Speaker 1: KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp the
Speaker 1: House Whisper on demand on the iHeartRadio app today on
Speaker 1: the show, We're gonna have some fun today. Today is
Speaker 1: one of my regular fixtures every year. We usually do
Speaker 1: it maybe once or twice a year. New stuff. I
Speaker 1: got a pile of new stuff for you, new stuff
Speaker 1: related to home building, home design and decor, outside landscaping,
Speaker 1: all just all sorts of new stuff. And has there
Speaker 1: been any special event that has prompted this, Nope. I
Speaker 1: simply keep this list going throughout the year. I always
Speaker 1: have a list sitting on my computer of new stuff
Speaker 1: that we've looked into that has fascinated me, that's caught
Speaker 1: my attention. And when the list gets long enough, I'm like, yep,
Speaker 1: that's a show, and so let's do a new stuff
Speaker 1: show and clear the board as it were. So that's
Speaker 1: what we're talking about today, and of course it will
Speaker 1: also leave a little bit more room than normal I
Speaker 1: hope for your calls. So we'll be taking calls today
Speaker 1: as we always do, and maybe a few more than normal.
Speaker 1: The number to reach me eight three three two. Ask
Speaker 1: Dean A three three. The numeral two and then you
Speaker 1: just spell out, ask Dean. Eight three three two Ask Dean.
Speaker 1: Producer Matt Toffler is standing by. The phone lines are
Speaker 1: open right now. You can jump in the queue. You
Speaker 1: can listen to the show while you wait, and anything
Speaker 1: that you've got on your mind. The cool thing about
Speaker 1: calls is you get to set the agenda. So I'm
Speaker 1: talking about new stuff, but you and I, we don't
Speaker 1: have to talk about new stuff. If you call in,
Speaker 1: we can talk about design issues, instruction questions, we can
Speaker 1: talk about architecture, we can talk about landscape, anything atall.
Speaker 1: We talk about you know, what color the friend on
Speaker 1: your pillow on your sofa should be, Anything and everything
Speaker 1: related to home. That's what I'm here for. So throw
Speaker 1: your head scratching questions at me and we'll put our
Speaker 1: heads together. You and me, we'll figure it out. Eight
Speaker 1: three three two ask Dean. And the phone lines are
Speaker 1: open right now. All right, let me introduce you to
Speaker 1: our awesome team. Elmer is on the board. Good morning, Elmer,
Speaker 1: Good morning Dean. Did I did I catch you by surprise? There?
Speaker 1: Bud No.
Speaker 2: I was waiting for it, anticipating it.
Speaker 1: Good to be with you, my friend. Good to be
Speaker 1: with you likewise, like I said, producer Matt Toffler, not
Speaker 1: near a microphone. I don't think he is Matt near
Speaker 1: a mic Matt, Yes, there you are. Good morning Matt.
Speaker 1: Good morning Dean. That is the beautiful voice that you're
Speaker 1: going to hear when you call in. Matt will tell
Speaker 1: you everything you need to know, set you all up
Speaker 1: so that you can come on the air with me
Speaker 1: and we can talk about your home. So Matt is
Speaker 1: standing by waiting and looks like, is there a call
Speaker 1: already coming in? Maybe? Maybe my buddy Eileen Gonzales at
Speaker 1: the news desk, Good morning, Eileen, Good morning Dean. How's
Speaker 1: it going. It's going good. How are you? How are
Speaker 1: you doing good?
Speaker 3: Just waking up?
Speaker 1: Still working on it. Beverage of choice over there in
Speaker 1: the booth there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, today I switched it up. I'm doing a yerbamate.
Speaker 3: It's exciting, isn't it?
Speaker 1: Your bamt. That's like a whole thing. Yeah, that's a
Speaker 1: oldish Have you ever done have you ever actually like
Speaker 1: gone down into South America and you know Argentina, Brazil
Speaker 1: where where erbamates are like the culture and shared like
Speaker 1: a communal yerbamt.
