materials science

Shellac, Beeswax, Flour Paste, and… Cardboard?

My ongoing acquisition of cardboard for Mrs. Barn’s use in the various gardens — it is used as a weed-stopping underlayment underneath mulch — somehow led me to this video.  The geek in me is often entranced by peculiar applications of the sciences, especially materials science, and this fit that bill precisely.

Ultra-light and ultra-strong panel fabrication is available in the aerospace and marine worlds, but at GREAT cost.  I became acquainted with a student who worked for a custom outfitter of tailor-made airplane interiors, and the costs he recounted of both materials and fabrication/fitting processes was breath taking.  Marine plywood, sometimes a couple hundred dollars a sheet, can be dwarfed in price by the composite veneered or laminated panels used in the super elegant interiors of megabuck private planes.

In addition to laying up my own plywood with some of the pile of veneers I have up in the loft, I will almost certainly try to explore this method to make panels for various applications.   Sometimes amusing myself with “What if…?” questions is all the justification I need.