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The Exploitation of Wood
With wood, one is never done learning. I've learned the most from others I've worked with and after a lifetime of carpentry and woodwork still barely know a fraction of what there is to know.
Great article and provocative title. Arguably, you could replace "exploitation" with "optimisation" as this is what I think you mean.
Hi Steve,
Wood is great in that the waste is useful. Our waste is used as mulch, bedding for animals or even smoking foods at a local restaurant. Not all wood is furniture wood. Not all wood is for carpentry. Sometimes the wood's best use is to return it to the soil.
Very nice. I particularly liked the portion on making tapered polygons to arrange the grain on a wide panel glue-up. I had never come across that before.
For the benchtop, why not use 8 layers of MDF? Wicked smooth and made from recycled wood.
1. MDF is not resistant to water. Plus, yellow pine is about the same price and looks better. If you want a man-made panel alternative, I prefer Baltic birch.
2. I use it for internal parts on the piece (drawer bottoms, etc.)
3. Yup. But there is way more waste when riving material. The excess becomes mulch or bedding for animals. And is easily reconstituted into the soil.
MDF has extremely low stiffness, and it creeps. An 8 layer thick top will sag over the length of the bench here.