It's not long since almost all the tools and utensils– especially in the rural environment – were made out of wood. Steel and metal were a sign of wealth. The different parts of the utensils were exposed to a wide variety of demands and stresses. In 1899, Alexander Peez mentioned twelve different wood species being used by a typical farmer in Carinthia. Josef Blau counts even 27 different wood species in 1917 in the Bohemian households and emphasised that the wood was selected by its properties and origin according the intended use.
Nowadays these wood species – small trees and shrubs (like cornel cherry and barberry) – are no longer in use any more. In the historical literature (which reaches back to the 17th century) these wood species were described in great detail but mostly without numeric information.
The aim of the project was to collect and test these nowadays rarely used wood species by means of modern methods. Material properties, such as wood density, strengths, dimensional stability and other parameters were determined. Some properties, like split-ability, were described in historic literature, but no modern methods of testing are existent. For such parameters, involved school pupils developed new and creative approaches beside using the standardised methods.
In previous projects in museums application and operational demands of different wood species were analysed. These results are now connected to both measured wood properties and information from historical literature and form the basis for modern and sustainable applications.
Wert-Holz is a project supported by "Sparkling Science", a program of the Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy.
