Extreme wood bending with ammonia

[@piranha031091]

Hi ben! Regarding your corrosion issues : if you manage to make your ammonia really anhydrous (for instance, by dissolving a tiny bit of sodium in it and distilling it again), you shouldn't get any serious corrosion issues with it. What happens is that ammonia dissolves the passivation layer that forms on many metals. Normally, the reaction can't go any further than that : the pKa of an amide is way to high for it to give protons that could oxydize your metal. How ever, if water is present, now you have labile protons available. The reaction that takes place is the standard dissolution of a metal in an acid, with its thermodynamics further driven by the formation of ammonia complexes with the resulting metal cations. (That is why copper corrodes in ammonia solutions, even without O2 around, and despite the fact "regular" acids cannot dissolve it). Also, regarding the aluminium, I wouldn't trust it for storing ammonia that still has water in it : the basicity of the solution might be sufficient to dissolve the aluminium oxide layer into aluminates, and quickly corrode the reactive aluminium metal underneath. Try putting aluminium foil in aqueous ammonia, and you'll see hydrogen starting to bubble off. Granted, ammonia and water proportions are completely different here, but I still definitely would not trust it.

[@BothHands1]

Really thorough and interesting explanation, ty

[@unicornFREAK123]

I have been a wood worker for nearly 30 years and you sir are the first person I have EVER encountered that takes wood working to the molecular level. My mind is bent similar to the cork screw piece in the display picture. Whoa! Very interesting but far beyond anything I will ever need in my line of work. Your crazy smart.

[@MysticalDork]

I can just imagine the stress and mental monologue that was going on during your mad dash for a container :P Excellent video as always. Just remember, no storing supercritical methanol in aluminum.

[@AppliedScience]

Ryan Willis Thanks! Did you see my video about supercritical methanol for aerogel drying? I was very surprised about the reaction with aluminum. I forget if I showed in the video what happened to the aluminum parts that were contained within the steel chamber, but the high-surface area aluminum screen completely disappeared!

[@MysticalDork]

Yeah, that's what I was referring to. I love weird reactions like that, you never expect them.

[@vmelkon]

Sounds like the Al reacted with the methanol to make an alkoxide salt : aluminium alkoxide. The same happens with alkali metals and alcohols.

[@TheLonelyPanther]

This is one of the most uniquely informative videos on KZbin. Respect.

[@250kent]

Ben: Your style of education has set my mind on fire. Nurons are under rapid fire, its a blessing and a curse because I can't turn it off. But you should be proud of yourself your work is building solid foundations for all of your students. Its amazing how big of an impact a good educator has on everyone's life life they cross. Thanks much more than I can express.

[@pauljs75]

How does this compare to steam-bending of wood? I know that process is often used by crafters and even shipwrights.

[@garyhoney2013]

pauljs75 11 bending wood with ammonia for years. As far as I know it may go back to the 60 or earlier. However, I'm not sure how it was started.

[@ryanb1874]

Its shity and cunts uo yoyr nice wood, CHEERS. Use steam ,not amminia, steam needs to be maybe 2 psi, while this weirdo, jeeze. HAVE A GOOD NIGHT. I'm fead up.

[@wieczg]

@@garyhoney2013 Do you use regular ammonia? How do you use it to bend wood?

[@ivantheterrible7696]

@@ryanb1874 dude, you just murdered the English language.

[@samykamkar]

This is so cool! I love hearing about the real world encounters like busted freezers and broken brass, too. Hope to find out about that dollar!

[@britneysouders4661]

That's a great idea. By the way here are the best woodworking plans online: QualityWood.xyz

[@longshot7601]

Is the treated wood flexible enough to attempt to bend compound curves such as a bowl shape with this process?

[@gregniederhaus3801]

A PVC tube with capped ends, (one glued and the other using a plastic bag as a gasket) has contained my ammonia well for about two years. No idea if it's appropriate, but its been sufficient so far. Definitely works wonders with bending. Thanks for the video!

[@DeerDaughter]

I would love to spend an afternoon or two just talking with this guy...he is so knowledgeable about so many things...and he explains and describes things in a plain language that anyone can understand...even a dork llike me.

