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Re: Material: Super wood
By:JohnAbercrombie
Date: 2/24/2018, 8:07 pm
In Response To: Material: Super wood (Thor)

Have any of you heard anything about super wood? If this becomes commercially available I wonder if the properties would be beneficial to kayak building. They mention it makes balsa usable for furniture. The process makes the wood thinner and denser.

https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/technology/new-super-wood-10-times-stronger-could-replace-steel-says-scientists

From that article:

The wood is reportedly just as strong as steel, but six times lighter in weight and five times thinner than the original piece.

The SpecificGravity of steel is 7 or 8 (?) so this 'superwood' would be quite dense/heavy, I think.

It's hard to tell if the 'stronger' claim is comparing equal thickness or equal weight samples.

For wood-core composite (aka strip building) construction, I don't think a thinner core that's heavier has a big advantage. Perhaps for spots where the wood part is more 'structural', it might have a use?

Actually, when you look at the properties of 'ordinary' wood compared to other materials, it's quite remarkable already.

For some interesting reading, check out 'Chapter 3: Wood as a Structural Material' in this book:
https://www.westsystem.com/wp-content/uploads/GougeonBook-061205-1.pdf

Messages In This Thread

Material: Super wood
Thor -- 2/24/2018, 9:45 am
Re: Material: Super wood
JohnAbercrombie -- 2/24/2018, 8:07 pm
Re: Material: Super wood
scottbaxter -- 2/24/2018, 8:41 pm
Re: Material: Super wood
scottbaxter -- 2/24/2018, 8:44 pm