Wood Replaces Plastic?
Olympus just announced a revolutionary technology that uses compressed wood in place of plastic for some of its products. You can see their prototype camera in the left photo. According to this news release from Olympus:
“The processed wooden material has the feel and grain pattern of natural wood, but is much harder than engineering plastics such as ABS and polycarbonate resins. Strong enough to be used to create the outer casings of electronic products, the material can enhance the aesthetic value and pleasure of ownership that those products provide.”
As a woodworker, I find this exciting. Woodworkers have always been looking for ways to add the warmth of real wood to their computers, keyboards, etc. There are photos all over the internet that show wooden keyboards, mice, and computer cases. I’ve even seen where guys have built wood cases for their iPods.
Hopefully, we’ll see more products with real wood cases as the technology becomes more widespread.