
One Man's Junk - brudgers
https://rootsofprogress.org/one-mans-junk
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mod
Maybe not totally on topic, but both the OP and the first article the author
links in the text claim there are no natural resources, but both are seemingly
not addressing one of the most frequently used natural resources: wood. In the
text of "there are no natural resources" the words "tree" and "wood" do not
appear.

In most cases we are indeed shaping the wood to be what we need, but obviously
nature isn't going to grow door frames or rafters for us. It sure grows wood,
though. No need to smelt it or refine it or really even figure out how to use
it properly. It's not a "highly inconvenient form."

We get sheets and blocks of plastic shipped around that aren't in their final
form, but they are the final refined substance, just as wood is.

~~~
throwanem
Not highly inconvenient? You don't just cut down a tree, rip it into planks,
and use them. Their dimensions, and physical properties like hardness and
density, change as they dry. That takes either a good deal of time, or a good
deal of infrastructure and processing work - the latter of which is actually
_required_ , if you want the kind of repeatable, predictable results you need
to produce the dimensional lumber with which we're all familiar today.

Hell, you can't even _burn_ green wood without a lot of effort, smoke, and the
occasional steam explosion - and not very much useful heat. Have you never cut
your own firewood? Unless you're smoking meat with it, you want to give it a
good long while to dry out, ideally a season or more, before you use it.

So, no, by the article's definition, wood is no more a "natural resource" than
iron ore. In both cases, ingenuity and effort are required to convert the raw
material into a reliably usable form. The same is even more true of plastics,
which require a great deal of complex refinement to go from original feedstock
to nib or rod or wire or billet that can be cast, machined, or 3D-printed into
finished products.

~~~
irrational
>You don't just cut down a tree, rip it into planks, and use them. Their
dimensions, and physical properties like hardness and density, change as they
dry.

Not to mention that you get very different results depending on how you saw
the tree into planks. Flat, quarter, rift sawn wood have all kinds of pros and
cons. You will get more wood from flat sawn, so it will be cheaper, but it
will be more likely to warp.

~~~
jacquesm
Almost all wood that is intended for use cases where warp is a problem is
engineered wood.

~~~
irrational
Do you mean as in building homes? I suppose that's true, but I do woodworking
- things like custom furniture - where warp matters but we don't use
engineered wood.

~~~
jacquesm
Custom furniture is art, not engineering. As for building homes you will find
engineered wood in trusses and almost all sheet. 'Sticks' are used for framing
where a little warp will be corrected for by the sheeting on both sides, and
might only come out as a few mm of wall thickness variation which nobody will
notice unless you look directly along a wall. Use a grazing light to see how
bad this can be and then compare to standing around looking at the wall. Works
well for ceilings and floor too.

~~~
vageli
> Custom furniture is art, not engineering.

Out of curiosity, could you expand on this? Is it because of the scale or
something else?

~~~
jacquesm
Custom furniture is the work of craftsmen (and women) and something to be
treasured the way you would treasure a work of art. Very few wooden structures
such as houses or bridges would be made to the same standard. I have the
privilege of knowing two especially gifted woodworkers and even though I'm
sure that their work will stand the test of time it is not engineered in the
same way that a load bearing structure would be. Form is almost if not more
important than function whereas in engineered structures function takes
priority.

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chmod775
I can't help but feel that "One Man's Trash" might have been a better title
with less connotations.

~~~
dang
Changing it for that reason would be a bit nannyish. Let's control ourselves
instead.

~~~
mike_hock
_What if_ , you guys, _what if_ , hear me out, you guys, _what if the pun was
intended?_

~~~
aasasd
Well, let's check the text.

> _It is a resource to someone who can look at it and understand its use and
> value_

