After the char I soak in boiled linseed oil. Several structures made of Douglas fir have done great in Illinois winters for several years now. I always wondered the chemistry behind sho sugi ban( yakisugi) and you didn't disappoint, great video Belinda.
I finished my outdoor dining table with a 1:2:2 ratio of beeswax, raw linseed oil, and mineral spirits. It's still going strong after 4 years of constant berating from Washington rain. Yakisugi is good for almost anything!
I feel like this is a great choice, and I really like that a diyer can do small batches(slightly different method), but it's a process that can scale up to industrial quantities as well. I did this to my home made toolshed siding and then treated the boards with boiled linseed oil this past summer, and it's been holding up great so far!
In SE Asia they thermally modify bamboo by boiling it to remove the sugars that attract termites. Its a fairly recent innovation i think. Might have some connection with the Japanese method.
Fascinating alternative! You’ve knocked it out the park once again for me. Your insulation videos helped us choose the right once for our house and I seriously need to look into this for our deck.
I very much appreciate hearing the very specific limitation of this product. My woodwork hobby doesn't seem to be a good use of its properties, but I will have it in mind for other uses going forward.
Excellent video. I do a lot of work in OSB, and about 20 years ago a now defunct large OSB producer was trying to develop this very thing. It was a top secret product they were calling SSB (stabilized stand board). Normal OSB is produced by heating it to 200C in a big mechanical press. Heat the OSB to much higher temperatures and you make Yakisugi OSB. They couldn't get it to work.
Great break down, and always good to learn something new. As a woodworker I’m very familiar with this method although it is incorrectly referred to as shoshugiban by many creators, but the same premise. I’ve experimented with it and have added stain to the charred wood after brushing to make some beautiful tones. They have temples over 1000 years old in Japan that still have the original lumber intact. Now that’s some proof of concept. Some day I will make outdoor patio furniture for my family and definitely employ this method. Also adding beeswax and linseed oil really helps with preserving the look, giving it a nice sheen, and adding to the water resistant nature it already contains through the charring process.
I have been all over this issue of preserving wood and the conclusion I have come to is just take extreme measures to keep it dry. I will be building a wood house in the Philippines and putting it on my channel. I am going to have very wide eaves to keep rain off and I am also going to smoke the wood like salmon. I have heard that smoked bamboo can last 300years. I like the idea of thermowood but I don't like the strength loss. A big advantage of the surface burned wood is that it is going to be UV damage proof. In Asia we tend to put cladding on vertically , I am at total convert to this. I like the look and the shorter lengths are cheaper and easier to replace especially if you use non T and G. Good video.
Keeping water away is simple and bulletproof as a strategy. It applies to every level of construction and most non cellulose based construction materials
@@BelindaCarr Please subscribe as I am hoping to be over in Portugal in the next couple of weeks. I will video the house and the first part is to create enough space to live in a sort of tiny house within a house. I have invented a new kind of insulation which really dirt cheap carbon negative rot and fire proof. It is so easy to make that I could never enforce a patent on it so I am just going to declare it open source.
On the issue of keeping water away from a house you can clad a house in terra cotta roof tiles on the walls as well as the roof. The woodwork is then all internal out of the wet. If you don't like the look you can grow climbing plants up it.
@@DavidPaulNewtonScott True about climbing plants that you can do it, but I highly UNrecommend that especially w/heavily perforated siding like overlapping tiles. The rooting mechanisms of climbing plants find gaps in the building membrane and climb right in, w/termites & fungi following the rootings. From my mother's house I could see a Spanish-tiled-roof house w/stucco siding, and the climbing plants were leafing out in several places on the roof. Its really hard to control once it gets going and the tear down to get all the rootings out is tedious (i.e. expensive if you have to hire it done) and a lot of patching is req'd. Its like setting your tiled or shingled siding on auto-destruct over the ensuing years to come.
I did this for a home just a few months ago. I combined aspects of traditional and propane-torch methods to get it done most efficiently. Namely, I used soft but thick wire to bind together three boards at each end - until 12' long, when I put one in the middle too. Put the propane torch in one end on the ground, other end propped up in the air, wait for smoke to come out then end and then switch grounded ends and do from second end. Worked like a charm.
Yes, youtuber Mr Chikadee is my go-to for info. Getting away from power tools. Would love to build a masonry stove heater, but having difficulty sourcing used cast iron stove parts that I can afford.
It's not structural; the process apparently makes it significantly weaker than the wood's unprocessed state. So it'd have to be as cladding or something.
@@anonymustly7818 Yeah, did we? 6:04 Apparently there is a 20-30% loss of strength compared to the original starting wood. In this process; you are just removing the water from and denaturing/carbonizing the protein scaffolding of the wood; loss of strength (and density) is pretty much par for the course.