Speaker 3: No, but I've seen it. I'm familiar with how they
Speaker 3: do it. They put in these like wooden mugs, right,
Speaker 3: put it in wooden mugs.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's kind of tea and for them, and it's
Speaker 1: more popular than coffee, which is amazing in South America
Speaker 1: that you know, where so much of our coffee comes
Speaker 1: from South and Central America. And uh, and everybody's got
Speaker 1: their own little stainless steel straw that they that they
Speaker 1: that they use and it's kind of it's kind of
Speaker 1: a cool thing.
Speaker 3: Well I'm just using a paper cup today, so all right,
Speaker 3: not getting fancy here, but yeah.
Speaker 1: No, it just it just just sparked all of that
Speaker 1: thing in my brain where I just connect all the dots.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1: How the tradition of it's pretty cool. Yeah, College students
Speaker 1: South American college students swear by yurbamonte because they they claim, now,
Speaker 1: I I've had it a few times, but never never,
Speaker 1: I mean I've never really gotten you know, hooked on
Speaker 1: it per se. But they claim that just the chemical
Speaker 1: compounds in urbamonte, you know, the caffeine has its full
Speaker 1: effect without it, and it smooths you out same time,
Speaker 1: wakes you up and smooths you out so you never
Speaker 1: get the nervous jitters. Have you ever found that I think
Speaker 1: I've heard. I'll keep you posted on that. All right,
Speaker 1: tank it, tank as much as you can in the
Speaker 1: next half hour, and then report back in. Let me
Speaker 1: know how you feel. We'll do all right. Now, This
Speaker 1: is when I normally say, you know what, I think
Speaker 1: everybody needs to write some emails in because my partner here,
Speaker 1: she's been a little loose with with getting into the
Speaker 1: studio on time. She's around here, somewhere. I don't know
Speaker 1: where she is, but this is when and she told me,
Speaker 1: she said, hey, I got to make a call, but
Speaker 1: don't worry. I'll be in there in time to say
Speaker 1: hi to everybody on the air. And no, no, she
Speaker 1: didn't make it. But this is when I normally say,
Speaker 1: my better half, my design partner, my best friend in
Speaker 1: all the world, Tina is here. And Tina is here.
Speaker 1: That is the shadow of her spirit moving through the halls.
Speaker 1: But uh, she's close by, so again she will have
Speaker 1: to disrupt the show when she finally gets in and
Speaker 1: I can tell everybody that she's here. But she's here,
Speaker 1: She's here, I promise she's here. We'll prove it in
Speaker 1: just a bit. All right, new stuff plus your calls today.
Speaker 1: Here's the number one more time eight three three two
Speaker 1: ask Dean eight three three the numeral TWOEP ask Dean
Speaker 1: new stuff right after.
Speaker 2: You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from KFI.
Speaker 2: AM six forty.
Speaker 1: Uh TARTI she got a TARTI slip welcome home. Tina's here.
Speaker 3: I am here, here, I am Oh look at that
Speaker 3: excuse you.
Speaker 1: I had an important phone call. I know you did.
Speaker 1: I told everybody you had an important Well. I didn't
Speaker 1: say it was important. I just said you had a
Speaker 1: phone that's important to me. And I said that you
Speaker 1: told me you're going to take that call, and that
Speaker 1: you promise you would be in here on time. And
Speaker 1: then I wasn't. Then you weren't. I was standing at
Speaker 1: the door. You're like, it's too late. I'm like, ah
Speaker 1: on dart. You were standing at the door as we
Speaker 1: went to break, looking at me like huh me, time
Speaker 1: for me now, I'm like, skill away, just go away,
Speaker 1: just go away. But here you are here. I am.
Speaker 1: As much as I want to be upset with you,
Speaker 1: I'm too cute. Yeah, pretty much, pretty much pretty much.
