02 MAY PLYWOOD, PARTICLE BOARD,

MDF, HARDBOARD… WHERE DO WE GO

FROM HERE?
Posted at 10:53h in Cabinet Products, Kitchen Remodel by Solomon 
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          There has been some form of fake wood for a long time now.  For the sake of
simplicity, let us suppose that the term fake wood is any wood-like material that has been
manufactured rather than cut straight from the tree.

        When I was very young I thought there was wood and there was fake wood.  I didn’t
know anything about how or why plywood existed but I knew there was a di erence
between it and real wood and I simply thought all fake wood was called “plywood.”  Then
my brother explained to me that there was a di erence between normal plywood and
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particle board.  

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He dismissively said that the only thing particle board was good for was stereo speakers.
 Years later I worked for a furniture repair shop and I learned that a lot of wooden things are
made to look very nice and expensive by gluing wood veneers onto cheap “wood” panels
like plywood or particle board.  That was really the rst step in learning about the
interconnected relationship between wood and the various wood composite products and
perhaps just as importantly, what is the de nable di erence between them.

Why make composite wood in the rst place?

        Composite wood is considered by many to be a cheap substitute for real wood.  And
there are very logical reasons for this.  Ikea has created a small empire by selling cheap
disposable furniture that falls apart as you use a drill to put screws into or even pull screws
out of the particleboard panels that are used to create the bulk of their products.  It’s no
mystery as to why this trashy furniture would create a lasting stigma in the collective
conscience.  But don’t let this turn you o to composite woods all together.  In general,
composite woods are wood-like panels that are formed out of leftover wood chips,
shavings, or sawdust mixed with a resin.  This makes for a fairly heavy board that is cheap to
make and ideal for some projects.  Many composite panels are waterproof, insect-proof,
and even re proof.  Each composite wood has a di erent set of strengths and weaknesses
or pros and cons.

       

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Plywood

What is it? Privacy - Terms

        Plywood is actually very di erent from the ber boards.  It’s a totally di erent animal.
 Plywood is made by sandwiching layers or “plies” of veneer and wood chips into strong
cross-pattern designs.  This results in very strong wood-like panels.  The quality and
thickness of the plywood can make a big di erence in how strong it will be.  Although
plywood is a fairly inexpensive “fake wood,” when made well it is very strong.  This is one of
the reasons that it is used to make cabinet bodies by many of the best cabinet companies;
RTA and Custom alike.  Plywood is also used to make heavy duty road cases for
transporting lm and music equipment.   A big advantage of plywood is that the small bits
that are used to make it may be small but they are still wood.  

This means that even without an outer layer of wood veneer, plywood will take wood stain
far better than MDF or other berboards.

Quality and Cost…

It is possible to nd cheap plywood that is more a ordable when you compare it to each of
the composite woods with a fair comparison chart.*  But this sort of pricing becomes very
complicated because there are several di erent qualities of plywood.  Without getting too
deep into it, the cost as well as some of the various properties of the plywood that you buy
will change depending on certain factors.  Premium plywood costs more to manufacture
and is stronger than the weaker everyday plywood you would nd in hardware stores.  

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Many high end furniture and cabinet companies use the plywood that is made to be
formaldehyde free.  This also adds to the cost of the material.  Finally the cost can be
further complicated by the outer layers of the plywood.  Raw plywood where you can see
the cross pattern wood chip texture is quite a bit cheaper than plywood with a layer of
wood veneer on either side or laminate surfacing for that matter.

Particle Board

What is it?

        Particle board is the lowest form of composite wood material.  It is made from sawdust
and resin.  Imagine if you collected all the sawdust o the oor of a woodshop for a few
years and glued it all together again.  

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This material is pretty good for some projects like making speakers.  Particle board does not
hold up well.  If you try to screw something into a particle board panel it will hold until the
object or the panel are pushed pulled or jostled in any way.  The tiny chunks of wood will
begin to crumble and deteriorate.  Water damage also tends to cause particle board to
deteriorate as well.  As a kid my friends and I used to nd discarded panels of particle board
that were left out in the morning dew and we would kick and chop them in half like martial
artists.  Furniture made from particle board has to use rather thick panels in order for it to be
relatively strong.  For this reason that kind of furniture tends to be excessively heavy.

Quality and Cost…

In terms of both quality and cost, it is the cheapest of the composite woods.  