Pyrolysis is interesting, as the transformation of polymers occurs both when combustion is allowed or disallowed. The prevention of combustion is usually achieved by an inert atmosphere, such as by flooding the heated chamber with nitrogen or a similarly non-reactive gas. Combustion products and pyrolysis products have to be thought of as results of distinct processes, even though we most commonly encounter them simultaneously. A structure lasting a century must be considered as quite old by Japanese standards, as it is unusual for residences to last more than thirty years. Preservation of historic structures is usually accomplished by replacement of old materials with new, using conserved methods. It would be interesting to consider the impacts of Japanese construction habits on the availability of housing, especially in light of the nationally standardized zoning practices of that nation.
"... as it is unusual for residences to last more than thirty years". I'm guessing you're an American? :-) Try telling a European that their new house will only last some 30 years!
@@LarsPallesen It is unusual for an American house (aside from extremely disaster-prone areas) to not last vastly longer than 30 years, except from those ruined by bad materials like PB plumbing pipes. Most of the houses around me, including the one I live in, are roughly 100 years old. In some older towns in my state there are entire districts filled with houses from our Civil War period, being between 150 and 200 years old. Many areas have laws in place that the older houses must be maintained and kept looking very close to how they originally were by their current owners, limiting what renovations are allowed, particularly to the exteriors. Of course, for homes that are in disaster-prone areas, USA homes will tend to not survive anything severe. Even when building codes are actually mandated for homes to be built tough enough, fraud is extremely rampant. It's easy to see when a roof is blown off a house whether or not it was properly reinforced and the answer is almost always no, yet they keep getting away with flaunting building codes anyway.
I'm really happy to see Shou Sugi Ban slowly gain more attention! I'm surprised it hasn't exploded! I love doing this to all my woodworking projects! They'll last for thousands of years!
Not really. Even the remaining historical architecture built using traditional methods undergoes a continuous inspection and replacement cycle throughout its life cycle.
I've heard and read about the tecnique in lots of places but this is the first and most technical complete explanation I've get. Amazing job! Already subscribed to your channel.
Artificially petrified wood is superior in my opinion. While yakisugi imbues fire, rot, and water resistance, petrified wood is fire, rot, and water PROOF. And I suspect it lasts forever locking the carbon for longer making it a better carbon sink. I am curious though on how it affects the load carrying capacity of wood. Does it increase? Does it make it more brittle?
Torching the surface of wood is a great way to refinish it easily as well. Have reused decking boards by doing that. The burning gets rid of splinters and badly raised grain without sanding, and you don't have to pay for stain.
A bit down the rabbit hole but in the softwood vs hardwood discussion. There are many fast growing hardwoods that grow wood that is softer than many softwoods, confusing I know. One example of a fast growing hardwood is aspen. Along with with being used to make paper, aspen is often processed into orientated strand board (OSB) which has largely replaced plywood in construction. One interesting sustainability note on aspen. It's harvested in coppice cuts, where it regenerates from root suckers.
Really interesting, but I'd like to caution against using old-school yakisugi in interior spaces. The charring leads to formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that can be toxic when used in enclosed areas.
Seems like an obviously specific exterior pocess for treating exterior wood. The human nose and common sense negate the caution directed by your fancy words. I'll be sure to keep my incense, candles and fireplace outside 😆
@@flocksbyknight Really? You think the volume of hydrocarbons or volatile compounds out put by an incense stick or a candle equivalent to the leach of hundreds of foot of walls lines with charred wood? And you are not using organic wood either? You do you.
Just like how fluoride is still used in toothpaste. Traditional lumber is cheap. America is built upon products that fail after so many years, not products that last. It's why Japanese products are slowly gaining popularity. They build products that can last hundreds of years, not a few years.
@@drproton85 I've heard that Japanese houses typically are torn down after a couple decades, the average life is less than 30 years. The reason is partly cultural, the homes are built for a single family, as they age and die, many Japanese homes are never resold. A new home is constructed and is identified with another family. The value of the land itself increases and that alone justifies destroying a 25 year old house.
@@drproton85 I live in Japan and very few new houses are built using yakisugi. It’s more expensive than modern prefab sidings, nor does it appeal to modern tastes, and craftsmen who do this type of work are dwindling. 😔
Belinda, for easier recognition of your amazing quality content, please either put your face (or some graphical signature/branding element) on the clip thumbnail. So that people don't miss it. (So that I don't miss it.) I almost overlooked this one. Thanks, as always.
I recall walking in some of the older sections in Tokyo years ago and thinking that these areas were remnants of the firebombing that Tokyo endured during the war. In hindsight, I should have realised that there did not appear to be any damage. This video suddenly hammered home the why of what I was seeing. Thanks.