Speaker 1: You're just too adorable. You're too much my friend. That's right,
Speaker 1: that's a problem. Sometimes it's just a problem. Anyway, everybody,
Speaker 1: as promised, Tina delivered here. She is well, I delivered
Speaker 1: her to you. She did not do this. It's me
Speaker 1: to give me the credit. But Tina's here, so everybody
Speaker 1: can relax. Okay, Yes, they're going to keep on. They're
Speaker 1: going to keep listening now because they're like, well, Tina's
Speaker 1: not showing up. But it's something you listen to that
Speaker 1: jackass talk for three hours alone. So anyway, all right,
Speaker 1: there you are good, Go your way, go your way now.
Speaker 1: Literally she's leaving the studio again, what is the deal?
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, all right, she'll be back anyway. Hey,
Speaker 1: follow us on social media. We only do the good kind.
Speaker 1: Just a reminder, we're on all the usual suspects. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to name them all. We're probably there.
Speaker 1: Home with Dean is the handle, same handle for all
Speaker 1: of them. So you can find us. Whatever your favorite
Speaker 1: social media platform is, you can find it. Just follow us.
Speaker 1: Just just doesn't dive in. Take a look. Follow us.
Speaker 1: We're not gonna spam you. We're not gonna upset you,
Speaker 1: we just send out the good stuff. Also, if your
Speaker 1: home is in need of some personal house Whisper attention.
Speaker 1: By that I mean literally not just even calling into
Speaker 1: the show, but if you want me and te to
Speaker 1: show up at your home. Yeah, for real, actually get
Speaker 1: our eyes on the problem. I'm using air quotes here
Speaker 1: the problem. You can do that. You can just get
Speaker 1: some more information. Go to house Whisper dot design for
Speaker 1: more information or to sign up for an in home
Speaker 1: console house Whisperer dot Design. And one more time. The
Speaker 1: number to reach me this morning eight three three two
Speaker 1: Ask Dean A three to three the numeral two ask Dean.
Speaker 1: Phone lines are open now, Producer Matt standing by taking
Speaker 1: your calls all right, right off the top, I might
Speaker 1: as well just share with you the thing that everybody's
Speaker 1: wanted to talk to me about this week since I
Speaker 1: brought it up. I brought it up on Conway, we
Speaker 1: talked about it, and I brought it up on wake
Speaker 1: up Call with Amy King. We talked about it right
Speaker 1: at the top of the pile of new stuff. Superwood. Superwood.
Speaker 1: What in the world is superwood? Well, it is something
Speaker 1: that I think I think is quite likely going to
Speaker 1: revolution ize certain aspects certain not every aspect, but certain
Speaker 1: aspects of home building and home construction on a lot
Speaker 1: of different levels, the residential level, and maybe even into
Speaker 1: commercial and industrial levels as well. Super Wood, first of all,
Speaker 1: is not a wood, a one particular kind of wood.
Speaker 1: It's not like, oh, somebody have figured out how to
Speaker 1: grow a different kind of wood. No, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: it's better than that. Actually, it is actually a process
Speaker 1: through which any kind of wood virtually can pass in
Speaker 1: order to give it superior quality, strength, to weight ratios
Speaker 1: and things like that. So understand this that superwood is
Speaker 1: a process. It's patented, I believe, it's developed by a company.
Speaker 1: And you can check this out. If you want to
Speaker 1: check it out more thoroughly than I have time to
Speaker 1: go in detail here on the show, you can go
Speaker 1: to I believe. Let me just make sure this link
Speaker 1: is correct here inventwood dot com. Yep, that's true. Invent
Speaker 1: wood dot com is the website. It's the only place
Speaker 1: where you're going to find it. It is the home
Speaker 1: of Superwood. Superwood is put together by a research team,
Speaker 1: and that research team has now received funding, not a
Speaker 1: not an unbelievable amount of funding in today's world. It's
Speaker 1: something like fifty million or sixty million or so, which
Speaker 1: is enough to get the ball rolling if you're serious
Speaker 1: about actually producing a product. But you know in the
Speaker 1: end they're going to have to sell it and and
Speaker 1: it will grow from there. But here is the thing
Speaker 1: about superwood. What's the deal. Superwood is a process that
Speaker 1: densifies regular timber, engineered to be stronger than steal and
Speaker 1: resistant to fire and rot and pests. Yeah, it's amazing,
Speaker 1: and it's really what it is the brilliance here. It's
Speaker 1: not an entirely new technology per se, but it is
Speaker 1: a combination of a couple of different technologies. Now if
Speaker 1: I can set these the scene for you for a while.
