A company in Oregon is out to prove that wood helmets make more sense than the foam and plastic ones everyone loves to hate.

Wood…can, with sufficient energy, be crushed and absorb significant energy, just as the EPS in most bicyle helmets is designed to do. Different species of wood have somewhat different properties of course and even within the same species different samples of wood behave somewhat differently. But almost any sample of wood is capable of absorbing more energy than the types of plastics typically used in mass produced bicycle helmets.

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What this means for helmets is that, when used in the shell, wood can help absorb the energy of dangerous impacts to a degree that is not currently available through helmets with plastic or composite shells. Wood typically absorbs energy best at energies somewhat higher than the high density EPS that most bicycle, skate, motorcycle and ski helmets use. This means that the wood shell provides significant protection over a greater spectrum of impact energies.

One small problem remains. Very small production numbers means they cost two to three times a plastic helmet. Increasing production would beg the question of sustainable source material. Ok, that’s two problems. But the latter seems easy to solve. Price (setting aside issues of fashion/coolness) is a big barrier to helmet adoption, not a lack of energy absorption.