I looked into using thermowood for my outdoor deck, but I ended up using Siberian latch instead as that was cheaper and had the rot resistance quality I wanted.
I've been obsessed with this technique for decades ever since reading about Sea Ranch, California and its many many many charred-wood clad houses! I'm a complete Mies Van Der Rohe minimalist and an eco-freak so if you can combine the two concepts/styles together? So much the better!
I recently tried a wooden Irish flute made from heat-treated soft wood. It addition to being an alternative to traditional woods that are becoming more scarce, it was also significantly lighter to hold.
I first saw this technique used for preserving wood fence posts. I am surprised to see it in use for final visible wood elements. I'm intrigued and hope it catches on aesthetically.
Hi, nice video, as usual. This saidI don't agree with the fact you label softwoods as more "sustainable" they are economically more interesting, no doubt about it. But when we talk about sustainability, diversity in essences is paramount to create ecosystems that are truly durable and can sustain a balanced building material system. Also, themo wood seems very energy demanding, i wonder how the initial technique compares to the contemporary one.
Cool process! I remember seeing thermally modified terrace planks and probably googled what they are back then, but they seem much cooler when you see everything in detail like this. PS. Torilla tavataan!
Interesting. I’m in the process of finishing a screened in deck and I replaced the vinyl siding with vertical white oak. Now I am considering doing this on the front of the house.
Thanks for the awesome video! I always loved the look of thermally modified and shou sugi ban, I'm glad it has so many benefits too. I might try to some projects with it around the house.
Well, as I have stated previously, I am now here again in the Philippines trying to build my wood house. I have some novel wood preservation ideas I want to try. Watch this space I am not mad it just looks like it😂
I'm not so sure about oil based finishes not working on thermowood, seeing as in Finland sauna interiors built from thermowood are routinely oiled with parafin oil to further help with water and stain resistance. That might be something to double check.
While it is true the inspiration for modern burnt wood siding comes from Japanese Shou Sugi Ban, we used to do this hundreds of years ago in Europe too. There are still to this day barns in Switzerland that are more than 500 years old with siding like this.
Holy smokes, Belinda... another science infused, informative video! I studied architecture and interior design before switching to web design, and would have loved learning about this (although I don't know if I ducked out too early, or if it is included or not)
Thermo treated wood, accoya and CLT has me very excited for the future of timber as a building material. At the moment the cost of timber construction in South Africa is still very high compared to our traditional brick and mortar methods. That being said I think there's a lot of potential.
I believe this is similar to heat treated wood that came on the market a few years ago. and Poplar are the ones I have used. It does make it more durable in exterior use, but the wood is significantly more brittle and friable.
I think if we were buying more Arbor Wood, the very high price would eventually come down. On the other hand, if you can afford to buy it, it should out last, by far, any pressure treated lumber and not warp and twist and because it is milled, you can use fasteners that are hidden and never have to worry about splinters or hardware cutting your feet or butt. I really don't understand why it is SO MUCH more expensive than PT as PT has to also go through treatment. It is far lighter to ship and there should be no unsaleable boards like there typically is with dried and PT lumbers. So, I really would like to know why it is so expensive?? Is it because it should only be #1 grade? Milling?? That only really adds one more step and sharpening, but I'd bet the bits would need sharpening less often!
How well / poorly does the charred wood take glues and finishes? I'm thinking a shou shugi ban & epoxy table top would be gorgeous. Might need to do something clever with the epoxying, like putting it under vacuum while it cures.
We should be using these materials for siding much more and eliminate plastics from siding. I’m all for PEX, but plastics and sun are poor combination.
I have new bee hives made of pine wood in my possession. Do you think I could apply the technique you presented to us? Will there be any warping in the wood? Thank you for the beautiful presentation.
Huzzah! I plan to build a Spanish Revival house in Arizona. In pursuit of that goal, I am taking an online biophilic design course. This product perfectly suits my zero-negative-environmental-impact goals, and the charred wood variety is ideally suited to execute "antique oak" trim details on an adobe house, such as rafter tails, window frames, and doors. Yes, Virginia, site-built doors ARE possible and, in fact, were the only doors available prior to the building boom of the 1890s and the invention of millwork catalogs. As always, highly valuable content. Keep up the good work! P.S. Can you do a segment on roof systems?
The Sugi in Yakisugi is cedar, which is already a good material that resists bugs and weather. I don't know if the charring changes the dynamic at all, but it's time tested in Japan. Naturally some people char other woods instead - like oak - which seems to me to be kind of goofy.