Speaker 1: Now you've heard me talk about thermally treated lumber. Thermally
Speaker 1: treated lumber is when we take a species of wood,
Speaker 1: any species of wood, even species of wood or maybe
Speaker 1: especially species of wood that you wouldn't normally expose to
Speaker 1: outside weather conditions, and we put it under a moisture
Speaker 1: and heat intense heat process pressure process by which many
Speaker 1: of the well, let's just say in terms of food,
Speaker 1: carbohydrates and sugars in the wood are converted under high
Speaker 1: heat and pressure into a form which renders them unsceptible
Speaker 1: to moisture, damage, to rot, and to bugs, to like termites,
Speaker 1: that kind of thing. That technology has been around for
Speaker 1: quite a while now, because I've been talking about it
Speaker 1: for years and years, and I've had the pleasure of
Speaker 1: using thermally treated lumber in order to produce certain effects.
Speaker 1: Like we want a certain deck to just look a
Speaker 1: certain way, and so we pick a species of wood
Speaker 1: that is just perfect. But it's like, normally you're scratching
Speaker 1: your head saying you shouldn't put that wood outside. That's
Speaker 1: not the right wood to put outside. But it's okay
Speaker 1: if we use the thermally treated version of that wood,
Speaker 1: because it changes the way it behaves, all right, So
Speaker 1: set that process to the side. Okay. Pressure and heat,
Speaker 1: pressure and heat, okay, does some incredible things to natural materials.
Speaker 1: And then there's another process. There's a process and you know,
Speaker 1: I had to look this one up because unless you're
Speaker 1: in the publishing industry or something, you wouldn't know about this.
Speaker 1: But there's a process of soaking wood or boiling wood
Speaker 1: in a couple of different chemicals, and those chemicals tend
Speaker 1: to hollow out what's called the the lignans and the
Speaker 1: hemi cellulose, okay, inside of a piece of wood. And
Speaker 1: this is a process that's been around for a long
Speaker 1: time because apparently it's the beginning of taking wood and
Speaker 1: creating paper pulp. Okay, this is like the process of
Speaker 1: being able to break down wood into paper pulp. All right.
Speaker 1: So if we take this process of boiling wood in
Speaker 1: these couple of chemical steps, and as a result, what
Speaker 1: we remove is not all the cellulose, but most of
Speaker 1: the hemicellulose and the lignans in the wood, which, by
Speaker 1: the way, fyi are the yummy parts if you're a termite.
Speaker 1: All right, So what we're doing is we're removing that's stuff.
Speaker 1: So imagine, imagine, if you will. Everybody has seen a
Speaker 1: piece of wood that has been devastated by termites. Right
Speaker 1: you actually touch it, it feels a little spongy. The
Speaker 1: reason it feels spongy is because there's all sorts of
Speaker 1: hollow tube tubules channels in it now where hemicellulose and
Speaker 1: lignans used to be but have been eaten up. Okay,
Speaker 1: So now we take that piece of spongy wood and
Speaker 1: then we put it under the heat pressure. Okay, because
Speaker 1: the heat and intense pressure, and the heat and the
Speaker 1: intense pressure causes the walls of those empty cavities to
Speaker 1: molecularly bond with each other again, So we can reconnect
Speaker 1: the wood. Now we can press it down. The wood
Speaker 1: ends up, as I understand it, reducing in thickness by
Speaker 1: four fifths. It ends up one fifth the dimension that
Speaker 1: it was before the process. But what we get, what
Speaker 1: we get on the other side, Well, i'll give you
Speaker 1: the specs right after.
