Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Crushed wood is stronger than steel

nature.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 180 posts

Re: Crushed wood is stronger than steel

#91

Post by jacquesm »

brudgers wrote: post #86
jacquesm wrote: post #6

The most expensive wooden floors have the end grain exposed facing upwards and this is then compressed down, much like the top of a good quality butchers block. Those floors are just about indestructible. The heavier such floors are used the stronger they get! The wood in the article is compressed crosswise to the grain (so they get thinner rather than shorter), using the original planks as the raw organic material t…

none of those ever made it to very high levels of industrial adoption. Non-exotic methods of strengthening wood, made it to high levels of production in spades: plywood, oriented strand board, microlam and glulam beams, and medium density fiber board (MDF) are direct examples. Wood I-joists and plate connected wood trusses are less direct. From a functional standpoint, standardization of lumber grades is a social tec…

Yes, engineered wood is a mainstay of construction. But all of those processes were and are set up to be able to process a large volume in a relatively short time and leave very little to no waste, and what waste there is is sold off as fuel.

Plywood - especially the higher grades - is amazing stuff. I visited a plywood factory in Ontario and it really opened my eyes to how clever and precise the manufacturing of various kinds of engineered wood is.

Re: Crushed wood is stronger than steel

#92

Post by Agathos »

Ajedi32 wrote: post #56
boobsbr wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Care to explain, please?

It's a reference to [The Worf Effect][1]. [1]: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheWorfEffect

Exactly. Just to amuse myself, I spent a few minutes googling for materials that are "stronger than steel."

spider silk (a classic): https://www.npr.org/2017/01/14/509807212/spider-silk-is-stro...

bone: http://ipfactly.com/human-bone-is-stronger-than-steel/

a graphene sponge: https://www.materialstoday.com/mechanical-properties/news/sp...

carbon nanotubes: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/presspacs/2010/...

silica nanofibers (because carbon is old news): https://prescouter.com/2013/02/new-material-is-lighter-than-...

fiber-reinforced hydrogel: https://www.global.hokudai.ac.jp/blog/new-tougher-than-metal...

One starts to wonder if steel was ever all that strong. But I'm sure the real lesson is there are a lot of ways to measure strength.

Re: Crushed wood is stronger than steel

#93

Post by NoNotTheDuo »

euroclydon wrote: post #39
jacquesm wrote: post #6

The most expensive wooden floors have the end grain exposed facing upwards and this is then compressed down, much like the top of a good quality butchers block. Those floors are just about indestructible. The heavier such floors are used the stronger they get! The wood in the article is compressed crosswise to the grain (so they get thinner rather than shorter), using the original planks as the raw organic material t…

Do you mind sharing a picture of this done right? The end grain wood floor pics I found on Google look mostly hideous to me.

Boulevard Brewery in KC has part of their event space floored with end grain. Overview pic: https://www.boulevard.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/BHB-7.j...

Closer up:https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/0a/df/ba/b1/...

Re: Crushed wood is stronger than steel

#94

Post by willvarfar »

logfromblammo wrote: post #76
willvarfar wrote: post #19

People may also find Pykrete interesting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pykrete Its adding wood pulp to ice to make the ice much much tougher. It was invented by the epitome boffin Geoffrey Pyke, who proposed they build an aircraft carrier of it! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Habakkuk

Did you mean to say " eponymic " instead of " epitome "?

I meant he was the epitome boffin.

But yeah, he was eponymic to Pykrete too :)

Re: Crushed wood is stronger than steel

#95

Post by blackguardx »

jacquesm wrote: post #90
blackguardx wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you use a clay like fire clay instead of plaster, it will be much more durable.

Hm, the fire clay I'm familiar with is extremely brittle once it has been through a heating cycle, do you have some specific kind in mind? The stuff I know is more like glass.

The stuff I used wasn't that brittle. It is also designed to be used as a furnace lining, unlike plaster.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_clay

Re: Crushed wood is stronger than steel

#96

Post by djtriptych »

Isamu wrote: post #88
jacquesm wrote: post #6

The most expensive wooden floors have the end grain exposed facing upwards and this is then compressed down, much like the top of a good quality butchers block. Those floors are just about indestructible. The heavier such floors are used the stronger they get! The wood in the article is compressed crosswise to the grain (so they get thinner rather than shorter), using the original planks as the raw organic material t…

There is still a street in Pittsburgh that is end-grain wood blocks. (In Shadyside, a short residential street.) They continue to treat it with tar. So I wonder if it was a similar idea.

Any chance you can find a google street view link for this?

Re: Crushed wood is stronger than steel

#97

Post by spenczar5 »

willvarfar wrote: post #94
logfromblammo wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you mean to say " eponymic " instead of " epitome "?

I meant he was the epitome boffin. But yeah, he was eponymic to Pykrete too :)

In that case, "epitomic" perhaps, as "epitome" is a noun?

Lovely link, by the way, I did find Pykrete very interesting!

Re: Crushed wood is stronger than steel

#98

Post by kevindqc »

djtriptych wrote: post #96
Isamu wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is still a street in Pittsburgh that is end-grain wood blocks. (In Shadyside, a short residential street.) They continue to treat it with tar. So I wonder if it was a similar idea.

Any chance you can find a google street view link for this?

I found this image, but it's from Philadelphia:

http://www.philly.com/philly/living/20151225_Changing_Skylin...

Re: Crushed wood is stronger than steel

#100

Post by Nav_Panel »

Isamu wrote: post #88
jacquesm wrote: post #6

The most expensive wooden floors have the end grain exposed facing upwards and this is then compressed down, much like the top of a good quality butchers block. Those floors are just about indestructible. The heavier such floors are used the stronger they get! The wood in the article is compressed crosswise to the grain (so they get thinner rather than shorter), using the original planks as the raw organic material t…

There is still a street in Pittsburgh that is end-grain wood blocks. (In Shadyside, a short residential street.) They continue to treat it with tar. So I wonder if it was a similar idea.

This might be what you're thinking of: http://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/Best-of-the-Burgh-Blogs/Th...

Here's a street view link: https://goo.gl/maps/smQp7BpkgHF2

It's a bit of a random little stub street, so I'd never noticed it during my 4 years of undergrad, but it's a neat lil artifact.

Post reply on HN