The vast majority of mechanical keyboards are used with keycaps or caps for the keys made of some type of plastic, however, other materials can be used for them. One of them, although it may seem surprising to you, is to use wooden keys. Which gives them a special look and nature compared to the traditional ones. But, are they worth it or, instead, are they just an aesthetic whim?
The idea of using wooden keycaps is something that at first puts us back, since to make them not only is it necessary to cut down many trees, but also the process of carving them is much more complex. That is why the keyboards of our computers do not use this material. Not only would this be a serious ecological impact, but they are also especially expensive compared to those built from conventional materials. However, they have a number of attractions.
Advantages and disadvantages of wooden keys
As usual, we will start with the sweet.
- One of the most annoying things on a conventional keyboard is seeing how the silkscreen on the keys fades over time. Especially the most used ones and this is where we enter one of the advantages of wooden keys and that is that the vast majority have the characters serigraphed with a laser or carved in the same wood that will last you for many years.
- They are very pleasant to the touch, and compared to the classic keys made of ABS and PBT, the wooden ones result in a pleasant experience to use. It is not something that we can describe with words, but believe us that if you experiment at least a few hours with this type of keycaps you will notice the difference.
And as for the disadvantages, well, they are the following:
- Since wooden keycaps are not in the same demand as PBT and ABS, the vast majority of those who make these keycaps are craftsmen who have to carve and therefore sculpt the wooden keycaps one by one. What makes them scarce and consequently difficult to find.
- Related to the previous point, keep in mind that building them requires more time than a machine to inject plastic into a mould, so you can imagine that the price of this type of keys is not cheap and precisely makes wooden keys a almost luxury item.
- If you’re interested in an RGB-backlit keyboard, then forget it, as there’s no such thing as semi-transparent wood.
But are they really worth it?
However, it’s not all bad and the fact that you can have a craftsman make the keys is that you can have a unique and totally personalized job instead of a generic one. Which for many will be silly, but let’s not forget that there are many people in the world with money and they want things that others don’t usually have. Obviously, a keyboard made with wooden keys is not the same as a work of art, for example, but it can be something unique for whoever commissioned it and have not only economic value, but also sentimental value.
On the other hand, you may also be a person with the necessary skills to carve wood and have considered creating your own wooden keys. In that case, you are going to need time, patience, and remember that there is a learning curve like everything else. The good thing is that if you show skill you will be able to sell your work to third parties