Speaker 2: You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
Speaker 2: KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1: We are having some fun this morning. We're talking about
Speaker 1: new stuff, which is something I do from time to
Speaker 1: time as soon as my list of new stuff gets
Speaker 1: large enough to say, hey, I got a whole show
Speaker 1: of it. Now. So today's the day? Here? The uh
Speaker 1: is today? The yes, it is. It's first day of
Speaker 1: June twenty twenty five. Holy cow, Where where is the
Speaker 1: year going? Oh? My goodness, already in June. Well, it's
Speaker 1: it's a beautiful weekend here in southern California. I hope
Speaker 1: wherever you are that the weather is treating you as
Speaker 1: well as ours is. Here we whine and complain because oh,
Speaker 1: it's too hot. It's too hot. It's it's going to
Speaker 1: be like seventy eight today most places in socol. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I know we are whimps when it comes to that.
Speaker 1: It's lovely here, and it's going to stay lovely for
Speaker 1: most of the week as far as I know, mid
Speaker 1: seventies ish most of the time. Yeah, of course it's
Speaker 1: going to get hot. Summer is on its way. Summer's
Speaker 1: like only that's close, right, like two three weeks away. Yeah, okay. Anyway,
Speaker 1: we have left you hanging with this first item on
Speaker 1: the list, which is worthy of, you know, a few
Speaker 1: segments to discuss it. Super Wood was tossed across my
Speaker 1: desk quite a few weeks ago. I don't just see
Speaker 1: a thing and then run and talk to you about it,
Speaker 1: because I like to look into things first, just to
Speaker 1: make sure that you know, I'm not promoting something that's
Speaker 1: not real or fad or whatever. I had some conversations
Speaker 1: with the folks over it invent would. I've read several articles.
Speaker 1: I'm staring at one from Scientific American right now that
Speaker 1: was written back in February of twenty eighteen, when the
Speaker 1: process was first being discussed and released to the larger
Speaker 1: scientific and industrial community. So I'm telling you this is
Speaker 1: a real thing. It's a legit thing. And again, it's
Speaker 1: not a wood, it's not a species of wood. It's
Speaker 1: not some way that we've figured how to genetically modify
Speaker 1: and grow a tree. More on that later. I do
Speaker 1: have a plant on our list today that's been genetically
Speaker 1: modified that we'll talk about in a bit. But super
Speaker 1: wood is a process, and it really is a brilliant
Speaker 1: combination of a couple of processes that already exist. One
Speaker 1: the way that we take wood and boil it and
Speaker 1: get it ready to make paper pulp. And by the way,
Speaker 1: for those of you science nerds out there who are
Speaker 1: wondering what are those chemicals, the the two step process
Speaker 1: starts with boiling wood in a solution of sodium hydroxide
Speaker 1: and sodium sulfite. That's a treatment very similar to the
Speaker 1: first step in creating a wood pulp used to make paper.
Speaker 1: So that's been around for long, long, long long time. Secondly,
Speaker 1: the thing that's also been around is putting wood under
Speaker 1: high heat and high pressure. And if you do these
Speaker 1: two things one step after the other, if you then
Speaker 1: take the boiled wood, which as a result, has largely
Speaker 1: lost most of what's called hemi cellulose okay, and lignins,
Speaker 1: which are the yummy parts that bugs want, and also
Speaker 1: the areas that are most susceptible to moisture and rot
Speaker 1: and all that kind of stuff. We've removed that now
Speaker 1: from the wood. But now the wood is full of holes.
Speaker 1: And if you then take that wood under heat and pressure,
Speaker 1: then those walls collapse that are holes maintain that compression
Speaker 1: as it's gently heated, and the pressure and heat encourages
Speaker 1: the formation of chemical bonds between large numbers of hydrogen
Speaker 1: atoms and neighboring atoms in adjacent nanofibers of cellulose. I'm
Speaker 1: just reading this off of this Scientific American article here
Speaker 1: therefore greatly strengthening the material, and the results are impressive.
