Turning Trash into Timber: Exploring the Eco-Friendly Side of Recycled Lumber!

What is one to do when supply is low and global demand is high? In our new series with Andy from @htme, we’re exploring if household recyclables can be turned into a lumber substitute.
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[@MrEzPc]

Looks weird seeing those shelves and tools on the wall just after your last vid on your channel. Seeing all that stuff as it was and then ash. Keep on doing what you do. 👍🏻

[@michaelmagnani3463]

I was just thinking..... I just watched you pick that draw knife up off the floor 🤨

[@philvanderlaan5942]

Yeah just what I was thinking, video was clearly recorded 2-3 months ago

[@someoneudontknow3709]

It probably needed more plastic to act as a binder in the process also might have helped to have layers of the three ingredients mixture and a layer of just plastic in between other then that it was a decent result in the end

[@mavigogun]

This process really demands extrusion mixing; alternatively, he could have repeatedly folded the molten product- the poor fabricator's method. At these particles sizes, the results will, invariably, be an amalgam with few of the advantages of any of the constituent materials.

[@garethbaus5471]

A weak board that crumbles isn't too much worse than OSB, whenever I try to use OSB it tends to want to fall apart especially when it has been exposed to moisture. Also in the wood/plastic composite, you should probably think of it as plastic with a cellulose filler rather than wood with a plastic binder more plastic will give you a tougher material.

[@ValeryDjondo]

I would rather advise for the use of a fiber. Lets make like the original wood with man made twisted rope like fibers that will strenghten the whole structure ?

[@Salazarsbizzar]

Over the last 25 years of roofing in Wisconsin through winter. I will say that osb has gotten much better though. Used to get rained on once and it was done. Not anymore

[@garethbaus5471]

@@Salazarsbizzar Perhaps the good stuff, I probably haven't messed with the highest quality OSB.

[@Salazarsbizzar]

@@garethbaus5471 oh its garbage I'm just saying it's a lot better than it was lol. You still need plywood for anything qualitie,which I'm pretty sure theres different qualities of plywood.

[@__Rodrigo__]

Its good to see you doing things again, i wish that you never give up because you do something amazing that we dont see often... Or dont see at all those days, thanks ~

[@VGInterviews]

I'm guessing this was the last video filmed before the fire considering many of the tools used here were the ones that appear in the latest HTME video showing what was destroyed by the fire That sucks man, sending hugs to all the crew

[@billpfeifer8924]

After working in a saw mill where we sold off some waste wood to a company making what you were trying to make. I enoyed seeing yu try to achieve the same results We installed a sawdust dryer then ran the sawdust through a flour mill making the as fine as bread flour. then shipped it off to the plant where they used an epoxy type plastic to mix with the wood flour. All of this required lots of heat and fires were a big problem for our sawmill and we fought lots of fires in our storage bins. we managed but the company the produced the finished product burnt to the ground and we mothballed the flour mill I was very happy when that happened as it was a maintence nightmare

[@abdulgrier9040]

I used to make injection molded trays, utensils, humvee parts. We used grinders resembling wood chippers to recycle rejected parts. A cheap wood grinder with sharp blades might be your answer. Run the material through 2X for smaller particles. Since you're not extruding into a mold and adding back pressure you should probably consider more heat, more glue eventually distributed, and maybe vacuum forming. This a great idea. I hope you revisit it again.

[@kz5632]

Great example of perserverance and resourcefulness, thank you!! I think this is how great things/inventions start!

[@thomasbermea347]

Mycelium lumber is something being worked on. would be a good project to try. And would probably be easier than having to mix plastics and sawdust/cardboard aggregate. I've heard that reishi mushroom mycelium is one of the strongest that has been tested so far....

[@JB-tv5wq]

I'm surprised it does not appear you used any binder/resin for any of your attempts. Without any binder, your use of melting plastic alone, as a binder, I'd expect would never hold significant structural strength.

