4 ms·

Is it honest to still call their product wood? That's the question, calling it wood seems to misappropriate/inherit the assumed values of wood to their product.

by loceng 6y ago

Is it honest to still call their product wood? That's the question, calling it wood seems to misappropriate/inherit the assumed values of wood to their product. "Transparent wood" feels better than whatever other title they likely could come up with.

bsdz 6y ago
Perhaps call it an engineered wood product? I think that's what they call MDF.
- tinco 6y ago
  Even glulam and engineered hardwood flooring is called engineered wood and they are far more natural than this. I think it would be fair to call this wood fiber reinforced epoxy sheets.
  - me_me_me 6y ago
    It would, but it doesn't roll off a tongue as easy as transparent wood. Same reason we use MDF rather than Medium-density fibreboard.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
cj 6y ago
Would “Epoxy coated wood” be more appropriate? Honestly, the manufacturing process sounds much simpler than other “wood” I’ve seen that has much more engineering / chemicals involved.
- joshspankit 6y ago
  More like “wood-strengthened epoxy”. Thankfully we have had similar naming laws around the “wood” you mention. They are not perfect, but they are enough if you know what you’re looking for.
  - sradman 6y ago
    I had a discussion with a maker of hand crafted canoes about materials. He was surprised that his cedar-strip [1] canoes were lighter than the equivalent kevlar (which is well known as being lighter than fiberglass but more expensive and harder to repair). The key factor accounting for the weight difference was the amount of epoxy absorbed by each material. Ultimately this is about material science and the various trade-offs inherent in each choice. Cedar-strip canoes have a highly valued aesthetic quality but "wood-strengthened epoxy" is an accurate description of the material; the epoxy, however, is not the distinguishing feature of cedar-strip, kevlar, nor fiberglass canoes. Like all evolving innovations, "transparent wood" seems to be searching for its killer application and I don't expect the name used by researchers to continue if/when it finds product-market fit. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strip-built https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strip-built

by loceng 6y ago

bsdz 6y ago

Perhaps call it an engineered wood product? I think that's what they call MDF.

tinco 6y ago
Even glulam and engineered hardwood flooring is called engineered wood and they are far more natural than this. I think it would be fair to call this wood fiber reinforced epoxy sheets.
- me_me_me 6y ago
  It would, but it doesn't roll off a tongue as easy as transparent wood. Same reason we use MDF rather than Medium-density fibreboard.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

cj 6y ago

Would “Epoxy coated wood” be more appropriate? Honestly, the manufacturing process sounds much simpler than other “wood” I’ve seen that has much more engineering / chemicals involved.

joshspankit 6y ago
More like “wood-strengthened epoxy”. Thankfully we have had similar naming laws around the “wood” you mention. They are not perfect, but they are enough if you know what you’re looking for.
- sradman 6y ago
  I had a discussion with a maker of hand crafted canoes about materials. He was surprised that his cedar-strip [1] canoes were lighter than the equivalent kevlar (which is well known as being lighter than fiberglass but more expensive and harder to repair). The key factor accounting for the weight difference was the amount of epoxy absorbed by each material. Ultimately this is about material science and the various trade-offs inherent in each choice. Cedar-strip canoes have a highly valued aesthetic quality but "wood-strengthened epoxy" is an accurate description of the material; the epoxy, however, is not the distinguishing feature of cedar-strip, kevlar, nor fiberglass canoes. Like all evolving innovations, "transparent wood" seems to be searching for its killer application and I don't expect the name used by researchers to continue if/when it finds product-market fit. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strip-built https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strip-built