[@RadioTrefoil]

Great video, I didn't know ammonia-treated wood was that flexible! The brilliant blue corrosion you described on the safety valve is of the tetraamminecopper(II) ion, most likely the hydroxide. Storing the ammonia in the aluminium bottle might be OK if it's dry ammonia but seeing as it is wet it is definitely not a suitable permanent storage device because you can get ammonium tetrahydroxoaluminate forming due to the presence of ammonium hydroxide.

[@aranchio]

Wasn't the heat (at about 4:00) comming from the pressure increase, when the amonium gas was released into the low pressurized pipe?

[@hairyoldhippy]

It's great to see people such as yourself experimenting -- getting it wrong sometimes, not declaring you have all the answers, just the true spirit of exploration and discovery. Thanks.

[@SinisterCity]

NileRed making transparent wood and you’re making cool ammonia bent wood. Love this

[@WigglesNation]

In reference to 4:18 Doesn't heat up occur due to pressurization of the chamber. You drew it to a slight vacuum but adding the chemical using vacuum drag has the same effects as pressurizing a container which causes heat.

[@whitcwa]

Ben, you should keep a video camera recording in your workshop whenever you work with anhydrous ammonia. It could make for some interesting viewing when unexpected things happen, and (should the unthinkable happen) it could help the authorities figure out what happened! Your videos are the best thing on KZbin.

[@DeliciousDeBlair]

Did you look around for either fire extinguisher bottles or small weld/cut/braze type portable torch bottles?

[@SodiumInteresting]

im guessing your lathe has fancy transmition for gearing up for thread cutting or was it simply a die in the tailstock?

[@Landrew0]

In the agricultural market, anhydrous ammonia is transported and used as a fertilizer in massive quantities. Trucks which were set up for hauling propane are converted for hauling ammonia by removing all brass components and replacing them with stainless steel.

[@chillhouse8327]

I wonder how this compares with steam bending?

[@primatebuddy]

Very interesting, and I have a question; once you bend the wood into shape and let the ammonia dissipate, what sort of concentration of ammonia is left, if any, in the wood? The reason I ask is I am interested in using a bent wood dowel as a pipe stem for an extra-long "wizard pipe" and I would be concerned that some ammonia might be left and therefore hazardous to put in one's mouth.

[@AppliedScience]

primatebuddy The ammonia is a gas, so with enough time, it will completely dissipate from the wood. I've noticed the wood samples that I bent in this video smelled like ammonia for a couple days, with it still being detectable but at a very low level for another week. If you give it another week after that, you should be fine.

[@andnor]

+primatebuddy I was wondering the same, for the same reason after watching this clip. After some (a lot...) googling i discovered that it depends on a lot of factors. Al tough i do not feel like writing an essay here, so i will end with: The longest time i can conclude that it would take for it to become "safe" would be around 1 and a half month. (with 1 week added due to unknown factors) how ever like Applied Science says, almost all woods would be safe after 3 weeks.

[@ludditeneaderthal]

after bending and drying in ambient conditions, toss your pipe stem in a vac chamber and heat it up to 150 f or so. voila, no more ammonia in your wood. if permeation will put it in, it will just as handily remove it, lol. of course, the stem will have to contact the chamber wall to actually get heat transfer under vac, so do it before finish sanding and such, just in case it causes a blemish

[@JessGulbranson]

I came here to ask about this application. Sounds like briar would be a great candidate for this.

[@mykhuh]

Thanks Ben! I'd been told about this wood-bending process, but hadn't tried it out. Given the similarities to steam bending (minus the heat), how would this experiment have differed using off-the-shelf 30% ammonia solution under vacuum/pressure and/or heat? [I would guess that water would help relieve tension in the wood fibers and enhance penetration of the ammonia]

[@Slot1Gamer]

Could you do this with cloudy ammonia?

[@dupaski]

"For tomorrow's follow-up video, I'm going to show you how to crochet a traditional wooden pole barn."

[@mgmejm]

Interesting video, thanks! I wanted to ask about the grain direction of the pieces of wood you bent successfully vs the soft wood (pine?). Wood that's steam bent tends to fail along the growth rings, and the soft wood looked to have failed in that way, or possibly the hardened pitch in the pine functioned as a vapor block. Did you happen to notice if the hardwood you bent well was parallel or perpendicular to the growth rings or if you managed both orientations well? I think the plywood and particle board failed because the glue/resin used retards the absorption of moisture into the wood beyond the exposed edge of the piece, which is why they are such stable products; but it's interesting to note that ammonia gas will not soften resin/glue. Also with plywood, the board plies are laid in alternate grain direction, opposing directions every other layer, so it may have failed anyway.

