Wood veneer

 Veneer refers to thin slices of wood, usually thinner

than 3 mm (1/8 inch), that are typically glued onto
core panels (typically, wood, particle board or
medium density fiberboard) to produce flat panels
such as doors, tops and panels for cabinets, parquet
floors and parts of furniture.
 Plywood consists of three or more layers of veneer,
each glued with its grain at right angles to adjacent
layers for strength.
 Veneer is obtained either by "peeling" the trunk of a
tree or by slicing large rectangular blocks of wood
Producing Wood Veneers
 The finest and rarest logs are sent to companies that
produce veneer. The advantage to this practice is two
fold. First, it provides the most financial gain to the
owner
 Secondly, and of more importance to the
woodworker, is this practice greatly expands the
amount of usable wood. While a log used for solid
lumber is cut into thick pieces, usually no less than 1
1/8 inches, veneers are cut as thin as 1/40 of an inch.
Advantages Of Using Veneers
 In addition to the obvious savings of our natural
resources, many projects built using wood veneer
would not be possible to construct using solid lumber.
 Due to expansion and contraction common to all
wood products and caused by changes in humidity,
many of the patterns and designs possible with
veneers would self destruct, if attempted with solid
lumber.
 Particle board

 Particle board, or particleboard, is an

engineered wood product manufactured from
wood particles, such as wood chips, sawmill
shavings, or even saw dust, and a synthetic
resin or other suitable binder, which is pressed
and extruded. Particleboard is a
composite material.
Characteristics
 Particleboard is cheaper, denser and more
uniform than conventional wood and plywood
and is substituted for them when appearance
and strength are less important than cost.
 However, particleboard can be made more
attractive by painting or the use of wood
veneers that are glued onto surfaces that will
be visible.
 A major disadvantage of particleboard is that it is
very prone to expansion and discoloration due to
moisture, particularly when it is not covered with
paint or another sealer.
 Therefore, it is rarely used outdoors or places that
have high levels of moisture,
Manufacturing
 Particleboard is manufactured by mixing wood
particles or flakes together with a resin and
forming the mix into a sheet.
 The raw material to be used for the particles is
fed into a disc chipper with between four and
sixteen radially arranged blades. The particles
are first dried, after which any oversized or
undersized particles are screened out.
 Resin in liquid form, is then sprayed through nozzles onto the
particles. There are several types of resins that are commonly
used. Urea formaldehyde resin is the cheapest and easiest to
use. It is used for most non-water resistant boards.
 Melamine formaldehyde resin is significantly more expensive,
as it is moisture resistant. Phenol formaldehyde is also fairly
expensive.
 It is dark colored and highly durable.
 These resins are sometimes mixed with other additives before
being applied to the particles, in order to make the final
product waterproof, fireproof, insect proof, or to give it some
other quality.
 Once the resin has been mixed with the particles, the
liquid mixture is made into a sheet.
 The sheets formed are then cold-compressed to
reduce their thickness and make them easier to
transport. Later, they are compressed again, under
pressures between two and three megapascals and
temperatures between 140 °C and 220 °C.
 The boards are then cooled, trimmed and sanded.
They can then be sold untreated, covered in a
wood veneer or laminated with paper.
Comparison of solid wood to particleboard
 However, it has several other advantages, one of which
is its stability. Solid wood is prone to warping and
splitting with changes in humidity, whereas
particleboard is not.
 This stability enables new design possibilities, without
having to take into account seasonal variations.
 Untreated particleboard will disintegrate, however,
when exposed to high levels of moisture. This problem
is somewhat mitigated by laminating the particle board
on both sides with melamine resin to reduce moisture
ingress.
 Plywood

 Plywood is a type of engineered wood made

from thin sheets of wood, called plies or
wood veneers.
 The layers are glued together, each with its
grain at right angles for greater strength.
 There are usually an odd number of plies, as
the symmetry makes the board less prone to
warping.
 A common reason for using plywood instead
of plain wood is its resistance to cracking,
shrinkage, twisting/warping, and its general
high degree of strength.
 In addition, plywood can be manufactured in
sheets far wider than the trees from which it
was made.
Production
 Plywood production requires a good log, called a
peeler, which is generally straighter and larger in
diameter than one required for processing into
dimensioned lumber by a sawmill.
 The log is peeled into sheets of veneer which are then
cut to the desired dimensions, dried, patched, glued
together and then baked in a press at 140 °C (280 °F)
and 19 MPa (2800 psi) to form the plywood panel.
 The panel can then be patched, resized, sanded or
otherwise refinished, depending on the market for
which it is intended.
Applications
 Plywood is used in many applications that need high-
quality, high-strength sheet material. Quality in this
context means resistance to cracking, breaking,
shrinkage, twisting and warping.
 Exterior glued plywood is suitable for outdoor use,
but because moisture affects on the strength of wood,
optimal performance is achieved in end uses where
woods moisture content remains relatively low.
Fibre board
 Medium-density fiberboard (MDF) is an engineered wood
product formed by breaking down hardwood or softwood
residuals into wood fibres, often in a defibrator, combining it
with wax and a resin binder, and forming panels by applying
high temperature and pressure.
 It is made up of separated fibers. It is much more dense than
normal particle board.
 The name derives from the distinction in densities of
fiberboard. Large-scale production of MDF began in the
1980s.
There are different kinds of MDF, which are sometimes
labeled by colour:
 Moisture resistant is typically green
 Fire retardant MDF is typically red or pink
 Although similar manufacturing processes are used in
making all types of fiberboard, MDF has a typical
density of 600-800 kg/m³ , in contrast to particle
board (160-450 kg/m³) and to high-density fiberboard
(600-1450 kg/m³).
 Lighter densities of fiberboard are commonly
marketed as ultralight or LDF boards.
 The trees are debarked after being cut. The bark can be sold
for use in landscaping, or burned in on-site furnaces.
 The debarked logs are sent to the MDF plant where they go
through the chipping process. A typical disk chipper contains
4-16 blades.
 Any resulting chips that are too large may be re-chipped;
undersized chips may be used as fuel. The chips are then
washed and checked for defects.
 The chips are then compacted and will be heated for 30-120
seconds to soften the wood; they are then fed into a defibrator
which maintains high pressure and temperature.
 The pulp that exits from the defibrator is fine, fluffy, and light
in weight and in colour.
 From the defibrator the pulp enters a blowline where it is
joined with wax (to improve moisture resistance) and resin (to
stop the pulp from forming bundles).
 The material expands in size and is then heated by heating
coils. When it comes out it may be stored in bins for an
indefinite length of time.
 After this drying period the board goes through a "Pendistor"
process which creates 230-610 mm thick boards. Then it is cut
and continues to the press. Here it is pressed for a few
minutes, to make a stronger and denser board.
 After pressing MDF is cooled in a star dryer, trimmed and
sanded. In certain applications, boards are also laminated for
extra strength.
Comparison to natural woods
Benefits of MDF:
 Is becoming an environmentally friendly product.
 Some varieties are less expensive than many natural
woods
 Isotropic (no grain), so no tendency to split
 Consistent in strength and size
 Flexible. Can be used for curved walls or surfaces.
 Shapes well.
Drawbacks of MDF:
 Denser than plywood or chipboard (the resins are
heavy)
 Swells and breaks when waterlogged
 May warp or expand if not sealed
 Contains urea-formaldehyde which may cause eye
and lung irritation when cutting and sanding
 Subject to significant shrinkage in low humidity
environments.