Wood vs Steel?

[dzg]

Me and a buddy of mine were talking the other day and he said "pound for pound wood is stronger then steel" At first i thought he was nuts....but then i got to thinking about it.

A piece of wood is lighter, therefore it would take more of it to weigh as much as a piece of steel....

Odd topic i know...but whats yalls opinion?

[Dozerlarry]

Going home I pass the battleship Alabama. Only wood on the thing is the deck covering. 12" of armored steel is under this. A properly designed wood structure has a lot of strength at a low weight. An (antique) airplane is a good example of this. Wood lacks one thing that makes a comparison with steel meaningless, it lacks tensile strength.

[phabib]

I wish I could remember the book where I saw this, but it was something on materials. Maybe I could ask the NSA to look up my library record and remind me. There was a chart that showed strength of materials over time. The horizontal axis was time, the vertical was the material. It went from pre-history with bone, wood, sinew, then to bronze, iron, steel, then the modern alloys and the curve was pretty much flat until you got to the 20th century and exotic alloys. Since we know that strength to weight varies, I'm sure the chart was in PSI of strength, but it was really interesting.

[Dozerlarry]

What!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Surely you don't think the NSA would be monitoring us AATV people? When I joined here I thought it was such an elite fraternity that no mortal man's law would apply to us. Although a recent ticket for the unsportsman like conduct of exceeding the posted speed limit should have clued me in otherwise!

[Rock Doctor]

Depending on the application, yes, but steel is about 6 times heavier than wood.
I can easily step on a piece of steel 12" by 12" by 1/8" thick and bend it. I can't bend a 12" by 12" by 3/4" piece of plywood as easily.
Crude example, I know.
On the other hand, you don't see many gears, axles, or truck bumpers made from wood, lol.

RD