PlyWood is made of three or more thin Layers of Wood bonded together with an adhesive.
Each layer of Wood, or ply, is usually oriented with its grain running at right angles
to the adjacent layer in order to reduce the shrinkage and improve the strength of
the finished piece. Most PlyWood is pressed into large, flat sheets used in building
construction. Other PlyWood pieces may be formed into simple or compound curves for
use in furniture, boats, and aircraft.
The outer Layers of PlyWood are known respectively as the face and the back.
The face is the surface that is to be used or seen, while the back remains unused
or hidden. The center layer is known as the core. In PlyWoods with five or more
plies, the inter-mediate Layers are known as the crossbands.
PlyWood may be made from hardWoods, softWoods, or a
combination of the two.
Some common hardWoods include Ash, Maple, Mahogany, Oak, and Teak. The most
common softWood used to make PlyWood in the United States is Douglas fir,
although several varieties of pine, cedar, spruce, and redWood are also used.
Composite PlyWood has a core made of particleboard or solid lumber pieces joined
edge to edge. It is finished with a PlyWood veneer face and back. Composite PlyWood
is used where very thick sheets are needed.
Adhesive used to Bond the Layers of Wood:
The type of adhesive used to bond the Layers of Wood together depends on the specific
application for the finished PlyWood. SoftWood PlyWood sheets designed for installation
on the exterior of a structure usually use a phenol-formaldehyde resin as an adhesive
because of its excellent strength and resistance to moisture. SoftWood PlyWood sheets
designed for installation on the interior of a structure may use a blood protein or
a soybean protein adhesive, although most softWood interior sheets are now made with
the same phenol-formaldehyde resin used for exterior sheets. HardWood PlyWood used
for interior applications and in the construction of furniture usually is made
with a urea-formaldehyde resin.
Some applications require PlyWood sheets that have a thin layer of plastic, metal,
or resin-impregnated paper or fabric bonded to either the face or back (or both)
to give the outer surface additional resistance to moisture and abrasion or to
improve its paint-holding properties. Such PlyWood is called overlaid PlyWood
and is commonly used in the construction, transportation,
and agricultural industries.
Other PlyWood sheets may be coated with a liquid stain to give the surfaces a
finished appearance, or may be treated with various chemicals to improve the
PlyWood's flame resistance or resistance to decay.
PlyWood Classification and Grading:
There are two broad classes of PlyWood, each with its own grading system.
One class is known as construction and industrial. PlyWoods in this class are
used primarily for their strength and are rated by their exposure capability
and the grade of veneer used on the face and back. Exposure capability may be
interior or exterior, depending on the type of glue. Veneer grades may be
N, A, B, C, or D. N grade has very few surface defects, while D grade may have
numerous knots and splits. For example, PlyWood used for subflooring in a house
is rated "Interior C-D". This means it has a C face with a D back, and the glue
is suitable for use in protected locations. The inner plies of all construction
and industrial PlyWood are made from grade C or D veneer, no matter what the rating.
HardWood and Decorative PlyWood:
The other class of PlyWood is known as hardWood and decorative. PlyWoods in this class
are used primarily for their appearance and are graded in descending order of resistance
to moisture as Technical (Exterior), Type I (Exterior), Type II (Interior),
and Type III (Interior). Their face veneers are virtually free of defects.
PlyWood sheets range in thickness from. 06 in (1.6 mm) to 3.0 in (76 mm). The most
common thicknesses are in the 0.25 in (6.4 mm) to 0.75 in (19.0 mm) range. The core,
the crossbands, and the face and back of a sheet of PlyWood may be made of different
thickness veneers. For example, the face and back must be of equal thickness.
Likewise the top and bottom crossbands must be equal.
Common size for PlyWood sheets:
Used in building construction is 4 ft (1.2 m) wide by 8 ft (2.4 m) long. Other
common widths are 3 ft (0.9 m) and 5 ft (1.5 m). Lengths vary from 8 ft (2.4 m)
to 12 ft (3.6 m) in 1 ft (0.3 m) increments. Special applications like boat
building may require larger sheets.
The Manufacturing Process:
The trees used to make PlyWood are generally smaller in diameter than those used
to make lumber. In most cases, they have been planted and grown in areas owned by
the PlyWood company. These areas are carefully managed to maximize tree growth
and minimize damage from insects or fire. Here is a typical sequence of operations
for processing trees into standard 4 ft by 8 ft (1.2 m by 2.4 m)
The logs are first debarked and then cut into peeler blocks. In order to cut
the blocks into strips of veneer, they are first soaked and then peeled into strips.
Felling the trees:
Selected trees in an area are marked as being ready to be cut down, or felled.
The felling may be done with gasoline-powered chain saws or with large hydraulic
shears mounted on the front of wheeled vehicles called fellers. The limbs
are removed from the fallen trees with chain saws.
Trimming Tree Trunks:
The trimmed tree trunks, or logs, are dragged to a loading area by wheeled
vehicles called skidders. The logs are cut to length and are loaded on trucks
for the trip to the PlyWood mill, where they are stacked in long piles
known as log decks.