[@darrenmarchant1720]

anhydrous ammonia is used in heavy industry as a refrigerant.

[@seanhornibrook]

what happens if you do something like soak it in water after? will it return to original form? or does the cellulose reform to hold that shape?

[@Tsiorba]

Hello Ben. This video caught my eye, in part, because I bend wood all the time, in my work as a guitarmaker. Quick question, if the wood is soaked in a water/ammonia bath/solution, for a few days, would that help with bending? Just curious. Thank you for your videos.

[@AppliedScience]

+Tsiorba Guitars Luthier: Classical Flamenco Guitar Repair I believe soaking wood in water/ammonia (window cleaner) will soften the wood mostly because of the water. Soaking the wood in anhydrous (dry) ammonia causes it to become soft via a different chemical process. I haven't tested it, but I suspect soaking in water is just as effective as window cleaner.

[@bigvik93]

+Applied Science Thanks for the video .We got a special project at the university,We need to make a"wood" leaf spring for a powerriser (jumper)! Is there any other way to bend the wood like this ? Any advice how to put the component together ! 4 mm dick Hard wood ,then 4 mm soft wood (twice) and least glass fiber und TAPE:D: I am going to test it with my 80 kg ..... thanks for your time :)

[@Brillig2]

Years ago, there was an artist (Japanese, if I recall), who made some "sculptures" by bending logs into various shapes using some secret method. These were largish logs - like a foot in diameter or more and several feet long. Are you familiar with this artist, and do you think it was this technique that was used?

[@zarouszz]

How did you get from "I have some dry ammonia" to "Let's try bending some wood with it" ? google patent search?

[@AppliedScience]

Zarouszz I did a wood-bending project a few years ago, and saw a forum posting wherein someone claimed that spraying Windex on the wood (very thin plywood) would help it bend as the piece was slowly pulled into shape. It seems that Windex may help slightly by simply wetting the wood, but the ammonia content is so much lower than the water content, the contribution of flexibility from the ammonia is almost nothing. I did more research and learned the professionals use ammonia to get the wood really flexible. I've had the idea in the back of my mind for a while.

[@willman1011]

Applied Science Is this possible because the ammonia denatures the protiens in the wood, making it more bendable? Im still a student but that would be my educated guess. I would like to know more about this process even though I wouldn't be crazy enough to produce the ammonia needed.

[@lexx11]

NotaPro He discusses his theory at 5:50

[@xentiphos903]

Applied Science Lignin is soluble in water in alkalic conditions. It might be, that the ammonia gas works its way into the wood via diffusion, dissolutes in water inside of your wood samples and dissolves part of the lignin.

[@tmar23]

Zarouszz You're one of them chicken came before the egg people...

[@walterdennisclark]

Isn't concentrated ammonia-water called ammonium hydroxide? And isn't that cheap as dirt? And isn't that much easier to work with? Would that work?

[@mmmhorsesteaks]

Walter Clark ammonia water is called that. but it's inaccurate because the equilibrium is aaaall the way towards "just" aqueous ammonia, which is how it should be called. it wouldn't work because high-pressure gas is a completely different beast then a simple aqueous solution.

[@skengasaurus]

2:40 "microns"??? First of all, microns is a shortening of micrometers, and secondly, it's displaying mTorr (10^-3 Torr), so it's milliTorr, not microTorr...

[@AppliedScience]

+surripere ( '~') A pressure of 1 torr can support a column of mercury 1 millimeter in height by definition originally, so a millitorr is a column 1 micron high. It's common to discuss vacuum in "microns" because most mechanical 2-stage pumps have practical ultimate vacuums of 1-100 micron, so the numbers are conveniently sized.

[@skengasaurus]

+Applied Science Ok, fair enough. I work in thin-films and I've actually never come across that; thanks for the clarification.

[@jessmdevans]

+surripere ( '~') i use a micron gauge when pulling a vacuum. i am a hvac tech.

[@skengasaurus]

+Jess Evans You guys actually pull to that low a pressure in HVAC stuff, or is this just a name for a tool that has a the same indirect convention as the one Applied Science described before?

