it is recycled as a plastic or a paper. In any case, I would not dream of recycling my rogaining maps. The kids can throw them out after I have passed on.
In days gone by the first thing competitors did at a rogaine was cover their map with contact but like the horse and buggy this is a rarely viewed sight these days.
The picture below is my team mate, Julian Ledger, who is not as yet convinced by the power of Teslin. Here he is displaying his contacting artistry having covered the huge National Championship map (bigger than two A3 sheets) without any air bubbles on the front. (The back was not so pretty :<)
The other thing to note about Teslin is that it was great at taking a significant portion of the skin off my lips. I put my map in my mouth, at one stage, to scramble up something and when I pulled it out again I found the skin of my lips were now part of the “microporous, dimensionally stable” substrate.
Personally, I never had much patience for contacting and in any case I used to delegate that task to my wife who is a school teacher and could contact a sand castle, without air bubbles, in her sleep.
Welcome to the era of Teslin!
2 Responses to The End of an Era
- Andy Macqueen 08/05/2017 at 11:46 am says:
Re highlighters on Teslin … organisers of both WRC2016 and ARC2017 advised that all highlighters are OK except Staedtler brand. I’ve experimented and found it’s not as simple as that, as many highlighters that seem OK will actually smudge if rubbed when wetted (eg. by rain). It depends on the colours as well as the brand. Some colours in Staedtler, Stabilo Boss and Artline were OK, some were not. The only brand I tested where all colours were smudge-proof even when wetted was Bic brite liner. (No I don’t have shares in that company but I now have an awful lot of highlighters!!)
- Craig Colwell 11/05/2017 at 11:46 am says:
The end of an era came a lot sooner in South Australia. We have been using Teslin maps for the last 8 years or so and have been pushing for other states to follow suit. Very happy to see the ACT coming on board and hope that the other state associations will see the light. Contact covering for paper maps is so tiresome.
Cheers
Craig Colwell