RETWood mit Eurostars
In response to the ecological, ethical and legal concerns associated with the use of tropical woods in string instruments making, Swiss Wood Solutions has developed the sustainable product Sonowood. The innovation’s aim is to replace endangered tropical woods in musical instruments. Sonowood is an extremely dense and hard wooden material. It was found that thanks to its very compact wood fibre structure, Sonowood can be milled particularly well and precisely. However, the particular production parameters and wood species can influence its behavior in fitting production through CNC machining.
The objective of the RETWood Project (Replacing Endangered Tropical Woods) is to carry out these investigations and ultimately develop an automated CNC machining process. The acquired CNC-milling competence, including CAD/CAM programming, will enable SWS to produce Sonowood fittings much more efficiently. The acquired CNC-milling competence can also be used for the development of further products consisting of precisely shaped wooden pieces such as woodwind instruments (flutes, clarinets), tool handles (knives, hammers), stationary products and luxury items (jewellery, watches, cameras).
The RETWood project is carried out in cooperation with the French fitting manufacturer Bois d’Harmonie and supported by Eurostars, a joint programme between EUREKA and the European Commission. Eurostars supports international innovation projects led by research and development-performing small- and medium-sized enterprises (R&D-performing SMEs). The project runs from November 2019 until October 2022.
