Friday - On the road again

Re: Friday - On the road again

I could get tied up with this one with a variety of woods. Huge quantities of the red variety of one species were harvested here in Missouri.

Re: Friday - On the road again

Up here in central NY state we still have some wooden deck bridges. Mostly over small creeks on back roads. Fewer of them lately though. Not sure if that is what you are after.

Re: Friday - On the road again

Rail road ties? Rail roads?

Hey, I'm just guessing. Don't laugh!...

Joe

Not rails or bridges

I'm thinking of roads designed for general automobile/truck traffic.

Re: Friday - On the road again

I can think of two uses, one more common than the other. The least common (this may not be currently in favor but was in the 70's) uses lots of very little pieces of wood. The other uses much bigger sections.

glc

Hmmmm.... (and a hint)

Depends on how you define 'very little'.

They key words in the question were "wood product". You would not recognize it as wood. The only clue to its woody origins would be the name.

Re: Hmmmm.... (and a hint)

I was thinking sawdust, it has been used as lightwieght fill in swampy or slide prone areas. The other use was loading bearing mats, leap frogged to make a "road" for construction equipment.

I was probably way off base.

glc

Re: Friday - On the road again

I know that paper products are used when joint fillers are applied in order to keep the uncured filler from sticking to tires. But maybe that's a stretch.

Tom

Not paper (more hints)

But it is a by-product of the pulping process.

It is used in the construction and/or maintenance of at least three different types of driving surfaces.

Re: Not paper (more hints)

One more foundation clue would be icing on the cake.

Re: Must...

be a chemical compound. Acetate(??)

On the right track

A chemical compound. But one that is uniquely characteristic of wood.

Re: Friday - On the road again

I've never done this trivia thing before. Looks like you're not supposed to just blurt out the answer, based on previous threads.

OK, here goes...

I know of one wood product used on roads. If you've ever had to wash that stuff off your car you would appreciate a merely *dusty* vehicle. I ended up following the truck once, and had to *suppress* my vocabulary because The Kidz were in the car.

Darrell

Wood Hoarder, Blade Sharpener, and Occasional Tool User

;-)

That's one use - for stabilization and dust suppression of dirt roads. The deflocculant properties of the material help disperse the dirt into finer particles which can pack tighter and form a more stable roadbed. The adhesive properties of the material then hold it all together and keep the dust from flying.

There are at least two other roadbuilding uses for this material.

Can anyone name this wood product?

Re: ;-)

I know the stuff as Tembind. Dunno if that's a trade name or not, or if that's just a local name for it. Personally, I don't like the stuff. I'd rather drive on dusty roads than pour industrial waste into the environment like that, no matter how stable or safe they say it is...

Hey, who slipped this soap box under my feet? I'll just climb down now and have a seat by the old woodstove.

Darrell

Wood Hoarder, Blade Sharpener, and Occasional Tool User

Friday Answer

The answer is Lignin - the stuff that makes wood, uh, woody.

Lignin, in the form of lignosulfonate is extracted from wood pulp as a co-product of the papermaking process.

Lignosulfonates have a number of properties useful for building and maintaining roads. It is used as a deflocculant and adhesive to stabilize and control dust on dirt roads. It is used as a deflocculant for cement, allowing concrete to be mixed with less water, producing a stronger pour. Lignosulfonates are also used as emulsifiers in the production of asphalt emulsions such as driveway sealer.

Darrell, I used to live on a dirt road. And before lignosulfonates, they used to spray it with oil every spring. That would make a real mess of the cars! Not to mention the oily runoff in the streams.

I'm not sure about "Tembind", but lignosulfonates are non-toxic. They are also used as emulsifiers in food.