Hardened Super Wood! - Can It Rival Steel?

Get 20% off on unique rings hand-crafted from impressive exotic materials at Thorum with the coupon code: Skall20 https://thorum.com/ There are a few ways to harden wood and make it more useful as material for buildings, tools, and even weapons and armor. How about taking it to the next level, with a treatment that makes it able to withstand getting stabbed with a screwdriver? It can even be molded, so imagine everything that can be done with leather, but now it's harder than even the densest exotic hardwoods. Fascinating stuff! ** Time Stamps ** 00:00 – 00:41 Intro / Research article 00:41 – 01:48 Thorum rings 01:48 – 02:32 What wood is made of 02:32 – 03:57 How they densified basswood (23 times harder!) 03:57 – 05:32 How does it compare to metal? 05:32 – 06:11 Potential for making armor 06:11 – 07:49 Application in construction (nails) 07:49 – 09:25 Can a HW knife REALLY be 3x sharper than steel? 09:25 – 10:19 Usefulness / TRANSPARENT augmented wood 10:19 – 10:39 Inspiration for fiction (Solarpunk, high-tech elves) 10:39 – 12:47 Historical “what ifs” (improved war clubs & armor) 12:47 – 13:12 Daggers, swords, axes made of super wood? 13:12 – 14:55 Final thoughts / outtakes / outro Other related videos: "MAIL" Armor Like You've Never Seen Before!    • "MAIL" Armor Like You've Never Seen Before!   Testing Post-Apocalyptic Gear: Duct Tape Armor!    • Testing Post-Apocalyptic Gear: Duct Tape A...   The WORST Knife Ever Reviewed!    • The WORST Knife Ever Reviewed!   ** Sources ** Hardened wood as a renewable alternative to steel and plastic https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...!    • Researchers Make Wood Stronger than Steel   Researchers Make Wood Stronger than Steel https://www.voanews.com/a/4270554.html https://phys.org/news/2021-10-hardene... Schematics overview of the major wood components, cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin https://www.researchgate.net/figure/S... Transparent wood: the building material of the future? https://phys.org/news/2019-11-transpa... Wood Hardness Chart https://www.schenckandcompany.com/woo... Wood hardness according to Brinell scale https://www.floor-experts.com/hardnes... Hardness of mild steel, bronze, oak https://material-properties.org/mild-... https://material-properties.org/bronz... https://material-properties.org/oak-w... https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/bh... Pacific Island War Clubs from Polynesia https://www.new-guinea-tribal-arts.co... ** Music ** Outtakes: "Little People At Work" by Horrorpen https://opengameart.org/content/littl... Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license (CC BY 3.0) Outro: "Highland Storm" by The Slanted Room Records https://theslantedroom.github.io/stev... Used with artist's permission ** Support the channel ** Help fund future videos, get bonus content and access to an exclusive Discord server   / skallagrim   https://www.subscribestar.com/skallagrim    / @skallagrim   Books about history and/or martial arts, swords, knives, video/audio equipment, and other stuff I recommend (as an Amazon Affiliate I earn commission through these links): US - https://www.amazon.com/shop/skallagri... Canada - https://amzn.to/2HeOCMA Other ways to support the channel by shopping through affiliate links: Kult of Athena, my favorite online store for reproductions of historical arms and armor, fantasy swords, etc: https://www.kultofathena.com/?koa=259 Where to get HEMA gear and practice swords: http://www.woodenswords.com/?Click=1799 ** Social media & merch ** How to contact me (can't always reply, as I get too many messages):    / skallagrim   See a list of my video uploads:   / _skallagrim_     / skallagrimyt   Channel-related shirts and other merch: http://skallagrim.spreadshirt.com/ https://teespring.com/stores/skallagrim