Really interesting to see the scientific component of the shou sugi ban. If i'm right, that technic work best with resinous wood? Placing it in a renewable context, especially the part about soft/hard wood and theyr growing time it's important. The other aspect it's that you have to let time to the tree to grow or you gonna get weaker wood. In France (burgundy) with climate change, we see a lot of pine-like tree getting infected and dying. Add that the unbridled wood harvesting to sell our tree to china. By the way, great video, with lot of informations, add the smile and the indian accent and it's wonderfull !
I used Arbor Wood for my deck...built in 2015 and it still looks great. It is Ash wood locally sourced. At least then. We had the Ash boring bettle up here that infested much of the population and Intectural took the trees that were cleared to deal with the situation. Anyway great product. I didn't like green treated wood, hated Trex and the like and this product was a nice local, sustainable alternative to Ipe.
It's quite an interesting product based on a traditional method. Looking to the past for innovations to aid our future has quite a lot of merit that isn't always properly recognized. 5:55 That being said I have to wonder how brittle we're talking about here when it comes to thermowoods material properties. It looks like all their offerings are tongue-in-groove but what about say shingles? Since they're a lot thinner than what you'd see in flooring or board-cladding would they shatter or split more easily, perhaps needing more specialized and thus costly instillation?
If you want some more old wisdom: in the past wood was only harvested during certain times in the winter when the water and sugar content was the lowest. But that's problematic if you only have some days a year for harvest. The second thing: on old pictures you can see the sawmill ponds. Wood was often transported on the water and then put into the pond for a year to flush the sugar out. Turning it from time to time makes it soft and easier to mill and the sugar is flushed out. But then you have to dry it afterwards, which took a long(er) time. Which requires space and is expansive.
Lots of manufacturing heat-load to consider when claiming sustainability. I’d be curious about durability against the firestorms and sky-rivers of the XXIst.
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After the char I soak in boiled linseed oil. Several structures made of Douglas fir have done great in Illinois winters for several years now. I always wondered the chemistry behind sho sugi ban( yakisugi) and you didn't disappoint, great video Belinda.
Thank you!!
shou sugi ban is actually an incorrect romanization of the characters that form Yakisugi
I finished my outdoor dining table with a 1:2:2 ratio of beeswax, raw linseed oil, and mineral spirits. It's still going strong after 4 years of constant berating from Washington rain. Yakisugi is good for almost anything!
yakisugi is the only correct name
@@bigoogastinky6181 焼杉板, correctly read as yakisugi-ita
I feel like this is a great choice, and I really like that a diyer can do small batches(slightly different method), but it's a process that can scale up to industrial quantities as well. I did this to my home made toolshed siding and then treated the boards with boiled linseed oil this past summer, and it's been holding up great so far!
Great video, I had no clue thermally modified wood was even a thing. Science and engineering constantly impresses me!
In SE Asia they thermally modify bamboo by boiling it to remove the sugars that attract termites. Its a fairly recent innovation i think. Might have some connection with the Japanese method.
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Fascinating alternative! You’ve knocked it out the park once again for me. Your insulation videos helped us choose the right once for our house and I seriously need to look into this for our deck.
Thanks, Patricia!
The best explanation on RUclips so far… ALL the details in less than under 8 minutes!
Excellent work, Miss Belinda
I very much appreciate hearing the very specific limitation of this product. My woodwork hobby doesn't seem to be a good use of its properties, but I will have it in mind for other uses going forward.
What if you were to make charred wood kitchen utensils to use for a durability test?
Excellent video. I do a lot of work in OSB, and about 20 years ago a now defunct large OSB producer was trying to develop this very thing. It was a top secret product they were calling SSB (stabilized stand board). Normal OSB is produced by heating it to 200C in a big mechanical press. Heat the OSB to much higher temperatures and you make Yakisugi OSB. They couldn't get it to work.
Clearly they didn't understand what it is. And in their case since it wasn't cedar it would be something like yakiOSB.
Great break down, and always good to learn something new. As a woodworker I’m very familiar with this method although it is incorrectly referred to as shoshugiban by many creators, but the same premise. I’ve experimented with it and have added stain to the charred wood after brushing to make some beautiful tones. They have temples over 1000 years old in Japan that still have the original lumber intact. Now that’s some proof of concept. Some day I will make outdoor patio furniture for my family and definitely employ this method. Also adding beeswax and linseed oil really helps with preserving the look, giving it a nice sheen, and adding to the water resistant nature it already contains through the charring process.
Always learning about new and fascinating things on this channel, really enjoyed this content
Oh, been using "thermo-Ash" planks for years for non chemical treated decking.
Great stuff!
How pricey is that? I want to try it but haven’t found much info.
Great intro into this fascinating building material, Belinda. Thank you.
What a great way to 'treat' cladding by fire. Anti mold and bug resistant I love it.
I've watched enough of YT'er Mr.Chickadee to see this is a very good and stable method of siding.
