HackerTube
HomeLongsLikedHistoryWatch laterCategoriesPlaylistsSettings

Attempting to make transparent wood

NileRed1 HN recommender · recommended in 1 month, 2020-2021
YouTube
8.5M views · 7 years ago · demo · evergreen

NileRed attempts to make transparent wood, inspired by an AvE video, by removing lignin and infiltrating the wood with resin. It is a long, detailed walkthrough of the chemistry and the practical difficulties.

Linked as the go-to hands-on demonstration of how transparent wood is made and why scaling it to large pieces is hard.

ChemistryMaterials science#nilered#transparentwood#lignin#epoxy#materialsscience

6 comments from Hacker News

@robbedpeter2021 · in “Scientists have found a way to harden wood to make a knife that rivals steel”

This looks like it can be accomplished with minimal basic chemistry and a hydraulic press. I'd love to see what type of acoustic guitars could be created using this material. Super thin tops and super rigid bodies are exciting. The NileRed YouTube channel goes into the lignin removal chemistry here ▶ this video There's also great progress in using nanocrystalline cellulose to produce super strong composite materials. Embedding graphene or carbon nanotubes gives you super light, super tough material that is suitable for replacing aluminum and steel structures.

CitesView on HN
@adrianN2021 · in “Solar-assisted fabrication of large-scale, patternable transparent wood”

Nile Red has a video where he makes this: ▶ this video As you can see from the video it is basically impossible to scale this process to large pieces of wood. Discussions about replacing windows with this are pretty pointless I think.

CitesView on HN
@jrockway2021 · in “Solar-assisted fabrication of large-scale, patternable transparent wood”

> Not sure how they "infuse" it. That sounds like driving it deeper. NileRed did a video about preparing this from a different paper: ▶ this video It seems that you just soak the thing in epoxy in a vacuum. The results were not great, though.

CitesView on HN
@grenoire2020 · in “Super Wood (2018)”

Process-wise I think this is an industrial version of what NileRed [0] and prior AvE [1] tried. Pretty cool, if it's truly a durable alternative. [0] ▶ this video [1] link

CitesView on HN
@riffraff2020 · in “A clear, strong, and thermally insulated wood for energy efficient windows”

there's a few videos from years ago attempting earlier versions of this[0]. In the end, it is very little "transparent wood" and more "plastic with wood bits in it". [0] e.g. ▶ this video

CitesView on HN
@valine2020 · in “Transparent wood could be the window of the future”

NileRed on youtube has a cool video detailing the steps to create transparent wood. His result isn’t quite as clear as in the article but the process seems similar. ▶ this video

RecommendsView on HN
Making uranium glass30:03

Making uranium glass

NileRed
15.1M views • 6 years ago
Making purple gold53:20

Making purple gold

NileRed
32.9M views • 2 years ago
Glass engineering - designing and making photochromic glass38:18

Glass engineering - designing and making photochromic glass

Applied Science
517K views • 8 years ago
Revolutionary Paint: How to Make Surfaces Stay Cool in the Sun49:39

Revolutionary Paint: How to Make Surfaces Stay Cool in the Sun

Tech Ingredients
985K views • 3 years ago
The Glass Age, Part 1: Flexible, Bendable Glass9:02

The Glass Age, Part 1: Flexible, Bendable Glass

Corning Incorporated
7.3M views • 11 years ago
Demo and teardown of an X-ray fluorescence gun (measures chemical composition)22:48

Demo and teardown of an X-ray fluorescence gun (measures chemical composition)

Applied Science
369K views • 6 years ago
The Material Science of Metal 3D Printing15:00

The Material Science of Metal 3D Printing

Real Engineering
2.7M views • 7 years ago
Making Infrared Cooling Paint From Grocery Store Items (w/Novel CaCO₃ Microsphere Synthesis)40:14

Making Infrared Cooling Paint From Grocery Store Items (w/Novel CaCO₃ Microsphere Synthesis)

NightHawkInLight
1.3M views • 3 years ago
How To Make Infrared Cooling Paint (Electricity Free Air Conditioning)25:34

How To Make Infrared Cooling Paint (Electricity Free Air Conditioning)

NightHawkInLight
1.2M views • 4 years ago
Introduction: The Chemical History of a Candle by Michael Faraday (1/6)3:19

Introduction: The Chemical History of a Candle by Michael Faraday (1/6)

engineerguy
207K views • 10 years ago
DIY Scanning Electron Microscope - Overview14:57

DIY Scanning Electron Microscope - Overview

Applied Science
632K views • 15 years ago
Making YBCO superconductor19:37

Making YBCO superconductor

Applied Science
642K views • 8 years ago
Experiment: Coca Cola and Drain Cleaner1:31

Experiment: Coca Cola and Drain Cleaner

Home Science
2.7M views • 7 years ago
Richard Feynman Fire4:43

Richard Feynman Fire

nebulajr
758K views • 17 years ago
I Grew Real Spider Silk Using Yeast32:47

I Grew Real Spider Silk Using Yeast

The Thought Emporium
2.9M views • 6 years ago
Building a realistic artificial sun (for dark winter days)19:45

Building a realistic artificial sun (for dark winter days)

DIY Perks
3.3M views • 6 years ago
CANDO: A Compiled Programming Language for Computer-Aided Nanomaterial Design and Optimization28:10

CANDO: A Compiled Programming Language for Computer-Aided Nanomaterial Design and Optimization

European Lisp Symposium
3K views • 10 years ago
Melt your circuit boards11:58

Melt your circuit boards

mitxela
471K views • 4 years ago
Synthesizing Chicken Noodle Soup From Pure Chemicals22:48

Synthesizing Chicken Noodle Soup From Pure Chemicals

The Thought Emporium
2.1M views • 3 years ago
Where Do Trees Get Their Mass?4:10

Where Do Trees Get Their Mass?

Veritasium
2.5M views • 14 years ago