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

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