They Figured Out How To Weld Wood… Seriously

Welding, being the easy way to join materials together, just broke a new barrier with wood, using the somewhat expensive method of friction welding. It's also one of the coolest welding methods to watch. No arc flashing on that assembly line, just extremely loud, incredibly hot work.

It makes you think, what will a technology like this lead to? You know gluing wood has been the status quo for hundreds of years. (I would say thousands, but the wood glue argument is highly contested online, and I'm almost ashamed I know about it) Still to this day, when you're trimming out a house, chances are, the wood you're buying is little short cut-off pieces that have been re-manufactured into long pieces again with glue!

I wonder if this method is easier to work with afterwards... I get that you'd probably have a burn line running through the married center, but it has to be easier to work with than a glue joint right? No more over-saturated glue marks and holidays in the wood finish, just a little dark line. That's seems livable.