Cork represents an attractive solution for numerous
industries. Everyone from Wine lovers to astronauts and supermodels should
be grateful to the cork oak for its extraordinary bark.
The drinks business has already explored some of the
many processes that transform this raw material into the stopper you
remove from the bottle of wine you drink in a party with your friends or in a
romantic dinner.
Cork is a material, harvested for commercial
use primarily from Suber (the Cork Oak), which is endemic to
southwest Europe and northwest Africa. Once the trees are
about 25 years old the cork is traditionally stripped from the trunks every
nine years. The trees live for about 300 years.
Because of its impermeable, buoyant, elastic, and fire
retardant properties, it is used in a variety of products, the most common of
which is wine stoppers. The montado landscape (Alentejo)
of Portugal produces approximately half of cork harvested annually
worldwide.
Cork's bubble-form structure and natural fire retardant make
it suitable for acoustic and thermal insulation in house walls, floors,
ceilings and facades. The by-product of more lucrative stopper production, cork
board is gaining popularity as a non-allergenic, easy-to-handle and safe
alternative to petrochemical-based insulation products.
Cork is being used in several solutions as is the example
of musical instruments; used as the core of baseballs and cricket
balls; Light buoyant and flexible Surfboards; in
spacecraft heat shields and fairings, cork’s property as an
insulator made it an ideal solution for NASA engineers
working to tackle the extreme heat experienced by rockets as they blast through
the earth’s atmosphere.
Racehorses use extra-light shoes made from
aluminium with a layer of cork, it is possible to cushion some of the
impact stress on a horse’s legs, thereby reducing injury risk.
Even at the highest level of fashion, cork’s ability to
combine style with comfort makes it a popular material, as shown by Yves Saint Laurent wedges.
Now, Cork has entered in the world of Mechanical Mods
through Sobreiro Mods.
Sobreiro Mods have created a model with certain
characteristics that did not exist in the market: a flexible activation system,
which assembly, tuning and maintenance were simple, practical and functional
with the use of unique and excellent raw materials such as cork.
Suber means in Latin "Suberina" which is the
element with the highest percentage in cork that gives properties of
compressibility and elasticity with great results in the achievement of
these Mods. The valorization of handmade manufacture, quality and precision of
watchmaking were determining factors for the launching of this
superb mechanical Mod.