I have been all over this issue of preserving wood and the conclusion I have come to is just take extreme measures to keep it dry. I will be building a wood house in the Philippines and putting it on my channel. I am going to have very wide eaves to keep rain off and I am also going to smoke the wood like salmon. I have heard that smoked bamboo can last 300years. I like the idea of thermowood but I don't like the strength loss. A big advantage of the surface burned wood is that it is going to be UV damage proof.
In Asia we tend to put cladding on vertically , I am at total convert to this. I like the look and the shorter lengths are cheaper and easier to replace especially if you use non T and G. Good video.
Keeping water away is simple and bulletproof as a strategy. It applies to every level of construction and most non cellulose based construction materials
Thanks! Looking forward to seeing the progress of your house.
@@BelindaCarr Please subscribe as I am hoping to be over in Portugal in the next couple of weeks. I will video the house and the first part is to create enough space to live in a sort of tiny house within a house. I have invented a new kind of insulation which really dirt cheap carbon negative rot and fire proof. It is so easy to make that I could never enforce a patent on it so I am just going to declare it open source.
On the issue of keeping water away from a house you can clad a house in terra cotta roof tiles on the walls as well as the roof. The woodwork is then all internal out of the wet. If you don't like the look you can grow climbing plants up it.
@@DavidPaulNewtonScott True about climbing plants that you can do it, but I highly UNrecommend that especially w/heavily perforated siding like overlapping tiles. The rooting mechanisms of climbing plants find gaps in the building membrane and climb right in, w/termites & fungi following the rootings. From my mother's house I could see a Spanish-tiled-roof house w/stucco siding, and the climbing plants were leafing out in several places on the roof. Its really hard to control once it gets going and the tear down to get all the rootings out is tedious (i.e. expensive if you have to hire it done) and a lot of patching is req'd. Its like setting your tiled or shingled siding on auto-destruct over the ensuing years to come.
I would love to do the cladding on my house in this. It's so classy and last a long time.
I did this for a home just a few months ago. I combined aspects of traditional and propane-torch methods to get it done most efficiently. Namely, I used soft but thick wire to bind together three boards at each end - until 12' long, when I put one in the middle too. Put the propane torch in one end on the ground, other end propped up in the air, wait for smoke to come out then end and then switch grounded ends and do from second end. Worked like a charm.
I've always wanted to have wood like this in my home, if I can ever afford a house of my own. It's just so beautiful!
Request: do an episode on alcohol-modified wood, such as acetylated wood (e.g. Acoya) and furfurylated wood (e.g. Kebony).
I love natural building products like wood and stone. I would be interested in a home built from this type of wood treatment.
Check out Mr. Chickadee or Wild Wonderful off Grid
Yes, youtuber Mr Chikadee is my go-to for info. Getting away from power tools.
Would love to build a masonry stove heater, but having difficulty sourcing used cast iron stove parts that I can afford.
It's not structural; the process apparently makes it significantly weaker than the wood's unprocessed state.
So it'd have to be as cladding or something.
@@LENZ5369 Did we watch the same video? They processed some pretty thick beams.
@@anonymustly7818 Yeah, did we? 6:04
Apparently there is a 20-30% loss of strength compared to the original starting wood.
In this process; you are just removing the water from and denaturing/carbonizing the protein scaffolding of the wood; loss of strength (and density) is pretty much par for the course.
Pyrolysis is interesting, as the transformation of polymers occurs both when combustion is allowed or disallowed. The prevention of combustion is usually achieved by an inert atmosphere, such as by flooding the heated chamber with nitrogen or a similarly non-reactive gas. Combustion products and pyrolysis products have to be thought of as results of distinct processes, even though we most commonly encounter them simultaneously.
A structure lasting a century must be considered as quite old by Japanese standards, as it is unusual for residences to last more than thirty years. Preservation of historic structures is usually accomplished by replacement of old materials with new, using conserved methods.
It would be interesting to consider the impacts of Japanese construction habits on the availability of housing, especially in light of the nationally standardized zoning practices of that nation.
"... as it is unusual for residences to last more than thirty years". I'm guessing you're an American? :-) Try telling a European that their new house will only last some 30 years!
@@LarsPallesen It is unusual for an American house (aside from extremely disaster-prone areas) to not last vastly longer than 30 years, except from those ruined by bad materials like PB plumbing pipes. Most of the houses around me, including the one I live in, are roughly 100 years old. In some older towns in my state there are entire districts filled with houses from our Civil War period, being between 150 and 200 years old. Many areas have laws in place that the older houses must be maintained and kept looking very close to how they originally were by their current owners, limiting what renovations are allowed, particularly to the exteriors.