Speaker 1: The wood three times as dense as the untreated substance.
Speaker 1: They've increased its resistance to being ripped apart by more
Speaker 1: than ten times. It comes it becomes fifty times more
Speaker 1: resistant to compression, twenty times as stiff as it was
Speaker 1: in its natural form. It's more scratch resistant, more impact resistant.
Speaker 1: It could be molded into almost any shape, which is why. Yep,
Speaker 1: the automotive industry and the aerospace industry both now taking
Speaker 1: a serious look at superwood. Imagine the wings of a
Speaker 1: jumbo jet. I mean some people were like, oh, that
Speaker 1: makes me uncomfortable, but instead of being made out of
Speaker 1: carbon fiber or aluminum, that they're made out of superwood.
Speaker 1: Or imagine driving in twenty or years or so a
Speaker 1: car whose frame stronger than any car ever made before it,
Speaker 1: whose frame is essentially constructed from and molded from the
Speaker 1: factory out of superwood. These are all realistic, serious things
Speaker 1: that are being looked at right now. In lab tests,
Speaker 1: compressed samples of superwood incredibly moisture resistant. So let me
Speaker 1: look at this test result here. Lab tests compress samples
Speaker 1: exposed to extreme humidity for more than five days swelled
Speaker 1: less than ten percent, and then in subsequent tests a
Speaker 1: simple code of paint eliminated the swelling entirety, entirely. Okay,
Speaker 1: So it's not as though it can be absolutely exposed
Speaker 1: raw to the elements without any consequence, but a change
Speaker 1: of dimension because of extreme humidity that is minimal, I mean,
Speaker 1: that is incredibly minimal. And then one code of paint
Speaker 1: completely shut down that process altogether. Okay, here's another thing.
Speaker 1: Five layer plywood made out of superwood, a very very
Speaker 1: thin plywood stopped bullets fired into the material, Okay, which
Speaker 1: means that they are actually researching the potential of using
Speaker 1: superwood as a low cost armor. Now, the material doesn't
Speaker 1: protect as well as kevlar of the same thickness, But
Speaker 1: but it only costs five percent as much to UH
Speaker 1: to produce as the equivalent thickness of kevlar. All right,
Speaker 1: And and this one gets really funky and weird. Okay,
Speaker 1: really funky and weird. Well, you know what, Should I
Speaker 1: save it? Should I save it? All right? Let's talk
Speaker 1: about making glass for your windows out of super wood.
Speaker 1: No not no, not not the window itself, the glass.
Speaker 2: You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
Speaker 2: KFI A M six.
Speaker 1: Forty Welcome home. Yes, we are nearing the top of
Speaker 1: the hour. Yes, that does mean that right after this segment,
Speaker 1: right after our next break, I will be going to
Speaker 1: the phones. Yes, our number is eight three three two.
Speaker 1: Ask Dean, eight three three the numeral two, ask Dean,
Speaker 1: And yes, I am going to conclude my thoughts and
Speaker 1: share with you what's going on with this whole thing
Speaker 1: super would because today's show new stuff, new stuff, and
Speaker 1: superwood it has. It is well worth the time that
Speaker 1: I've given to it so far. And believe me, I've
Speaker 1: just scrap scratched the surface. So where as I at,
Speaker 1: I've now forgotten officially where I was at. In this description,
Speaker 1: we've talked about its strength. We've talked about the fact
Speaker 1: that this process has essentially rendered wood, any species of
Speaker 1: wood that undergoes this process moisture incredibly moisture resistant, rot resistant,
Speaker 1: termite and pest resistant, while creating a material stronger than steel.
Speaker 1: Now people always ask, what does that mean? Stronger than steel?
