The Technique of FURNITURE MAKING
COMPARATIVE PROPERTIES OF SOLID WOODS AND MANUFACTURED BOARDS Advantages of manufactured boards
1 Plywood and laminboards, etc. have no natural line of cleavage and cannot be split across the length or width, as the grain direction of each alternate layer is opposed to the direction of the force. General stiffness and rigidity is also much greater, and a strip of plywood is Stiffer than a strip of steel of equal weight, and therefore thicknesses as opposed to solid wood can be reduced by as much as 25 per cent. Particle boards do not have the same high strength weight ratio and are relatively weak in all directions, nevertheless they have much the same dimensional stability, and sufficient strength and stiffness for most purposes.
2 All prefabricated woods are available in large sheets, sanded smooth to uniform standard thicknesses, thus no preparation is necessary and much intitial labour is saved.
3 Large sheets are always more economical in cutting, and waste factors are much lower, while quality is consistent from sheet to sheet.
4 Construction is balanced, therefore movement is negligible under normal conditions, making them ideal for large or flush surfaces. Plywood in particular possesses a natural resilience which enables it to be bent to reasonably small radii of curvature without damage.
5 The utilization of common woods in plentiful supply, which can be face veneered with decorative hardwoods, conserves stocks of the more valuable timbers which might otherwise
be insufficient to meet the demands of modern production.
There are still some lingering prejudices against the use of plywoods but they have no foundation whatsoever, and MDF particle boards are beginning to emerge, not as cheap substitutes, but as logical extensions or adaptations of wood in solid form.
