WTF?! Fly Puke???

You know, I've used the same dresser pretty much all my life. My parents bought it for me when I was very young and it was built in the late 1960's. It's nothing fancy, just a manufactured colonial style dresser that's held up well over the years. The thing I've never understood is why there are all those dark speckles in the light finish. I've been reading Jeff Jewitt's book on finishing and just read the part on "fly specking". It's a method used to fake damage in a finish. Ahhh, that's what it's called. After contemplating this for a few minutes, I finally put two and two together. Those dark specks look just like the ones the flies leave on the windows in my shop! I know, most of you are probably thinking "well duh!" but here's the situation. Are those specks crap or puke? I'm no insect specialist, but I've always understood that flies often puke when they land. They also have to crap *somewhere*. Did the manufacturer of my dresser try to imitate fly puke or crap in the finish???? This sounds asinine! Does anyone have any insight as to the real nature of "fly specking"? --dave

Reply to
Dave Jackson
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Prolly both?

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are messy eaters. Jim Kalisch, Department of Entomology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Q: What are the little black dots that flies leave behind all over the surfaces in my house? (Alison, Lissewege, Belgium)

A: Flies have a disgusting way of feeding. They can't eat solid food since their spongy mouthparts are too soft to break up food. So, they soften the victual by spitting on it. The saliva melts the piece of food. They sop it up like a sponge into their digestive tract. Since the food is already liquefied, flies digest nutrients fast and soon expel fecal material.

There you have it ? the two sources of flyspecks ? saliva and fecal matter. As the fly eats, it scatters spit. Soon after eating, it eliminates waste.

Additional reading:

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Original Message ----- From: "Dave Jackson" Newsgroups: rec.woodworking Sent: Wednesday, March 02, 2005 6:46 PM Subject: WTF?! Fly Puke???

Reply to
Peter Shull

Ok, so now the question is WHY would someone imitate that on furniture?

Reply to
NorthIdahoWWer

De gustibus non est disputandum.

Reply to
George

Even more amazing, is when you see printed fake wood with that effect. I just don't get it; I'm one of those people that think that wood should look like, you know, _wood_, and if you want a red wood when you're done, you should start with a red wood; if you want a dark wood when you're done, start with a dark wood, that sort of thing.

Reply to
Dave Hinz

"That's not a fly, it's a ladybug." "Damn, I wish my eyes were as good as yours."

Gerry

Reply to
G.E.R.R.Y.

I was under the impression that the specks were there to imitate pecan. I could be wrong though, I think it was something I read somewhere a long time ago. Jim

Reply to
Jim Northey

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> Houseflies are messy eaters.

You can see this on a revoltingly grand scale in the movie "The Fly" - not the original, but the remake starring Jeff Goldblum. He sits down in front of a box of donuts, hurls all over it, then slurps up the resulting mess. The look on Geena Davis' face as she observes this scene is priceless.

B.

Reply to
Buddy Matlosz

Interesting. By any chance did this scene take place in a furniture factory?

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Reply to
Peter Shull

Airsick?

Reply to
CW

Maybe it is my hydroponic lettuce again, but I was always under the impression that the 'specks' were supposed to imitate worm holes. In fact, I'm pretty sure that the 'chewed by bugs look' is what they are after. Flyshit has little appeal to the trompe d'oeil artist. Worm holes, on the other hand, can be intriguing. (Wrong forum to be discussing travel to other dimensions and all that rot.)

When faced with flyshit on your melamine, you will find out that laquer thinner barely touches (removes) it. Same with denatured (Methyl Hydrate) alcohol...but if you use water, it wipes right up! Betcha Martha didn't know that.

0¿0 ?

Rob---> who thinks the word 'barfridge' looks funny.

Reply to
Robatoy

Izzat why they split up?

Dave in Fairfax

Reply to
Dave in Fairfax

Hold on. Nobody is getting the point at all, here! The real question is: how did the manufacturer get flies to puke/crap on command on the dresser?

Focus, people . . . FOCUS!

FoggyTown

Reply to
foggytown

We _have_ been talking about that. Cher, Aaron Neville, Whitney Houston...

Indeed.

Reply to
Dave Hinz

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Instant fly puke.

Reply to
Silvan

(snip)

(snip)

Bastard. That's gonna take beer to get out of my head.

Let's not get into an "earworm" fight; nobody wins that battle. Ever.

Reply to
Dave Hinz

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