[@jcee2259]

I observed how an all-weather one person shelter bui;t. Using disused field barbed wire fencing and two waste materials directly out of a fast food retailer dumpster (i.e, cardboard containers and plastic bags). Plus, one leather glove to grip a hacksaw blade. A-frame structure around fencing of layered cardboard/plastic upward of 12 inches thick compressed by dual wire wrap. Ditto,four end sections, to kick in or out. Warm complemented by burrow into crushed food wraps. Done by an illegal French-Canadian migrant who did consume discarded liquid beverages and foods

[@dmyers9230]

I think the composition plastic to wood ratio has to be higher, more plastic. Plastic is the binder. Think wood fill pla plastic filament. And yes, finer could not hurt on the plastic. A little grain on the wood could provide strength, think osb (oriented strand board). To big on the wood can cause jamming in the extruder. Cardboard is just a filler.

[@HepCatJack]

For what you're trying to achieve with the plastic, you would need a majority of plastic with a little bit of fibers to strengthen it. A little bit like when you mix concrete you mostly have cement as the primary ingredient with a little bit of stones and a couple of rebars. Once you have your melted goo, put your fibers on it, fold it, put a little more fibers, fold it. Once you've done it a few times, twist it (like how people make candy canes). Then put the twisted plastic in the mold and press.

[@thomasbermea347]

Also bamboo/hemp composite is pretty interesting and promising.

[@walterrutherford8321]

I saw a video of homemade fireplace logs from sawdust. I think it just used heat (to break down the lignins) and a hydraulic ram. That would probably work even better with the addition of melted plastic.

[@HepCatJack]

At 5:12, you could mix the cardboard & sawdust with some coffee grind and inoculate with mycelium. Wait a couple of months for the mycelium to grow then squish it into a board.

[@MiguelVitorC]

Very impressive! Can't wait to see the next one.

[@MyChrisable]

I think you need a bit more plastic.. also the type of plastic is very important, go for bottle caps and milk jugs!

[@dhawthorne1634]

Composites are usually about 60/40 plastic to celulose and you want a much finer plastic particle to be able to get in and around the wood fibers. It's almost like you are mixing a fiber reinforced concrete where the plastic is the cement, the sawdust is the aggregate and the paper is the fiber reinforcement.

[@brianharden5437]

When you melted the plastic in the barrel, you should have continued heating it and added the filler to that and mixed it. Then poured that molten goo into your form. that will help to coat the fibers with plastic and glue everything together.

[@iamoztaurus]

Have you seen the precious plastic project ❓ They have blueprints for machines to recycle plastic, including a great shredder and an extruder. They only use plastic but you might be able to adapt it to include the cardboard or sawdust

[@mazdarx7887]

Recycled plastic lumber is only for those with money to burn. 2 x 4 x 8ft in wood in Toronto is between $4.50 to $5 each. 2 x 4 x8ft recycled plastic is $25 each. And wood is much more environmentally friendly

[@annamolly1261]

I think the main issue you are running into is the ratio. You should think about it like baking. Wood is the structural element, the cardboard is flexibility element and the plastic is the binder.

[@PSIChris]

I love this method of thinking!

[@ceragowans]

I'm a simple woman: I see Andy, I click.

[@JessWLStuart]

5:05 If the urea/formaldehyde glue was thinned, it could soak into the carboard more effectively, thus creating a better board.

[@BusterNut]

He should have tried more plastic and less sawdust, would probably be more durable

[@koenvaninbroukx9362]

Hi I like your videos a lot. Ever considered stirring after heating for a more homogenous mix in stead of reducing particle size?

[@TheJCJexe]

Curiosity Stream help our brother out with the shed repair, the insurance didn’t cover it sadly.

[@maverickwisdom0]

Its takes lots of efforts to make a video like this . Keep going . Amazing stuff . This is the Future .

[@mrchakrie]

I’m so happy to see the workshop before the fire

[@johnnywapstra9973]

I've got a problem with the idea that the material made when discarded (which happens to everything) ends up putting plastic into the environment. What alternative binding agents might be used?

[@RmRoyalflush]

So that's how the fire started

[@joshuabaughn3734]

I've actually held a similar material. It feels like wood, it looks like wood and it even cuts like wood, I wasn't allowed to machine it though, a guy in the morning class which was before ours was the only student who had experience milling plastic!

