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Short abstract

A study of the use of alder wood as a facade material highlights the relevance of intuitive knowledge of materials, which typically emerges in craft practices. The results show how this knowledge can contribute to materials science through hypothesis formulation in a craft amplification strategy.

Long abstract

The craft of cladding façades with wood was explored through the study of alder. The literature review revealed that, in the 18th century, alder wood was believed to have the capacity to absorb minerals, which created a hard, stone-like skin on the wood's surface after immersion in water, thus protecting the timber from rotting (Fleischer, 1779). The results from recent interviews and discussions with archaeologists and craftspeople across Europe include descriptions such as: “blades used for cutting samples from excavated alder get worn out because the wood seems incrusted with minerals” and “weathering forms a hard rind on alder cladding, protecting it from rotting.” These descriptions rely on sensory experience and intuitive knowledge and can appear inaccurate. However, the similarities in the oral and written reports from various places and different centuries suggest that alder wood undergoes transformation when exposed to minerals and/or water in a process comparable to petrification. By adopting a craft amplification strategy (Kokko et al., 2020), hypothesis are formulated and experiments will help to characterise this transformation process and make it predictable and reproducible, ensuring alder cladding durability. Generally, this study highlights how knowledge of materials based on intuitive ontic validities emerging individually through craft practice might contribute to materials science.

Kokko, S., Almevik, G., Bentz Høgseth, H. C., & Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, P. (2020). Mapping the methodologies of the craft sciences in Finland, Sweden and Norway. Craft Research, 11(2), 177-209.

Fleischer, E. (1779). Forsøg til en underviisning i det danske og norske skov-vaesen.