
Making transparent wood [video] - camtarn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1H-323d838
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OldManAndTheCpp
NileRed mentions this as a shout out to AvE.

I recommend both: AvE has a fantastically interesting folksy veneer hiding
deep experience (a joy to watch).

NileRed has a much more polished style, although both are working out of
garages.

To see a crossover is greatly appreciated: the core dream of internet mixing
and remixing remains alive!

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monochromatic
Dead tree carcasses? Sick!

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module0000
Holy smokes! He cuts(with a lot of torque) towards his unprotected hand with a
box cutter. This looks really cool, but that made me _cringe_.

~~~
alangibson
As AvE would remind him: cut toward your chum, not your thumb.

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monochromatic
For anybody watching this who doesn’t know how to use a table saw, he’s lucky
he still has all his fingers. I could barely watch that part.

~~~
kurthr
He's not using a SawStop? That's insane... Promotional video:
[https://youtu.be/eiYoBbEZwlk](https://youtu.be/eiYoBbEZwlk)

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diggernet
I rather dislike SawStop. It's a destructive system which is very expensive
when triggered (whether legitimately or due to wet wood, etc) because it
destroys both the stop and the blade. You need to repair your saw before you
can continue working. Which is fine if people choose to buy it. But they have
been pushing to make their device legally required for all saws, while
fighting hard to suppress competing systems, thus removing consumer choice. In
particular, they have killed the Bosch Reaxx, which is a non-destructive
system that uses inexpensive gas cartridges to instantly drop the blade below
the table. If it triggers, reset the blade, drop in a new gas cartridge, and
get back to work. Love it. But I can't buy it. Thanks a lot, SawStop.

~~~
monochromatic
Sawstop is an innovative company that has some patents. Why wouldn’t they try
to use them against a competitor?

~~~
LeifCarrotson
They would try to use their patents offensively if their mission is to make as
much money as possible.

They would encourage manufacturers to adopt some form of safety system, even
if it wasn't theirs, if their goal was to keep table saw users safe.

There is some plausible deniability if the competing systems are not as good
as theirs - is something better than nothing, or does it create a false sense
of security, etc. - but it is pretty clear that Sawstop values profit over the
safety of people who can't afford their system.

~~~
monochromatic
Yes, it is a company, not a nonprofit or an industry trade group.

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apo
The end of the video mentions an application: a composite material made from a
renewable resource (wood). The idea would presumably be to get a transparent,
strong surface with mechanical properties different from either wood or epoxy
alone.

However, the effort to process the wood, and the consumption of non-renewable
resources highlight the limitations with this approach. And as was made clear
from the video, the process is limited to pieces with thicknesses of a few
millimeters at best.

A lot of the problems described in this video arise from the mechanical
properties of the wood itself.

So, why not use sawdust instead? Its vast surface to volume ratio means that
the resin should penetrate rapidly.

Also, wood-plastic composites are a thing; they're made from sawdust or whole
wood:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood-
plastic_composite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood-plastic_composite)

How such a compsite material could be made transparent is an interesting
question with potentially many practical applications.

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achn
I think he missed the point that the long cellulose fibers are being filled
with resin and then acting as a fiber optic channel, which is why it only
works in contact with the page. And why the letters “jump” to the other side
of the sample.

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_Microft
I was surprised that he stopped using lengthwise cut pieces. They seemed
better suited to compare how easily different methods allow the epoxy could
enter the cellulose channels/matrix.

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shawnz
Reproducing my comment from this video: Regarding the short cure time of the
epoxy, why not put it in the vacuum with only the resin, and add the hardener
only after the ethanol is evaporated?

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s0rce
I've infiltrated porous materials by diluting the epoxy with a miscible
solvent and then replacing with less and less dilute solutions until you get
just the resin. Commonly done for biological tissue samples for microscopy.

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ranit
Could you explain this process in more details or link to a more comprehensive
description please? Thanks.

~~~
s0rce
Basically the mixture of solvent and epoxy is much less viscous and easily
infiltrates the material. There are numerous protocols that describe the
process. For example:
[http://web.path.ox.ac.uk/~bioimaging/bitm/instructions_and_i...](http://web.path.ox.ac.uk/~bioimaging/bitm/instructions_and_information/EM/fixation_standard.pdf)

Start where it says "Dehydrate through a series of ethanols or acetones and
propylene oxide." basically this is for replacing the water with solvents, if
the sample is dry you can just immerse it in your solvent of choice, probably
propylene oxide (toxic) or acetonitrile (less toxic), something miscible with
your epoxy resin.

Follow the protocol up to the polymerization. I'm not sure if all resins are
suitable for this type of infiltration but there are many suitable ones, see:
[https://www.tedpella.com/chemical_html/chem2.htm](https://www.tedpella.com/chemical_html/chem2.htm)