[@jakeparkens3690]

Oh my god the shop. I didn’t think I’d ever see it again

[@MrAdam100576]

This is a fascinating experiment. I wonder if a series of thin laminated sheets could create stronger end products depending on the direction of the particles. Much like plywood has strong shear strength but a glu-lam has tremendous tensile strength...all made from sheets of wood and plastic. If we could use recycled plastic to make structural building materials we could start to change things on a major scale! Thoughts?

[@umuzarin]

Good awareness about recycling👌🏻

[@brandonspurlock8059]

Andy is great, it'd be cool to see him more

[@MikeMaris]

Introducing some fibers in the final material will make it stronger. Since what makes wood strong is its fibers and the blending of your materials takes that away. Maybe a fabric mesh of somekind could add strength? Or just adding in other fiber like materials

[@teardread1899]

I use weight rather than clamps in the toaster oven. Relatively even weight provides continuous pressure downward. I use hot rolled steel plate

[@teardread1899]

Im curious if crushed lump charcoal or diy char powder (made from sawdust) added to the mix would help or make it worse

[@sketchyssk8shop]

Find a decent chipper shredder thst has a hammer mill in it. Put a screen wirh small holes in it over the discharge chute. This will all anything you put in it to be pulverized into very small particles. Also use more plastic than natural fibers.

[@pelicanformation3802]

Might sound dumb butd did you consider using a grinder to grind the plastic

[@mysteriousguy2636]

Finer Mats, some other type of binder aside form just the plastic, and a completely even pressure pushing down. Didn’t look like it was being pushed evenly on top on any of the attempts . Would probably help to read/watch how it’s actually made.

[@shabmaster7128]

The larger cardboard pieces can be oriented in a weave pattern to give some structural rigidity.

[@detroitredneckdetroitredne6674]

Reclaimed shipping pallets and shipping crates I have built Barnes and complete raise bed garden's lot of reclaimed Pallet lumber KZbin videos out there it is amazing what you can make

[@briebel2684]

I wonder if it would be possible to make a sort of veneer-composite sandwich, similar to plywood but containing recycled materials. Maybe some very thin steel in the sandwich mix as well. I know they make some hybrid engineered wood-steel beams that are super strong, but are also quite expensive.

[@congoballs9725]

Got wood? No Andy is here to help u get wood

[@idiotsandwich7528]

Its sad and happy to see the condition of the background in this video.

[@humanistheart]

You rock dude!

[@chinacreek1]

Skip the plastic and use resins or even concrete. I know it's not 100% recycled but neither is the energy required to do what your doing. I would recommend pu resin.

[@jasonzee]

Idk what your ratio is but all particles need to be finer and more plastic. I would try 3:1:1 ratio (plastic:wood:cardboard) if that doesnt work up this plastic ratio again and leave the wood and cardboard.

[@CMAenergy]

It would haave possibly been much easier if one used accetone or any liquid to help disolve the plastic to a liquid form and mixed the materials under pressure, and see what happens i could stand to be corrected on the accetone, but watched a video where the fellow just used a liquid and the plastic melted, and it would have been very easy to blend with what ever one wants, and when it set up, it was a hard as it could be, no heat was required.

[@EMCProton]

Suggest put it in a vacuum. By putting it in a vacuum, the plastic/ epoxy in the dry material.

[@nickkk420]

You maybe need additional binder, or a different more "melty" type of plastic

[@theblackbaron4119]

If you have more pressure with which the plastic is being extruded, then it should penetrate more material and get absorbed more due to higher saturation of the material, ready to bind with the chips.

[@magic.marmot]

"Unfortunately, due to a wood shop fire..."

[@billhuman448]

cool idea

[@simwaduncan777]

New subscriber. Learnt of this channel from Nick of Indigo Traveller.

[@phoenixdickeson3868]

there are probably some chemical binding agents that are cheap and would help a lot

[@benkayvfalsifier3817]

...I wonder if he will take his own advice and use some of these methods to make his own lumber to rebuild his shop?

[@jamesholland9625]

More plastic!!! Blend everything in the blender with a lot of water to allow fluidity and a finer grind. Then run your media through a filter or cheesecloth to separate water

[@aerotrike495]

His hand was bleeding press f to respect.