[@ChatNoirLe]

Could this process in a modified sense be used to dry green wood? Since the ammonia temporarily removes the strength of the wood, it takes all or most of the tension out of the wood, then if you filtered the ammonia to remove the water and repeat repeatedly you would end up with a dry(water) piece of wood that has no built up stress in it as such no cracks, splits or warps normally associated with drying wood too fast.

[@pejman7399]

can you test the acoustical properties of the result bent wood so it may be used in instrument making? and can you design a DIY process that increases the acoustic attributes of a piece of wood? I am from Iran and I am an instrument maker

[@hpekristiansen]

Off topic: Can you stimulate ONLY the red(or green or blue) cone cells in the eye with a DLP by simultaneous recording of the retina? How would the brain interpret a signal like this, when it is used to a huge overlap in the responsivity spectra?

[@vmelkon]

4:20 100 °F = 38 °C 110 °F = 43 °C 8:20 It is possible that aluminium behaves as an alkali metal and dissolves in liquid ammonia. I'm not sure.

[@mesinminidiy5529]

can ammonia able shrinking wood? and are they able tighthen wood thread?

[@shanek6582]

Could you kiln dry green wood with a vacuum?

[@blackoak4978]

Shane K I was actually thinking along the same lines.

[@ekinebobmanuel4551]

I'm so glad I discovered this channel I learn something new in every video

[@seantaray7180]

question..what about making a storage vessel out of the sched. 80 steel pipe and fittings? maybe a 4" dia pipe nipple and pipe cap at one end and reducer at the other end down to the size of a valve?

[@CardsbyMaaike]

is this better than just water steam?

[@NinjaOnANinja]

So is ammonia like mercury? I mean in the way that it absorbs into stuff. I know Mercury corrodes, but the question I am asking is if they work the same way? You showed the pin or screw and it was corroded as well, so it just kind of clicked into my head.

[@sovigor]

will this product be bad to breath in if you shaped it as an air freshener?

[@ludditeneaderthal]

anhydrous ammonia is a deadly poison. it is also very flammable. any wood formed will have most natural oils at least partially saponified (oil and alkaline makes soap), so any odor will be markedly altered (your cedar will NOT smell like a hamster cage, lol). if you want to bend aromatics, and keep the aromatic character, bend with steam. this would be far more suitable to laminating thick pieces into radius bends steam can't quite handle, than using to make helix shaped cedar "nicely stinky wind chimes". a steamer is FAR easier to make, and far less hazardous as well. a few pieces of pipe, a gas line for a stove, a cheap stock pot, some pink scratchy insulation, and a metal plate (if your pot has no lid, lol), you have a steamer. size of piece is only limited by your pipe, and your pot. the "working fluid" is nice safe water, which only become hazardous if it's deeper than your upper lip, lol. there is NO need to operate at pressures above ambient (though pressure will accelerate the steaming process), so no explosion danger. steam would be a better choice for that particular use. steam will also soften soft woods, so has a bit more generic utility. ammonia bending is a great idea, but only if you actually NEED it.

[@trumpetman985]

+ Applied Science Can you try two pieces of laminated wood? Would they still stick together after being soaked in in the ammonia gas over night? Would the glue stay intact and flex as freely as the hardwood?

[@RimstarOrg]

Nice! I question your classification of DIY though. You did it all yourself. If you're talking about the dangerous aspect of it, plenty of DIY is dangerous: DIY high voltage power supplies and DIY car repair come to mind. Maybe you just mean that you don't recommend others do this.

[@tomhill9066]

RimstarOrg I was thinking almost the same thing. At another level, if we put certain parameters on DIY, we limit ourselves to what we can do and lower our expectations. DIY is all about defying expectations of what we can do, as individuals and as a broad community, without relying on commercial industry. Who says we shouldn't handle hazardous chemicals if we use safe practices?

[@ARVash]

Tom Hill Some times it requires more than one person to be safe with chemicals. There is dangerous and then there are things a hundred times more dangerous, or a thousand times more dangerous. It's important to know which is which so that you can make that decision. Some things are so dangerous that it is not wise to do in your home, because it's hard to be safe in such a chaotic environment. Some things are so dangerous that it really helps to have an entire team of individuals all with safety on their mind. Again this doesn't mean that you can't DIY (as in not a commercial industry) but maybe you shouldn't do it alone, and if you do choose to do it, perhaps with individuals with experience. Anhydrous ammonia can make a space so dangerous that nobody can get in to help you when something goes wrong, like a fire you can't put out, also blindness and a slow suffocation as you can't find your way out while your throat closes up. There are other meaningful projects that are much much less risky, like building a jet engine bicycle, your own wooden rollercoaster. Comparably those projects are, quite safe.