Preparing the logs:
As logs are needed, they are picked up from the log decks by rubber-tired
loaders and placed on a chain conveyor that brings them to the debarking
machine. This machine removes the bark, either with sharp toothed grinding
wheels or with jets of high-pressure water, while the log is slowly rotated
about its long axis.
The debarked logs are carried into the mill on a chain conveyor where a huge
circular saw cuts them into sections about 8 ft-4 in (2.5 m) to 8 ft-6 in
(2.6 m) long, suitable for making standard 8 ft (2.4 m) long sheets.
These log sections are known as peeler blocks.
Making the veneer:
Before the veneer can be cut, the peeler blocks must be heated and soaked to
soften the Wood. The blocks may be steamed or immersed in hot water. This
process takes 12-40 hours depending on the type of Wood,
the diameter of the block, and other factors.
Heated Peeler Blocks:
The heated peeler blocks are then transported to the peeler lathe, where they are
automatically aligned and fed into the lathe one at a time. As the lathe rotates
the block rapidly about its long axis, a full-length knife blade peels a continuous
sheet of veneer from the surface of the spinning block at a rate of 300-800
ft/min (90-240 m/min). When the diameter of the block is reduced to about
3-4 in (230-305 mm), the remaining piece of Wood, known as the peeler core,
is ejected from the lathe and a new peeler block is fed into place.
Long Sheet of Veneer:
The long sheet of veneer emerging from / the peeler lathe may be processed immediately,
or it may be stored in long, multiple-level trays or wound onto rolls. In any case,
the next process involves cutting the veneer into usable widths, usually about
4 ft-6 in (1.4 m), for making standard 4 ft (1.2 m) wide PlyWood sheets. At the
same time, optical scanners look for sections with unacceptable defects, and
these are clipped out, leaving less than standard width pieces of veneer.The wet
strips of veneer are wound into a roll, while an optical scanner detects any
unacceptable defects in the Wood. Once dried the veneer is graded and stacked.
Selected sections of veneer are glued together. A hot press is used
to seal the veneer into one solid piece of PlyWood, which will be trimmed
and sanded before being stamped with its appropriate grade.
Wet Strips of Veneer:
The wet strips of veneer are wound into a roll, while an optical scanner detects
any unacceptable defects in the Wood. Once dried the veneer is graded and stacked.
Selected sections of veneer are glued together. A hot press is used to seal the
veneer into one solid piece of PlyWood, which will be trimmed and sanded
before being stamped with its appropriate grade.
Sections of Veneer:
The sections of veneer are then sorted and stacked according to grade. This may
be done manually, or it may be done automatically using optical scanners.
The sorted sections are fed into a dryer to reduce their moisture content and allow
them to shrink before they are glued together. Most PlyWood mills use a mechanical
dryer in which the pieces move continuously through a heated chamber. In some dryers,
jets of high-velocity, heated air are blown across the surface of the pieces to
speed the drying process.
Sections of Veneer Emerge from the dryer:
They are stacked according to grade. Underwidth sections have additional veneer
spliced on with tape or glue to make pieces suitable for use in the interior Layers
where appearance and strength are less important. Those sections of veneer that
will be installed crossways—the core in three-ply sheets, or the crossbands
in five-ply sheets—are cut into lengths of about 4 ft-3 in (1.3 m).
Forming the PlyWood sheets:
When the appropriate sections of veneer are assembled, the process of laying up
and gluing the pieces together begins. This may be done manually or semi automatically
with machines. Three-ply sheets, the back veneer is laid flat and run through a
glue spreader, which applies a layer of glue to the upper surface. The short
sections of core veneer are then laid crossways on top of the glued back,
and the whole sheet is run through the glue spreader a second time. Finally,
the face veneer is laid on top of the glued core, and the sheet is stacked
with other sheets waiting to go into the press.
Glued Sheets are Loaded:
The glued sheets are loaded into a multiple opening hot press. presses can
handle 25-40 sheets at a time, with each sheet loaded in a separate slot.
All the sheets are loaded, the press squeezes them together under a pressure
of about 110-200 psi (7.6-13.8 bar), while at the same time heating them
to a temperature of about 230-315° F (109.9-157.2° C). The pressure assures
good contact between the Layers of veneer, and the heat causes the glue
to cure properly for maximum strength. After a period of 2-7 minutes,
the press is opened and the sheets are unloaded.
The rough sheets then pass through a set of saws:
Which trim them to their final width and length. Higher grade sheets pass through
a set of 4 ft (1.2 m) wide belt sanders, which sand both the face and back. Inter
grade sheets are manually spot sanded to clean up rough areas. Some sheets are run
through a set of circular saw blades, which cut shallow grooves in the face to
give the PlyWood a textured appearance. After a final inspection, any remaining
defects are repaired.
The finished sheets are stamped with a grade trademark:
That gives the buyer information about the exposure grade, rating, mill number,
and other factors. Sheets of the same grade-trademark are strapped together in
stacks and moved to the warehouse to await shipment.
Just as with lumber, there is no such thing as a perfect piece of PlyWood. All
pieces of PlyWood have a certain amount of defects. The number and location of
these defects determines the PlyWood grade. These standards not only establish
the grading systems for PlyWood, but also specify construction,
performance, and application criteria.
Wishing you all the best,