Of course, for homes that are in disaster-prone areas, USA homes will tend to not survive anything severe. Even when building codes are actually mandated for homes to be built tough enough, fraud is extremely rampant. It's easy to see when a roof is blown off a house whether or not it was properly reinforced and the answer is almost always no, yet they keep getting away with flaunting building codes anyway.
I'm really happy to see Shou Sugi Ban slowly gain more attention! I'm surprised it hasn't exploded! I love doing this to all my woodworking projects! They'll last for thousands of years!
It is commonly used in rural areas to treat fences. That or used motor oil.
Not really. Even the remaining historical architecture built using traditional methods undergoes a continuous inspection and replacement cycle throughout its life cycle.
I've heard and read about the tecnique in lots of places but this is the first and most technical complete explanation I've get. Amazing job! Already subscribed to your channel.
Artificially petrified wood is superior in my opinion. While yakisugi imbues fire, rot, and water resistance, petrified wood is fire, rot, and water PROOF. And I suspect it lasts forever locking the carbon for longer making it a better carbon sink. I am curious though on how it affects the load carrying capacity of wood. Does it increase? Does it make it more brittle?
This is really interesting. I hope this product becomes more mainstream
Torching the surface of wood is a great way to refinish it easily as well. Have reused decking boards by doing that. The burning gets rid of splinters and badly raised grain without sanding, and you don't have to pay for stain.
A bit down the rabbit hole but in the softwood vs hardwood discussion. There are many fast growing hardwoods that grow wood that is softer than many softwoods, confusing I know. One example of a fast growing hardwood is aspen. Along with with being used to make paper, aspen is often processed into orientated strand board (OSB) which has largely replaced plywood in construction. One interesting sustainability note on aspen. It's harvested in coppice cuts, where it regenerates from root suckers.
Really interesting, but I'd like to caution against using old-school yakisugi in interior spaces. The charring leads to formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that can be toxic when used in enclosed areas.
Great point!
@@BelindaCarr maybe pin this comment to the top?
Seems like an obviously specific exterior pocess for treating exterior wood.
The human nose and common sense negate the caution directed by your fancy words.
I'll be sure to keep my incense, candles and fireplace outside 😆
not likely. they would all evaporate during the high temperatures after the fire is extinguished. Afraid of burnt pine sap?
@@flocksbyknight Really? You think the volume of hydrocarbons or volatile compounds out put by an incense stick or a candle equivalent to the leach of hundreds of foot of walls lines with charred wood? And you are not using organic wood either? You do you.
I've been really curious about why this isn't more widely used. Would love to learn even more in a future video
Just like how fluoride is still used in toothpaste. Traditional lumber is cheap. America is built upon products that fail after so many years, not products that last. It's why Japanese products are slowly gaining popularity. They build products that can last hundreds of years, not a few years.
@@drproton85 I've heard that Japanese houses typically are torn down after a couple decades, the average life is less than 30 years. The reason is partly cultural, the homes are built for a single family, as they age and die, many Japanese homes are never resold. A new home is constructed and is identified with another family. The value of the land itself increases and that alone justifies destroying a 25 year old house.
@@drproton85 I live in Japan and very few new houses are built using yakisugi. It’s more expensive than modern prefab sidings, nor does it appeal to modern tastes, and craftsmen who do this type of work are dwindling. 😔
This is so cool. I wonder how well it'd do, over the years, in rain-soaked Seattle.
Thank You for the information on this siding technique, Belinda!
I will forever like your videos. It's the very least I can do for how much value you give
I assume the lighter to the wood at 4:43 is purely a visual and is not intended to represent any testing, yeah?
Belinda, for easier recognition of your amazing quality content, please either put your face (or some graphical signature/branding element) on the clip thumbnail.
So that people don't miss it. (So that I don't miss it.) I almost overlooked this one. Thanks, as always.
Thanks for the tip! I'll start adding it to my thumbnails.
Amazing explanation. Exactly what I needed to convince me to use Yakisugi on my barn build.
I recall walking in some of the older sections in Tokyo years ago and thinking that these areas were remnants of the firebombing that Tokyo endured during the war. In hindsight, I should have realised that there did not appear to be any damage. This video suddenly hammered home the why of what I was seeing. Thanks.
Yep, its great technique. Im planing to use it as sideing to my workshop. Even considering to make the yakisugi myself
I’m curious to see how it would hold up in a hurricane, floods, snow and ice, wildfires, and extreme temps in both directions.
It would be interesting to see if this was used throughout Japan, as various parts of the country all experience the things you describe.
It would be better for finishing projects, not for structural projects.
5:50 - It's more brittle
all at the same time? :)
What's your criteria for adequacy? What are you comparing it against?
She said it wasn't structural. So not very well if you tried to build a house out of it.
