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

IKEA buys 11,000 acres of U.S. forest to keep it from being developed

goodnewsnetwork.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 622 posts

Re: IKEA buys 11,000 acres of U.S. forest to keep it from being developed

#211

Post by bayindirh »

bombcar wrote: post #184
bayindirh wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Galant is not "engineered" per se. It's so dense that you can drive screws to anywhere on it. It behaves like drywall. > And if water gets in and doesn't get removed immediately you're in for a world of excitement. On higher end IKEA furniture there's no hex structure inside. It's filled. Solid. There's no inside . My kitchen is 8 years old and it has a solid wood counter. I re-oil it occasionally but, there's no deg…

The "inside" refers to the material between the veneer layers - as you find with particle board or MDF: https://gharpedia.com/blog/particle-board-vs-mdf/ It sounds like Galant may be MDF which is more durable but still experiences expansion when wet. The countertop is solid wood to help prevent that type of damage - and as long as you maintain the plumbing it should last quite awhile.

Galant is much denser than MDF. It's like a monolithic slab. It's way smoother and has finer grain than standard MDF.

For the table tops, IKEA's Professional Office Buying Guide quotes:

"Tested for tough treatment: The BEKANT desk series have been tested according to the highest standards for professional office use (EN 527, ANSI/BIFMA X:5.5 for desks and EN14074, EN1730 and ANSI/BIFMA X:5.5 for conference tables) and meets our strict standards for quality and durability."

Galant's table tops are rebranded BEKANT recently, however it's the same stuff AFAIK.

The buying guide is here: https://cdn.ikea.com.tr/buying-guides/Professional_office_bg...

Re: IKEA buys 11,000 acres of U.S. forest to keep it from being developed

#212

Post by vinay427 »

michaelgrafl wrote: post #65
Melting_Harps wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This smells like some really bold and really ridiculous PR attempt. Of course it is, they just use illegal loggers in Romania to offset their actual need for the crappy disposable stuff they produce. They seem to get away with that no problem, despite EU restrictions on it. I've never seen the appeal of IKEA when it came to furniture, the long lines at some of the bigger ones I've been to (for breakfast) are baffli…

Because Ikea is the only affordable furniture chain that makes good looking furniture. By that I mean that Ikea furniture doesn't chase current trends the way all the other big chains do (I'm in Austria). So buying furniture from Ikea means that you can use it for a long time without your home looking from a certain area. Also, going to Ikea with kids is a great experience. It's almost like going to a theme park, and…

> without your home looking from a certain area.

Did you mean "era" given that you mentioned time? "Area" also sort of makes sense which is why I wanted to clarify.

Re: IKEA buys 11,000 acres of U.S. forest to keep it from being developed

#213

Post by koheripbal »

kuschku wrote: post #132
tweetle_beetle wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The annoying thing about IKEA furniture, and that from competitors, is that all it takes is for a tiny piece of particle board to be damaged internally for the whole item to be useless. Generally, while they are in one piece and not moved, they are fine. But trasnporting or disassembling this stuff is a risk. The tiny wooden pegs, plastic bits and agressive screws going straight into soft board can rip out chunks, sn…

You can just go to any IKEA and buy a replacement part? Every single part they've ever sold is available at the replacement desk in their stores (at least here in Germany). Even individual screws, legs, etc. When I broke a door and one of the hinges of a kitchen cabinet, I just went to IKEA and bought a replacement door (of the exact same type) and replacement hinge) and replaced them.

Repairing a couch is not an option unless you're skilled in re-apolstering.

Re: IKEA buys 11,000 acres of U.S. forest to keep it from being developed

#214

Post by TeMPOraL »

conjectures wrote: post #195
contravariant wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem there is that most ways to add carbon pricing are against the self interest of whomever enacts it. Point-of-extraction is especially bad because it places all of the initial burden on the few places that actually extract carbon, who are probably not going to like that idea.

I guess it depends on the 'who' in those places. It's not hard to imagine a government rather fancying getting a tax receipt from extraction companies, particularly if it is seen as green. Who would presumably lobby rather hard against it. This suggests the absence of pricing at source is to some extent a result of successful lobbying.

The problem is exports; the government is already making money on extraction companies selling their goods abroad. If they burden them with extra taxes, that'll get translated to the price other nations pay, which will reduce exports, and thus reduce government's profit. In a competitive exports market, a country with environmental taxes will lose to the one without.

