Timber can be treated by pressure-impregnating it with liquids such as preservatives.

There are also metal alloys with melting points of 100C or less.

I think it would be doable and cool to impregnate wood with such alloys, using high pressure. The alloy would fill the hollow tubes of which wood is composed, and would also fill any voids or cracks. The metallized wood could then be polished to reveal it glittering grain.

(idea prompted by a table made out of very old timbers, where metal has been poured in to fill the largest cracks and holes)
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 12 2014

Molten Metal Hybrid Furniture http://gizmodo.com/...esign-ma-1560271838
[bs0u0155, Aug 13 2014]

Antmagedon! https://www.youtube...watch?v=IGJ2jMZ-gaI
[2 fries shy of a happy meal, Aug 14 2014]

Eilam - beautiful wood art http://en.eilamworkshop.com/
A guy I know who impregnates wood with some glassy material [pashute, Aug 14 2014]

(+) When the wood eventually disintegrated the casting left behind would be gnarly.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Aug 12 2014


[+] And cudos to 2 fries for a very rare use of the word gnarly with its original meaning.
-- doctorremulac3, Aug 12 2014


Is the viscosity of the melted metal low enough to permit this?

Also, you should be able to use metals/alloys with a melting point noticeably above 100. Wood doesn't ignite until ~210C, although it may char a little below that.
-- MechE, Aug 12 2014


Do the pouring in an oxygen-free atmosphere. Will increase wood burning temperature to wood sublimation temperature, probably a couple hundred C hotter. (+)
-- sninctown, Aug 13 2014


Do the pouring in an oxygen-free atmosphere. Will increase wood burning temperature to wood sublimation temperature, probably a couple hundred C hotter. (+)
-- sninctown, Aug 13 2014


nearly... <link>
-- bs0u0155, Aug 13 2014


I'd be a bit concerned about furniture which melted when you spilled tea on it.

However, I imagine it would be possible to cast a higher melting temperature alloy with a lost wood process.
-- Loris, Aug 13 2014


Is this metallic wood, or woodalic metal?
-- hippo, Aug 13 2014


It might be possible to do this chemically. In ancient mines, where wooden props have been exposed to hundreds of years of acid runoff, it is possible for metallic copper to precipitate and impregnate the wood.
-- mitxela, Aug 13 2014


The copper-impregnated mine timber is close to what I had in mind. I think the same could be achieved using a low-melt alloy (up to 210°C, as MechE pointed out) and high pressure - not sure about the viscosity, but there is always more pressure available...

I like also Mixtela's idea of using deposition from metal salts.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 13 2014


If you thoroughly soaked the wood first, remaining water would need to boil off before the wood could heat to over 100C.

Or you could do this with epoxy resin full of shimmering glimmering GOLD DUST. No hotness. Glimmering GOLD. Everyone is happy.
-- bungston, Aug 13 2014


You could use termites to tunnel reinforcing structures within the wood.

Alright... you got me.
That was just an excuse for posting this [link].
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Aug 14 2014


Of course if you used mercury, a patio bench would give a handy visual indication of the outside temperature.

On a more serious note, if you could put one end of the freshly cut piece of wood in a bucket of acid, it might char all the way to the other end of whatever those long tubes in wood are called. Charcoal being conductive, you could electroplate the wood from the inside.
-- not_morrison_rm, Aug 14 2014


I have worked quite a bit with wood/other material combinations, especially with my art college students. There are many possibilities and I am currently making some items using material hybrids in my own personal work.
-- xenzag, Aug 14 2014


[pashute] that link is way cool.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 14 2014


I do not think acid will convert wood into charcoal. Maybe it would hydrolyze the proteins and cellulose.
-- bungston, Aug 14 2014


I think that there would be a number of variables to wrangle (a lot of time) to get a nice effect which inlay could probably do.

Does this mean mitres don't need nails or screws just accurately applied heat?
-- wjt, Aug 15 2014


First I read that as mistresses. 'Accurately applied heat' is one way to describe it I guess...
-- RayfordSteele, Aug 15 2014



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