@@upvotecomment2110 Thanks! Yes, it's brittle & non-structural
Well I've been told that men used fire to char the sharpened points of sticks to make a hardened long lasting spear point.
I looked into using thermowood for my outdoor deck, but I ended up using Siberian latch instead as that was cheaper and had the rot resistance quality I wanted.
Merci beaucoup, Belinda.
Awesome! Thank you for explaining the old and new techniques.
I learned so much from this video, thank you for your time!
I love doing this, I've never thought about using it to build.
I've been obsessed with this technique for decades ever since reading about Sea Ranch, California and its many many many charred-wood clad houses! I'm a complete Mies Van Der Rohe minimalist and an eco-freak so if you can combine the two concepts/styles together? So much the better!
I recently tried a wooden Irish flute made from heat-treated soft wood. It addition to being an alternative to traditional woods that are becoming more scarce, it was also significantly lighter to hold.
That sample of charred wood, at the end, kinda looked like pieces were flaking off. That seems like it might be a concern for flooring purposes
Yes, small pieces do flake off. The charred product is only used as vertical siding, not flooring.
I use to make shosugiban based projects. It was a lot of fun.
Another excellent video! Thank you, I can always count on learning something new in every video.
I love toasty wood! Thanks for making this awesome video on that topic.
now this makes more sense, thank you
It's not only the woot that looks like caramelized sugar. Gorgeous!
This is really interesting material. I appreciate the effort you put into providing it. Many thanks!
I first saw this technique used for preserving wood fence posts. I am surprised to see it in use for final visible wood elements. I'm intrigued and hope it catches on aesthetically.
Very cool.
I love natural black so I'm intrigued by this....
Hi, nice video, as usual. This saidI don't agree with the fact you label softwoods as more "sustainable" they are economically more interesting, no doubt about it. But when we talk about sustainability, diversity in essences is paramount to create ecosystems that are truly durable and can sustain a balanced building material system. Also, themo wood seems very energy demanding, i wonder how the initial technique compares to the contemporary one.
I try to always use air quotes when I use the words green, sustainable or environmentally friendly because everyone has different interpretations!
Sawmills produce a lot of offcuts, sawdust and so on. They could burn them for power generation ( electricity) and heat. So that's a circle.
First video af yours I see and it was really informative and high quality :D Subscribed!
Cool process! I remember seeing thermally modified terrace planks and probably googled what they are back then, but they seem much cooler when you see everything in detail like this.
PS. Torilla tavataan!
Interesting. I’m in the process of finishing a screened in deck and I replaced the vinyl siding with vertical white oak. Now I am considering doing this on the front of the house.
I wonder how well this would hold up as a basement flooring surface? We get some inconsistent moisture in the basements in my area.
Thanks for the awesome video! I always loved the look of thermally modified and shou sugi ban, I'm glad it has so many benefits too. I might try to some projects with it around the house.
Thank you for such informative videos! You're awesome!
Beautiful and sustainable
Well, as I have stated previously, I am now here again in the Philippines trying to build my wood house. I have some novel wood preservation ideas I want to try. Watch this space I am not mad it just looks like it😂
And thank you for correctly calling it Yaki Sugi.
Sort of. The "-sugi" is for cypress. Yakimatsu would be cedar.
@@travismiller5548 ヒノキ = Hinoki = Cypress
杉 = Sugi = Cedar
松 = Matsu = Pine
I'm not so sure about oil based finishes not working on thermowood, seeing as in Finland sauna interiors built from thermowood are routinely oiled with parafin oil to further help with water and stain resistance. That might be something to double check.
I also thought it being wrong, not from experience but from theory: Both thermowood and oil are hydrophobic, so should easily "fit".
Great presentation😃
love your videos, this was so informative thankyou!
you're a goldmine! super informative
Very informative, great job
While it is true the inspiration for modern burnt wood siding comes from Japanese Shou Sugi Ban, we used to do this hundreds of years ago in Europe too. There are still to this day barns in Switzerland that are more than 500 years old with siding like this.
Holy smokes, Belinda... another science infused, informative video! I studied architecture and interior design before switching to web design, and would have loved learning about this (although I don't know if I ducked out too early, or if it is included or not)
Uh - this was amazing. Thank you
Wow! That looks nice!
Thermo treated wood, accoya and CLT has me very excited for the future of timber as a building material. At the moment the cost of timber construction in South Africa is still very high compared to our traditional brick and mortar methods. That being said I think there's a lot of potential.
Cool technique!
Thank you so much for the video you are doing such a fantastic job with such interesting content God bless
Looking for siding options on our offgrid build. This is something we've looked at but aren't sold on it just yet.