Re: IKEA buys 11,000 acres of U.S. forest to keep it from being developed

#215

Post by GekkePrutser »

lloeki wrote: post #192
WesolyKubeczek wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing about IKEA's stuff is that you usually cannot disassemble and reassemble most of it back losslessly when, say, moving houses. But then again, a lot of more expensive furniture doesn't fare any better.

Every single IKEA piece of furniture in my house (desks, tables, sofas, shelves...) is entirely "lossless assembly", although when moving I didn't have to put them apart down to individual parts because they're also designed for whole components to be (dis)assembled and reassembled quickly. I think I have like one piece of furniture that is not entirely lossless and that's the back panel on a closet that needs to be…

Yep that's the BILLY that has the folding wood panel you have to nail down. The reason they fold it is to keep the package small. You can re-do it a couple of times if you put the holes in a different spot but it's not great. Especially the folding bit is just tape so it can tear easily.

It is exceptionally cheap though.

Re: IKEA buys 11,000 acres of U.S. forest to keep it from being developed

#216

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

usrusr wrote: post #155
AndyMcConachie wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everytime I hear the word 'carbon capture' I just think of trees. This is literally what trees do, they capture carbon.

Yes, but to get a long term net effect we'd have to bury them about as deep as the fossils we are excavating. I dare claim that this won't happen (it would be far cheaper/more efficient to leave those fossils and synthesize something from those trees up here) Sometimes I wonder, as a mind experiment, how close we could get to practical carbon burial with a process based on sinking polymer blocks in the ocean: the spe…

> to get a long term net effect we'd have to bury them about as deep as the fossils we are excavating.

Why? What is wrong with capturing carbon the way trees naturally do? (Honest question)

Re: IKEA buys 11,000 acres of U.S. forest to keep it from being developed

#217

Post by xxs »

tweetle_beetle wrote: post #128
FriedrichN wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been using a lot of IKEA furniture for many years, some new, some secondhand (sometimes I'm the third or fourth owner) and I must say they're quite durable unlike some of the new furniture I've bought over the year and had to throw away.

The annoying thing about IKEA furniture, and that from competitors, is that all it takes is for a tiny piece of particle board to be damaged internally for the whole item to be useless. Generally, while they are in one piece and not moved, they are fine. But trasnporting or disassembling this stuff is a risk. The tiny wooden pegs, plastic bits and agressive screws going straight into soft board can rip out chunks, sn…

Besides the fact you can normally buy replacement from ikea (or ebay), most of the stuff is fixable via epoxy and wood sawdust(or even cardboard pieces as filler), wood filler accomplishes the task as well. Brass inserts (again epoxied) + machine bolts can fix up any holes/stripped wood screws. As a fast fix insert tooth picks in the hole along with PVA.

Of course in many cases is easier (faster/cheaper) to replace the entire 'thing', altogether.

Re: IKEA buys 11,000 acres of U.S. forest to keep it from being developed

#218

Post by gandalfian »

usrusr wrote: post #155
AndyMcConachie wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everytime I hear the word 'carbon capture' I just think of trees. This is literally what trees do, they capture carbon.

Yes, but to get a long term net effect we'd have to bury them about as deep as the fossils we are excavating. I dare claim that this won't happen (it would be far cheaper/more efficient to leave those fossils and synthesize something from those trees up here) Sometimes I wonder, as a mind experiment, how close we could get to practical carbon burial with a process based on sinking polymer blocks in the ocean: the spe…

We could turn the trees into furniture and surupticiously spread them out in buildings around the world. Hey wait a minute?

Re: IKEA buys 11,000 acres of U.S. forest to keep it from being developed

#219

Post by vinay427 »

oblio wrote: post #70
Varriount wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say most pieces of furniture sold these days are made of engineered wood [0], if that's what you mean by "composite materials". Aside from easier sourcing, I presume that a big driver of it's use is the fact that it is easier to shape and produce - no having to figure out how it will be assembled using the various sizes of timber available. The actual solid-wood furniture I have seen is either quite expensive…

> The actual solid-wood furniture I have seen is either quite expensive, or (somewhat ironically) unfinished. It's also super heavy, which I personally hate. Annoying to move in, move out, move around.

There are cheaper, lighter, and softer but less durable solid wood pieces made of pine and similar woods. They don't feel much heavier than the IKEA manufactured wood furniture I have but at least have a decently satisfying grain if that's what you're going for.
Post reply on HN