Dear Chuck,
Every once and a while a thouroughly intriguing idea comes along.
Most times, you've gotta' wonder, but I think this one's worth
looking at.
I was listening to Radio Netherlands tonite when I heard a science
article broadcast about a new wood technology. Environmentally
sound, cost effective, usefull... 'platonization'.
It seems a Dutch company has found a way to turn softwoods such
as pine, spruce and poplar into hardwoods. On top of which, and
here's the thing, it purports to be completely rot resistant.
It isn't adored by any bacteria, algae, fungii, or even insects
for that matter. It seems the process is akin to steam bending.
The person being interviewed said they knew there were many potential
applications for a wood like this, but they probably hadn't envisioned
them all. He suggested window frames, and fence posts. At any
rate, I could think of several rot resistant hardwood out of softwood
applications, and I'm sure your readers could think of a few more.
If you're interested, link to:
https://www.rnw.nl/science/html/030324hardwood.html
for those that have streaming audio, the interview is worth listening
at:
https://www.omroep.nl/cgi-bin/streams?/rnw/science/030324hardwood.rm
many thanks for your great site.
Bruce Gordon
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