Speaker 1: Stronger than steel? Simply means pound for pound stronger than steel,
Speaker 1: dimensionally stronger than steel. So here's an ibeam of a
Speaker 1: certain size, and then here's a piece of superwood or
Speaker 1: an ibeam made of superwood the exact same size. Guess what,
Speaker 1: the wood stronger than the steel. That's what it means,
Speaker 1: and considerably eighty percent lighter than the steel at the
Speaker 1: same time. Yeah, it's pretty incredible. Now there are questions,
Speaker 1: and now what I want to do is I want
Speaker 1: to answer the questions or the concerns. On the other
Speaker 1: side like, okay, Dean, but but what is this going
Speaker 1: to do to things? I mean, aren't we already clear
Speaker 1: cutting forest? Aren't we already destroying the environment. You're talking
Speaker 1: about turning the entire manufacturing industry making it wood based. Well,
Speaker 1: obviously I'm not talking about that. Oh oh oh, this
Speaker 1: is okay. I gotta pause that. I just realized where
Speaker 1: I was because I teased you about superwood also potentially
Speaker 1: being transparent. Yes, I have seen a piece of it now,
Speaker 1: not absolutely clear like glass, but this process there's a
Speaker 1: certain tweak that they can make to it. I saw
Speaker 1: a one of the researchers holding a chunk of wood
Speaker 1: that was amazingly not transparent, but letting light through. In
Speaker 1: other words, it looked like frosted glass. Frosted glass, right,
Speaker 1: And they are telling me we're just a few steps
Speaker 1: away from being able to potentially mix this so that
Speaker 1: we end up with a product that could replace glass glass,
Speaker 1: making it stronger than remember, stronger than steel. So imagine
Speaker 1: a pane of transparent material made of wood in your
Speaker 1: wood window that's a stronger than tempered glass. And oh
Speaker 1: the fire resistance, yeah, I should mention that as well.
Speaker 1: This superwood everything burns. You know, if you've ever seen
Speaker 1: a volcano and you see melt, rocks melt in front
Speaker 1: of you. Yeah, I got to understand. Everything burns at
Speaker 1: some temperature. Okay, but how about wood siding, wood decking,
Speaker 1: wood sheathing on the outside of your house. How about
Speaker 1: wood studs and wood framing and wood beams that burn
Speaker 1: roughly at the same temperature required to burn brick or
Speaker 1: stone or concrete. Because that's right about where superwood is
Speaker 1: at in its in its heat resistance. Okay, Now under
Speaker 1: understand it was borne, the product was born in a
Speaker 1: process that is using heat far above the level of
Speaker 1: a typical wildfire or open flame. So again, it's impressive stuff. Now,
Speaker 1: am I saying it's going to take over the world? Now?
Speaker 1: Would I like it to? Sure? Of course I would.
Speaker 1: Now let's address those concerns. Here's the thing you need
Speaker 1: to know. Yes, we have, we have sinned against the
Speaker 1: planet on many for a long time, especially at the
Speaker 1: beginning of the industrial age when it comes to trees,
Speaker 1: and it took a long long time for us to
Speaker 1: turn that around. But I just want you to understand,
Speaker 1: and I'm not saying it's perfect. Please do not write
Speaker 1: me emails saying, well, Deane, did you also know that
Speaker 1: this is Yes, I get it, but the fact of
Speaker 1: the matter remains, about ninety eight percent of the US
Speaker 1: lumber industry uses trees from both public and private land
Speaker 1: that is grown sustainably. Understand that. Okay. Tim Conway asked
Speaker 1: me about this on Thursday night. And you know, I'm
Speaker 1: with Tim every Thursday night from about six twenty until
Speaker 1: about six forty five. Every week tune in. It's a
Speaker 1: fun conversation. But Tim asked me about this. He's like,
Speaker 1: all right, Dean, but you know, uh what about He
Speaker 1: wasn't asking about super what he was commenting on the
Speaker 1: quality of lumber that you see at home depot and
Speaker 1: lows at the lumberyard. And the reason I told him, yeah,
Speaker 1: the quality of lumber has changed over the years, and
