Dan
Apples to oranges arguments will not cut it... "However I'm straight up calling bullschitt on the fact that any board has a greater strength and stability than a wood of similar density that has been laminated."
A couple points you missed: STock laminations are not 90% to each other. Even if they did, there are woods tough enough to compete on strength. There are others able to compete on hardness. Yet others competing on stability. A few spank them on all counts.
Mesquite, some walnut, mountain mahoghany are three laminate cannot match in any of the categories.
The comparisons between lighter woods laminated are not valid because they are not woods used in building stocks and they do nothing to address the issue of density... Dense woods have more "wood" in the wood and less air. Wood is much stronger than air...
For your fir plywood vs. fir boards comparison it is obvious the glue holding the laminations in place makes all the difference. Also, the fact those karate geeks are breaking cross-grain boards, not long grain.
Here is a typical karate "feat" and it takes remarkably little to break boards... The holder MUST provide resistance equal to the energy required to break the board, no?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xp0wz4d2ls Had a guy show up at a mill I was working in looking for 10" long pieces of 2x16 pine for a karate demonstration... They had to be clear... but small cracks were okay...
art