[@fenderbender357]

Don't think the dangers of anhydrous ammonia are under stated this isn't like saying gasoline or battery acid is dangerous. It boils at about -25 and becomes a toxic gas that will try to mix with any water present that includes your water in your eyes nose mouth and lunges. Damaging the membranes and can and will cause death. This really isn't something that you want to play with at home. I have about 2 tons of the stuff at work that I deal with daily and I for sure dont want it in my house or neighborhood.

[@250kent]

RimstarOrg Working with ammonia is not safe for anyone but the most cautious, especially anhydrous, a minor mistake you could be blind, it attacks the water in your skin,esp. your eyes 90% water, burns your lungs. You will probably be found on the floor, in bad to worst shape. A major mistake the whole neighborhood will have to be evacuated.

[@Ludifant]

The trick of the product you mention seems to be in it being compressed.Bendable Wood is a cold-bendable compressed wood that enables the creation of dramatic and unique bentwood parts using thick, solid, quality hardwood lumber. This is a different process, where the wood is extremely compressed. There is another youtube video demonstrating the product and giving some saw instructions.

[@sunnyvoid7206]

you mentioned soaking wood in ammonia could we use ammonia could we use liquid ammonia to bend wood

[@jayjorz]

I liked this video. My employer uses anhydrous ammonia to keep the freezer and produce cold (warehouse). They make us sign all kinds of documents so we are aware that if there is an ammonia leak, its extremely lethal. The paintball canister was brilliant improvisation too.

[@Salsmachev]

I wonder how much of this is actually due to the chemical reaction. I make bentwood jewellery, and you can bend a veneer strip into a ring with only about 40 minutes soaking in boiling water, and I know that steam bending can be used on much heftier pieces (although I've never done it personally, so I can't give specifics). I imagine being heated all night long would produce some impressive bending, so it may just be the prolonged heat and moisture.

[@idedontknow]

This is what they do to the wood before sending it to Home Depot.

[@nelumbonucifera7537]

Any guess for how much water made it into the distillate?

[@Yourockrockyou2]

Hi. Was the solid lumber green or kiln dried?

[@rudresh10000]

Even katara couldn't do that on a full moon.

[@AwwwPishhh]

many moons ago I found myself teaching chemistry to hairdressing students and this process reminds me of hair perms and disulphide bridges being broken and reformed....cool.

[@morningcoffee1111]

Jeff Watt I’m a hairdresser and that is exactly what I was thinking of during this video.

[@mixiekins]

I'm curious how green hardwood would react compared with dried/cured. Also wondering about younger branches (as they have a higher water content). what about still-living saplings? There's artists who grow living chairs and such by training saplings into a shape, like functional lifesized bonsai; perhaps this could be implemented if the saplings are potted.

[@Atouk]

Teflon tape isn't for sealing threads, contrary to popular belief. I have been in the heating and air conditioning trades for well over 30 years. Pipe dope of various types should be used to seal the threads. Teflon tape was introduced as a lubricant for the threads so that another 2 or so threads could be gotten into the fitting. I rarely use Teflon tape at all. If you use pipe dope instead of teflon tape, you can draw down a vacuum as deep as you'd like in a tiny pipe chamber like the one you were using in this video.

[@FABTECH1958]

Correct! Teflon tape seals nothing except your uninformed brain... Now, as far as the vacuum..... Rarely do HVAC guys leave a pump on long enough.... let alone down to Torr. In actuality once you get below 200 microns the hoses start gassing..... (decomposing)

[@Tezcax]

It's good enough for sealing against water.

[@Quickened1]

Tezcax and many other things... Maybe not the best in a vacuum with refrigerant, don't know...never had it fail in any water, oil, or air situation...

[@mihaitorcatoru6135]

What is the minimum radius of curvature for a thickness of 1 inch?

[@smh988]

What could possibly go wrong, eh? Interesting vid. Thanks.