Speaker 1: that's because the reason it's so wet and that it's
Speaker 1: got champered edges on some of those two by four
Speaker 1: studs and there are more knots than you've ever seen
Speaker 1: in the past, is because those are younger trees, because
Speaker 1: they are farmed trees, younger farm trees, not old growth
Speaker 1: five hundred year old redwoods and Douglas firs being cut down, okay,
Speaker 1: to produce lumber. The lumber industry has changed. Ninety nine
Speaker 1: percent of the US lumber industry, or ninety eight percent,
Speaker 1: uses trees from public and private land grown sustainably. Lumber
Speaker 1: is now very clearly an agricultural product. So if there
Speaker 1: was a greater demand for lumber in the world, there
Speaker 1: will be a greater demand to farm trees, which means
Speaker 1: more forests being planted. While those trees are growing, they
Speaker 1: are larger sinks that capture carbon only help the environment
Speaker 1: because the super wood process is carbon neutral or carbon negative. Okay,
Speaker 1: So you know, in my opinion, that's that's my dream
Speaker 1: of future technology, one that doesn't merely take from the
Speaker 1: planet but also gives back. Imagine what happens, what could
Speaker 1: happen if there's an incentive for corporations. Yeah, those guys,
Speaker 1: incentives for corporations to reforest planet Earth because it means
Speaker 1: profits for them, Okay, affordable materials to the consumer, profits
Speaker 1: to the corporation, and an incentive for corporations to actually
Speaker 1: improve the biosphere of planet Earth in order to get
Speaker 1: it done. All right, I'm not making all these promises
Speaker 1: to you, but I am telling you. This is why science, technology,
Speaker 1: and industry are all very very excited right now about
Speaker 1: the process of superwood, including airplane frames, automotive frames, and windows.
Speaker 1: So just imagine that. Tell I'm gonna read to you
Speaker 1: what the the Scientific American article concludes with here, and
Speaker 1: then we can move on. Someday soon it might be
Speaker 1: possible to live in a home made almost completely from
Speaker 1: one of Earth's most abundant and versible and sustainable building materials,
Speaker 1: from floors to rafters, to walls to windows. In the garage,
Speaker 1: there may be a car who's chassis and bumpers could
Speaker 1: be composed of densified wood rather than steel and plastic.
Speaker 1: Knock on wood, it says the Scientific American article. Very cute,
Speaker 1: but a reality. So that technology is out there, it's
Speaker 1: a question of where it goes from here. I'm just
Speaker 1: introduced you to it so you understand that, you know what,
Speaker 1: the future is not always dark and gloomy. There are
Speaker 1: these which you know. I'm not going to get into
Speaker 1: my opinion about how much we should be encouraging science
Speaker 1: and higher education, but at this point I see very
Speaker 1: very few things standing between us and screwing up this planet.
Speaker 1: Very few things other than well educated scientists who are
Speaker 1: thinking really good thoughts and putting together some things that
Speaker 1: could change the game. That's all I'm saying, Super would
Speaker 1: it's here, and I believe, if I'm not incorrect, that
Speaker 1: invent Wood has now begun and they're going to begin
Speaker 1: this year selling the first release of it, siding and
Speaker 1: decking products and structural beams replacing steel beams and homes.
Speaker 1: And you got to know as soon as I use
Speaker 1: my first one, yeah, you'll be hearing about it as well.
Speaker 1: All right when we come back, Uh, we're going to
Speaker 1: the phones and you will get to decide what we're
Speaker 1: talking about today on the show. Don't miss out, Don't
Speaker 1: go anywhere. Your Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper
Speaker 1: on KFI. This has been Home with Dean Sharp, the
Speaker 1: House Whisper. Tune into the live broadcast on KFI AM
Speaker 1: six forty every Saturday morning from six to eight Pacific time,
Speaker 1: and every Sunday morning from nine to noon Pacific time,
Speaker 1: or anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app