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Particle board is also more a ordable than most plywood.  This is why it is used for
disposable furniture like Ikea.
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Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF)

What is it?

        MDF is a material that is made from mixing small brous bits of wood with resin and
binding agents and then pressing them into panels of wood-like material.  MDF is much
denser and therefore much stronger than particleboard.  Quality MDF is stronger and more
exible than cheaper plywood.  Many times you will nd MDF being used in place of
plywood on some projects.  Where MDF really excels is as a substrate for veneer,
thermofoil, melamine, vinyl surfacing, or heavy lacquer paints.  

MDF is also used to make a lot of moldings.

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MDF, like particle board, is made of small bers so there is no wood grain.  Keep that in
mind if you plan to make something to match your existing furniture.  You will need a wood
veneer in order to stain it.

Quality and Cost…

        In terms of Cost, MDF is notably more expensive than particle board but it is often used
as a lower cost replacement for plywood because it can usually be found for less than the
good premium plywood.  You can feel how MDF is heavier than plywood if you compare
them directly, so keep that extra weight in mind for any future projects.  

Hardboard (HDF)

What is it?

        Hardboard is awesome.  

Hardboard is a berboard like MDF but it is made out of EXPLODED wood bers!  This
allows it to be much denser and therefore much stronger than MDF.  The bers in
hardboard are usually compressed to around 65 pounds per cubic foot!  (some sources say
as high as 90.5 lb.)  One of the methods for manufacturing hardboard was patented by
William H. Mason; you can nd it in stores under the brand Masonite.

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Two of the most common uses for hardboard are pegboard, a perforated form of hardboard
that is used to hang hooks for tools and other objects, and as a surface for skateboard
ramps and halfpipes.

Quality and Cost…

        When compared to MDF and particle board, hardboard has a number of great
advantages like it’s superior strength, durability, and water resistance.  It can also be easier
to work with.  Unlike plywood and other ber boards, hardboard is only sold in thin ⅛ inch or
¼ inch thick sheets.  Because it is so strong and durable, hardboard can often perform as
well, if not better than, other ber boards that are 3-6 times as thick.  This makes it hard to
compare the price of hardboard in a fair way.  If you only need a sheet of fake wood and
ANY of these materials will do, a sheet of hardboard can cost less than $10.  To complicate
the matter further, some companies sell a less dense hardboards that use a “dry”
manufacturing process and call it HDF or thin MDF.

After learning about MDF, I was intrigued about why it was called “Medium” density
berboard.  I started seeing some companies advertise that their cabinets, their
bookshelves, etc. were made using HDF, or High Density Fiberboard.  For some time I
simply thought this was a form of MDF that they were calling HDF as a marketing ploy.  In
other words, “our product is even stronger than their MDF!”  It didn’t take long for me to
realize that all these berboard composite woods were related.  LDF (low), MDF (Medium),
and HDF (high), are actually Particle board, MDF, and Hardboard, respectively.

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These materials are usually sold in 4’x8’ sheets.  But the thickness of the sheets can vary so
to be fair this shows approximately how much you would pay for each material if it were in a
¾ inch thick 4×8 sheet and based on that price how much the material itself would cost per
cubic foot.  (even though you do NOT buy it in that way)  The approximate density of each
type of berboard is also listed.

Cheap plywood,          ¾  inch  – 4×8 =  $13.44

$0.42 per square foot                   = $6.72 per CUBIC foot

Particleboard,     ¾ inch   – 4×8 =  $21.69

$0.68 per square foot                       =$10.92 per cubic foot

[Density of 10-28.1 lb. per cubic foot]

MDF,                        ¾ inch  – 4×8 =  $29.96

$0.94 per square foot                       =$15.00 per cubic foot

[Density of 37.5-55 lb. per cubic foot]

Premium Plywood,           ¾ inch – 4×8 =  ~$39.95

$1.25 per square foot                       = $20.16 per cubic foot 

 
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Hardboard/HDF,                 1/8 inch  – 4×8 = $8 so x6 = $48 (hypothetical ¾ inch panel)

$1.50 per square foot                       =$24.00 per cubic foot

[Density of 50-90.5 lb. per cubic foot]

TAGS: affordable, cabinets, cost, furniture, hardboard, interior design, Kitchen

Remodel, moldings, particleboard, plywood, quality, water, wood

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