Hemp Plywood Becomes a Reality
by Lynn and Judy Osburn
C & S Specialty Builder's Supply Inc. of Harrisburg, Oregon,
leads the field in the development of hemp building materials. Their first
offering is hemp MDF (medium density fiber) composite boards. The hemp boards
tested by Washington State University Wood Materials and Engineering Laboratory
proved to be two and one half times stronger than wood MDF composites, plus
hemp composite boards have three times more elasticity than wood composite
boards.
Elasticity is the factor that determines whether or not a nail can be driven
into the board. Another advantage is that water won't penetrate the hemp
boards. C&S partners David Seber and William Conde say, "The composite
board industry is one of the fastest growing segments of the wood products
industry in the United States, with 1991 sales of over one billion dollars,
and one whose primary raw material is becoming scarce." According to
Seber, "The first law of composite science is: the strength of the
product is proportional to the length of the fiber. Hemp is the King Kong
plant of fibers. Though long fiber is hemp's best feature, even when ground
up it's still two to three times stronger." C&S had to grind their
hemp in order to process it without modification of existing machinery.
Seber predicts that eventually hemp will revolutionize the building materials
industry, with long-fiber hemp composites rivaling steel I-beams in strength.
Despite the shortage of hemp stalks on the world market, C&S has continued
research into other industrial hemp products. In Springtime 1993 C&S formed
a mutual research project with Xylem Inc. Together they're building the
world's first prototype "Xy-lanizer" biofractionation line.
Biofractionation is the process of reducing plant matter into three basic
components: cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. The process is also called
"steam explosion." Starting in Winter 1993 in conjunction with
a grant from the United States Alternative Energy Corporation, C&S will
conduct Xylanizer research on hemp and other agricultural plants. C&S investigators
believe hemp "hurds have great potential to make glues for composite
construction products"-products that are non-toxic and generally superior
to the expensive and toxic petroleum based binders currently used. With
this technology industry can produce completely non-toxic composite boards
where all components are derived from hemp.
The industrial hemp entrepreneurs at C&S Specialty Builders Supply "have
concluded that the best alternative to wood in construction products is
hemp. In fact, hemp has the potential to be vastly superior to wood for
everything from lumber to plywood to particleboard or any other composite
construction material." C&S is planning to blend straw with hemp because
the availability of hemp stalks is sporadic. Fiberboard made from straw
alone isn't as strong as wood fiberboard but when blended with hemp it exceeds
all standards for comparable composites and wood products. Right now they
are having difficulty locating a supply of hemp stalks to continue research.