Thanks for an informative video👍
I believe this is similar to heat treated wood that came on the market a few years ago. and Poplar are the ones I have used. It does make it more durable in exterior use, but the wood is significantly more brittle and friable.
This was very interesting!
I think if we were buying more Arbor Wood, the very high price would eventually come down. On the other hand, if you can afford to buy it, it should out last, by far, any pressure treated lumber and not warp and twist and because it is milled, you can use fasteners that are hidden and never have to worry about splinters or hardware cutting your feet or butt. I really don't understand why it is SO MUCH more expensive than PT as PT has to also go through treatment. It is far lighter to ship and there should be no unsaleable boards like there typically is with dried and PT lumbers. So, I really would like to know why it is so expensive?? Is it because it should only be #1 grade? Milling?? That only really adds one more step and sharpening, but I'd bet the bits would need sharpening less often!
How well / poorly does the charred wood take glues and finishes? I'm thinking a shou shugi ban & epoxy table top would be gorgeous. Might need to do something clever with the epoxying, like putting it under vacuum while it cures.
awesome vid as always!
We should be using these materials for siding much more and eliminate plastics from siding. I’m all for PEX, but plastics and sun are poor combination.
Awesome information. Thanks
This is incredible. I have had the hardest time finding a scientific approach on this subject. Thanks so much
I think it would be great to use for roof decking, and roofing joists.
Wow, no on joists. It's not structural. I guess if you had huge joists..
I have new bee hives made of pine wood in my possession. Do you think I could apply the technique you presented to us? Will there be any warping in the wood? Thank you for the beautiful presentation.
THAT’S IT! I’m calling the cops! You’ve met your quota on well made, and informative videos!!!
Lol! Thanks :)
@@BelindaCarr ;)
Belinda we would love to hear your take on insulative paint additives like Ht-Tech ThermaCels or Insuladd, maybe LiquidKOOL thermal insulating paint ?
I'll look into them!
Huzzah! I plan to build a Spanish Revival house in Arizona. In pursuit of that goal, I am taking an online biophilic design course. This product perfectly suits my zero-negative-environmental-impact goals, and the charred wood variety is ideally suited to execute "antique oak" trim details on an adobe house, such as rafter tails, window frames, and doors. Yes, Virginia, site-built doors ARE possible and, in fact, were the only doors available prior to the building boom of the 1890s and the invention of millwork catalogs. As always, highly valuable content. Keep up the good work! P.S. Can you do a segment on roof systems?
very interesting idea
The Sugi in Yakisugi is cedar, which is already a good material that resists bugs and weather. I don't know if the charring changes the dynamic at all, but it's time tested in Japan. Naturally some people char other woods instead - like oak - which seems to me to be kind of goofy.
Really interesting to see the scientific component of the shou sugi ban. If i'm right, that technic work best with resinous wood? Placing it in a renewable context, especially the part about soft/hard wood and theyr growing time it's important.
The other aspect it's that you have to let time to the tree to grow or you gonna get weaker wood.
In France (burgundy) with climate change, we see a lot of pine-like tree getting infected and dying.
Add that the unbridled wood harvesting to sell our tree to china.
By the way, great video, with lot of informations, add the smile and the indian accent and it's wonderfull !
I used Arbor Wood for my deck...built in 2015 and it still looks great. It is Ash wood locally sourced. At least then. We had the Ash boring bettle up here that infested much of the population and Intectural took the trees that were cleared to deal with the situation. Anyway great product.
I didn't like green treated wood, hated Trex and the like and this product was a nice local, sustainable alternative to Ipe.
Great info. Thanks again
How about a video on Accoya? Another chemically altered wood, looks to be very interesting.
Perhaps a video on heat treated bamboo in SE Asia (boiled)
I'll put that on the list!
It's quite an interesting product based on a traditional method. Looking to the past for innovations to aid our future has quite a lot of merit that isn't always properly recognized. 5:55 That being said I have to wonder how brittle we're talking about here when it comes to thermowoods material properties. It looks like all their offerings are tongue-in-groove but what about say shingles? Since they're a lot thinner than what you'd see in flooring or board-cladding would they shatter or split more easily, perhaps needing more specialized and thus costly instillation?
If you want some more old wisdom: in the past wood was only harvested during certain times in the winter when the water and sugar content was the lowest. But that's problematic if you only have some days a year for harvest. The second thing: on old pictures you can see the sawmill ponds. Wood was often transported on the water and then put into the pond for a year to flush the sugar out. Turning it from time to time makes it soft and easier to mill and the sugar is flushed out. But then you have to dry it afterwards, which took a long(er) time. Which requires space and is expansive.
Lots of manufacturing heat-load to consider when claiming sustainability. I’d be curious about durability against the firestorms and sky-rivers of the XXIst.