[@Travelin2Wit]

Great Channel! I just watched the Led/Contact lens video and a couple of others and thought you might find my experience interesting. I had cataracts lenses replaced with prosthetic lenses. After the first was done, being a bit of a 'layperson scientist' I went into a darkened room with a 'black light.'. The left eye, still with natural lens saw small circle of illumination. The right eye ; lens replaced a few hours prior, saw the entire small room illuminated. I then looked on the internet and yes, some people were finding the same result. There is even talk of the character of the paintings of Monet's work shifting to bluer after a cataract was removed. Interesting stuff as is your channel. Thanks, Travelin2wit

[@dben89x]

I love the farewells in these videos.

[@Discreetsecuritysolutions]

Don't want to sound daft here, but it looks like the walls of that aluminium tank are bowing outwards. Was it like that to start with? Cool demo.

[@TheCoolStuffHD]

5:59 That looks like one of those photorealism drawings.

[@shodanxx]

Does that impregnate the wood with permanent ammonia smell ? Also, how toxic is amonia ? You probably got exposed to some small amount of vapour, how bad was it ?

[@Mausy5043]

@ 2:43 : 1500 microns? What do you mean? How many millibars it that?

[@TechieTrevor]

1.995 source:www.avs.org/AVS/files/ae/ae66e4af-9b98-47fb-b166-77d28a4bb3d2.pdf

[@bitsurfer0101]

I think he meant millitorr

[@Mr-yl1px]

so it would be better to use a dry wood as dry as possible from the start?

[@102819921]

how did you safely vent the tube?

[@georgethompson8834]

I do not know if anyone is still monitoring this video but here goes. Can this process be done with Bamboo at all or does it just disintegrate like some of those woods did?

[@mspeir]

For those of us that do not have the equipment to distill anhydrous ammonia, would it be possible to add a fair amount of dilute ammonia in liquid form and heat the pipe to get the pressure?

[@Madarpok]

Mark Speir It may work, but you will need concentrated ammonia solution(30% or similar).

[@taneltolsting2900]

Do you think 117 psi (8bar) would be enough too?

[@josh124c]

so at this moment I have a piece of steamed poplar hard wood in a form It is roughly 2" thick poplar, which will be curved to match the wall under a spiral staircase It is 2" thick because it will be the door (little closet door) food under the staircase I have to wait up to 7 days for it in the form and even then, this is the 2nd time I've steamed it steaming wood takes a long time this ammonia method looks like a HUGE TIME SAVER!

[@WaltSorensen]

Would be nice to see some side by side comparisons of the two processes.

[@ArtMechanicsLosAngeles]

I'm not familiar measuring vacuum the way you did. Just curious how many hg/in the vacuum is? My pump usually sucks down to 28 hg/in. Would that be enough?

[@0Keks]

Would this work with bamboo?

[@Daantjer]

can snakewood be bend like this?

[@LarryjB53]

Does this work with bamboo?

[@bogdanstoica6265]

Be careful with the aluminium tank and ammonia if you have also water inside. Aluminium is able to react easily with bases (with sodium hydroxide the reaction is quite strong and dangerous, with a large emission of hydrogen) and if your ammonia is not dry (most probably is not) you have also ammonium hydroxide in that tank. Now, if it is too much ammonium hydroxide and concentrated, that means you have a little bomb in your house. Hard to say when it will explode. Please, try to change with a steel tank.

[@tinkbig5689]

Bogdan Stoica photo 55photo

[@johnathanball3344]

Sorry you’ve not a clue and uneducated comments should be kept to yourself so you don’t badly influenced others incorrectly. Large ammonia industrial refrigeration plants of 100 - 100,000kw, most with water in the ammonia routinely use aluminium both in tube heat exchangers and as gasket materials because superior qualities in these applications.

[@christiankrippenstapel4336]

Very interesting - thanks! 👌 One question remaining: what´s the behavier of the ammonized wood against e.g. acetic acid? Does it become flexible again at room temperature?

[@INUN0TAISHO]

Many years ago, when I did a lot of machining, I learned that aluminum sometimes contains copper impurities in the form of tiny flecks of copper. I'd find those flecks while buffing a piece to a polish in once direction a bit too long. The copper flecks created a V shape in the metal since the copper is harder and the aluminum softer. Now, years later, I've also learned that in early apothecaries, copper "verdigris" (used as a medicinal ingredient) was created in the lab by mixing honey and salt, smearing it on a sheet of copper, and suspending the doped copper over a shallow dish of ammonia for a prolonged period. Aside from really stinking up my kitchen, the technique does work, though slowly, so copper and ammonia do produce the blue-green fuzz known by that name. Take those two thoughts and add them together, and I can imagine that the tiny flecks of copper in lower grade aluminum would indeed react with ammonia, producing microscopic deposits of copper sulfate crystals. Would that affect the effectiveness of your pressure vessel? Possibly. Please excuse the roundabout way I get to my point. I'm a science enthusiast of many disciplines and all self-taught, so I don't always take the most direct route.