[@scottensley9964]

I think smaller size was the best try, but, should'nt you have used an adhesive, or experiment with inexpensive adhesives so that the final product is harder. Also, could that second attempted product be used as an insulation?

[@unseenhero7498]

What kind of mask is that and where did you get it?

[@pixelkatten]

I like how you just throw it out there that your workshop burned down

[@soundracoon2458]

Im pretty sure more pressure could really help

[@rafaelkassner]

Wait this is not available on CuriosityStream? 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

[@ManicPandaz]

I feel like you need more plastic. Maybe a 50% plastic vs 50% wood fibre mix, instead of 33.333% plastic and 66.666% wood fibre.

[@AdricM]

adding this to a big playlist of plastic recycling videos i have found. kzbin.info/aero/PL427Qe81JyCI9Wg3B2GcTC64hl28c12Dp but you ask for ideas, well i think you are going to want to go with more plastic to wood ratio. and you might want to make thin ish layer and then heat fuse multiple layers together.

[@destructionindustries1987]

I build D&D terrain with it

[@joonvii4430]

What if you mix it with water and boil it into a paste?

[@BeppyCat]

Don't you need to have glue for the cellulose components? Maybe a combination of approaches.

[@Pistolsatsean]

Was this before the fire?

[@elmena22]

Hola soy de Colombia..

[@_NextBigThing-]

What about ash can it be made into something useable?

[@stoneomountain2390]

Soap, pots, dependant on the source of the ash. Should make a decent inner liner for a kiln, it's just not very good at dealing with bending stress.

[@PsychNurse.]

Add epoxy?

[@nataliegist2014]

Melt the plastic mix everything else in and pour it into a mold

[@leenonolee4629]

Your sketchy electrical wiring set up?

[@umuzarin]

Feel God, Reuse, Recycle, Restore👍

[@308dad8]

So you demonstrate why mainstream technology is the best option. The best result is highly brittle and would be useless for anything structural, pointless for anything exterior (like siding, due to rain and sunlight and summer heat would break it all down) and why even bother trying to be gypsum board for interior walls? The problem with lumber costs is people feel panicked and are willing to pay anything so they’re getting gouged. Give it time and as lumber sits it’ll start taking prices down

[@lundysden6781]

energy cost per board foot is extreme. Not the best for the climate.

[@mrhomely]

Looks like a fire Hazzard 🔥. To soon?

[@Gazr965]

You're a tryer👍

[@saxazax]

gz andy

[@MyDogBeauch]

Check out #Preciousplactics. They make plastic grinders and extruders diy. I know this video is already made but... Just food for thought. Good resource to check out.

[@kanuverma2199]

Shai h👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@ladwigs]

make a piece of plywood

[@eusufkaji2297]

2:55

[@CUBETechie]

Make wood concrete

[@Dial8Transmition]

I fail to see how replacing wood with plastic is eco friendly

[@piverse]

Hey curiosity stream Please upload thr video of "mr beast"

[@98370alberto]

Title should be....Kid Not Knowing What He's Doing..

[@RFMongoose]

You've got way to much sawdust my dude. You definitely want a much higher ratio of plastic.

[@robinboss767]

Hi

[@irenedmello0355]

✌

[@10-OSwords]

Completely free = $600 for a 1 ft cube. Hmmm. Math skills....

[@renar3834]

Ok

[@drvedanglive]

You should warn before using the welding machine

[@garethbaus5471]

Why? I would assume that the person holding the camera probably knows what is happening and isn't going to be looking directly at the arc.

[@drvedanglive]

@@garethbaus5471 hurts 👀

[@garethbaus5471]

@@drvedanglive what hurts?

[@drvedanglive]

@@garethbaus5471 eyes bro

[@markmorgan6718]

Can you remove the money a month pls I’m trying to sign up but you keep doing that remove that feature now

[@heliarche]

Go to the scrap yard, build your shit out of steel. Seriously How To Complicate Everything.

[@VukVlahovic]

JUST WASTE TIME. MAKE ALL DUST AND MIX WITH CEMENT

[@adriankyledeluna457]

I need help