Company creates 'Superwood' from wood, 10 times stronger than steel, no rotting

Back in the early 60's I had an uncle who was a scientist at Washington State College (now Washington State University ) in Pullman Washington. His specialty was wood technology. He developed something very similar but he used resin as a binder. The wood was compressed under 20,00o psi (IIRC). The claims for this "wood" were basically the same, stronger than steel, fire resistant, resistant to impact. He demonstrated that by hitting it with a 5lb sledge hammer. It didn't even mark it. This technology is over 80 years old. It's not knew. It is expensive. Don't remember what he said about the cost to produce it, but if you have to use a press to compress it, the machine alone is very expensive and not exactly conducive to mass production.

 

It reminds me of the reccuring Al Fe alloy scams.

 

Not the exact product you quoted, but the developed concept...i.e. an infused densified wood product.

I don't think a scam, but like most man-made specialized materials it falls under the "2 of 3" rule.... Cheap, Light, Strong: choose two.

 

The attached image shows one use of a denser resin impregnated wood.The explanation of it's use is here:Why do F1 Cars Have a Wooden Plank? (The Surprising Reason) https://f1mix.com/why-do-f1-cars-have-a-wooden-plank .

 

Supperwood: Cut in a well ventilated area.
I have a Jet 14' Class that is made with a vacuum pressed, hot molded veneers in autoclave.
It is supperwood and faster than a speeding bullet. Less than 1/4" thick it has been around sense 1954. Most of the mahogany around the hull has rotted and been replaced but not the hull. They don't make boat like that anymore.
Here is a Firefly being made with hot molded method.

 

I had believed that only Fairey and Luders produced hot moulded hulls.They seem to be everlasting and I suspect that the combination of vacuum removing the oxygen and temperature effectively pasteurising the wood may be the reason for this.I can't imagine the process ever being repeated as large autoclaves are far from cheap to buy or operate.