[@chokkan7]

Thank you for this very informative clip. I remember reading about this process many years ago, but it was described as an obsolete technology, once used on an industrial scale for furniture production. I'd searched for info on the topic to no avail. Your presentation confirms my take on the basics involved. A couple of quick questions: have you experimented with maximum thicknesses? What about time required in relation to thickness? Did you run into any serious discoloration problems with any particular species? Sorry...I'm clearly trying to pick your brain...

[@Bishka100]

Pine contains a resin, which might be why it didn't soften as much as the other woods?

[@RightToSelfDefense]

Where did you buy the vacuum pump?

[@blockparty5695]

Hey Ben, if I'd like to ask you some more detailed questions about your experiments plasticizing wood using anhydrous ammonia, what's the best way to do that? thanks!

[@yankeedoodlecajun]

I subscribed at "I added a glass viewport so I could see if anything interesting was going on ..." Haha, love it.

[@Bishka100]

Your comment about the soft wood braking instead of bending made me wonder if it might be the resin in soft wood that was inhibiting the process ?? Just a thought, I could be talking from the wrong end of my anatomy !!

[@scottaw1981]

vinegar with a little peroxide can dissolve alluminum, but the metal in that and even soda cans is usually treated and coated. Not sure how ammonia reacts to it though.

[@jolt00]

We patina copper with ammonia vapor after applying sea salt to the copper. It leave an striking blue color to black. Wonder what the anhydrous ammonia would do?

[@micki500]

I'm so impressed by your videos! You're an inspiring person!

[@soesse2472]

ammonia gas? a bit world war 1 to me could you use any other ammonia for example NH3 or ammonium hydroxide ?any ideas

[@ScrapwoodCity]

Really interesting! Thanks for sharing!

[@miles11we]

bloodwood, maple, walnut ... so basically you chose woods that through steam bending dont bend well at all. awesome

[@CONEHEADDK]

First - use wood that has been spilt, to avoid grains not going all the way from end to end. And when bending, strap something all the way around the bent wood, so the grains that might start to crack loose, are held in place.

[@ransombot]

2 years later how did the tank actually fair?

[@climbamtn111]

Will ammonia react with PVC?

[@miles11we]

You used alot of woods that typically doesn't bend well at all. So this is a lot more impressive than most people probably think.

[@WaltSorensen]

I would like to see it compared to traditional steam bending for those woods. Hard to say if there is a real advantage other than temperature.

[@Sigmatechnica]

Glad you got the cylinder issues sorted! Lathe speed threading... that deserves to be a new sport ;)

[@phwualoha1]

Have you tried it with bamboo?

[@christophertuchez3073]

Will this work with liquid too? For us that dont have the vaporizer

[@WaltSorensen]

Household ammonia is a diluted water solution containing 5 to 10 percent ammonia. On the other hand, anhydrous ammonia he is working with is essentially pure (over 99 percent) ammonia Anhydrous ammonia boils at a temperature of -28°F (-33.33°C). Liquid Anhydrous ammonia might work, but it's also a strong solvent that will likely remove lignins from the wood rather than just soften them. someone should try it to verify. "only difference between science and screwing around, is writing it down" research showing lignin extraction via ammonia www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/v56-227

[@therealfranklin]

Ammonia supposedly attacks aluminum oxide, but not metallic aluminum. Some people have suggested household ammonia (3% aqueous, I believe) for removing stuck aluminum seatposts from bicycles, but it seems a bit unlikely, given the surface area and concentration of ammonia.

[@2004qwe]

Thanks for the interesting video! I think you can use water instead of ammonia. Heat the wet wood and then bend them.

[@250kent]

Could you please tell me ?what or how did you got into this project. This is my first visit and I think you are more curious about our planet than I am. This is to me is top shelf good work thanks for all your hard research.

[@seanb.5552]

I'm curious about the dollar?