When I posted photos of some old magazines that I found during a hoarding job on our @the_tools_show Instagram page, TOOLS-tributor, carpenter, and old-tool aficionado Ben Bogie called it “dirty paper.”
Ben has a way with words, so I inquired.
Ben says that folks who rummage through alleys and barns looking for old, underappreciated tools and machinery call such smudged, dust-infused catalogues “dirty paper.”
And while that is a long way to say that the History of Insulation in Architect Magazine is more interesting than it sounds, that’s my point. Even if you don’t care about asbestos (coincidentally, invented 800 yards from my front door) or Celotex sheeting, the dirty paper is cool to look at. Hand-drawn instead of Helvetica.
Listed first—and to bring this into some framework of relevance—is my favorite insulation ever: Mineral wool from the 1880s. Full disclosure, I made a video about using it a few years back and am proud of the system I set up for installing it faster. I find the mineral wool I’ve used on my jobs to be so useful, easy to work with, and clean that I consider it having an extra pair of hands on the job. It’s a tool, so to speak.
It cuts like wood and installs with a similar mindset—in modules. No slap stapler and black and blue thumbs. And you cut it with a bread knife.
