Plywood production: technology and video of the main stages of the process

Everyone knows such a material as plywood. This word, even for a person very far from construction or furniture making, evokes a familiar image: sheet material glued together from several thin layers of wood. In general, of course, the image is correct. Because if you intend to buy this same sheet material in a construction supply store, then the price tag will have exactly the same name - plywood.

Plywood production

Let's roll up our sleeves

What kind of plywood do caring parents make furniture from in their nursery?
Preference is given to slabs based on environmentally friendly urea glue FK. FSF contains phenol-formaldehyde resin adhesive; in fact, it is a refined chipboard. Even a high-speed circular saw can damage the surface with chips. Before cutting, cut through the decorative layer of veneered plywood with a sharp knife-jamb, the asses recommend - and no allowance for processing is needed.

The stool is reliable and ergometric

Let's try to master aerobatics: we'll treat elastic sheets like plasticine. Furniture made from bent plywood attracts with its apparent complexity. The stool in the photo below surprises with its sharp curves without harming the material. What's the trick? Knowing the physical properties of the material you are working with.

The secret is simple, mastered by grandfathers on rocker arms and arches. Blanks made of three-layer plywood are generously coated with glue and placed into a curved mold lined with metal.

A simple screw press or clamps gradually tighten the halves of the mold. Acceleration of glue polymerization is ensured by heating elements located in the body of the punch and matrix.

The protective film protects the equipment from drips of excess glue. In the background of the photo you can see the finished bends. In the case of a stool, to prevent the workpieces from creeping along the conical surface, you will need to install stops. Homemade furniture requires thorough equipment. Devices are both speed and quality.

Important: in order to maintain deformation changes, the blanks are sequentially applied lengthwise and crosswise. Difficult at first glance. Difficult at first glance

Difficult at first glance

Homemade options

It is quite possible to make a decent lathe using plywood. To work, you will need, in addition to the material itself, the following elements:

• glue;
• circular saw and miter saw;
• pencil or marker, ruler (for marks);
• fixing clamps;
• bearings, paint, screws, screwdriver;
• metal plate, electric motor and pulley;
• a number of other details.

To form the base of the machine, 1.2 cm thick plywood is used. After cutting and gluing the workpieces, the edges are trimmed, and the grooves are used to install racks. The headstock is also made of plywood; it is necessary to drill a hole in it for the bearing. It is advisable to place some nuts and washers on glue. The width of the platform and the guide part must match, and a well-made platform with clamps moves freely in two planes.

The production of tailstocks and frontstocks is no different. Both of them require special protection. The power drive must be mounted on a board connected to the base using a loop. To make a spindle, you need to weld two nuts in a washer, and then make “teeth” in the nut. The machine must be painted.

Of course, you can also make a drilling machine from plywood. Since it is usually designed for relatively small workpieces, plywood sheets 1 cm thick can be used. All parts must be fitted as tightly as possible so that there are no visually noticeable breaks

Important: sheet material does not tolerate rough mechanical stress, so joining parts with nails and screws would be a bad idea; you can only use tenons and grooves, and sometimes PVA glue for maximum hardening

If you plan to drill other plywood pieces using a plywood machine, you need to provide space for backing another sheet. Otherwise, the processed products may crack and even split. Painting drilling equipment is not very justified. They are subjected to very intense vibration, thermal and mechanical influences. But applying a primer is very useful, especially in workshops without heating.

It is also possible to assemble CNC milling or woodworking machines. The trajectory of the processing part (as in other types) is calculated along three axes. If there is not enough space in the workshop, you can use universal stands designed for a wide range of tools. Typically the working field is 60x90 cm with a vertical stroke of 25 cm.

There are two main schemes for constructing any homemade plywood machines. In one version, the table moves, but the portal remains motionless, in the second, the roles change. The first method simplifies the design, but is only suitable for very small desktops. Therefore, in practice, the approach of moving the portal and immobilizing the table is much more often used. But in the second scheme there may be private options.

First of all, they relate to the use of a single central or two lateral drives. The 2-drive option is suitable for relatively bulky designs. It allows you to minimize the risk of the portal warping relative to the guides. Moreover, the entire assembly has excellent rigidity. The size of the treated area is determined by the tasks to be solved.

It is often believed that the geometry of the portal, the proportions of the distance between the axes and working guides, the gaps between bearings can only be calculated taking into account strength of materials and precision mechanics. This is largely true, but the basic points are accessible even to non-specialists, namely:

• reducing the gap above the table increases the rigidity of the structure;
• the axles should also be made stiffer and not too long;
• If possible, the gap between the X-axis guides should be increased to reduce abnormal twisting;
• the center of gravity of the portal must correspond to the location of the cutter and at the same time be between the Y-axis bearings (because of this, the vertical posts often bend backward);
• it is required to use only ball screw drive screws that give the least backlash;
• the screw must be equipped with a pair of independent bearings and connected to the motor through a flexible coupling (then a balance of simplicity and quality is achieved)
• All key parts can be assembled on box tenons (this is much more aesthetically pleasing than nuts sticking out in all directions).

Calculation of profitability and payback of production

If you start the production of unsanded plywood, you need to take into account that it takes about 1.6 m2 of wood to produce 1 m2 of sheet material. The most suitable material in terms of performance in this case will be birch.

If the estimated monthly production volume is 50 m2 or more, the cost of manufacturing the product will be approximately as follows:

1. Workshop rental – 90,000 rubles;
2. Remuneration of employees – 110,000 rubles;
3. Raw materials base per month (birch and glue) – 300,000 rubles;
4. Reserve funds – 40,000 rubles.

The average profitability of plywood production is 40%, which means that this production will pay for itself in approximately a year.

How to make plywood

Production technology includes many processes, so you won’t be able to achieve a high-quality result at home. But you can do veneering of interior items or crafts with your own hands.

Equipment

To produce sheet products, production must have appropriate technical equipment with conveyor lines. Veneer selection and processing are carried out manually.

Necessary equipment:

• Sizing and debarking machine. Used for cleaning logs. A trimming device is additionally included in the line. The technology allows the use of various modifications with baths for washing and softening.
• Special installation for peeling. The most popular are automatic machines equipped with double telescopic spindles, between which the workpiece is fixed. The process is controlled until the desired result is obtained. Setting up the equipment allows you to obtain veneer of different thicknesses.
• Guillotine or special knives. They are responsible for cutting the resulting tape to the required length. Modern units perform the work independently, placing the peeled material in piles.
• Dryer. Provides the required level of humidity without disturbing the structure. The most commonly used device is a tunnel type.

At the initial stage, the quality of the resulting veneer depends on the machine responsible for peeling the wood and the drying line

• Complete installation for preparing and applying glue. The modification depends on the type of composition.
• Machines for sequential gluing of layers. The technological section includes equipment for initial formatting.
• Cold and hot press.
• Machines for processing length and width.
• Grinding and processing devices. Allows you to obtain a certain type of plates (for example, perforated products).

The installation for applying glue and the press are responsible for the solidity of the product, and the presentation of the plywood directly depends on the quality of cutting and sanding. Only high-quality and properly configured equipment ensures the production of plywood that will meet all GOST standards and the needs of the buyer.

Manufacturing process

Algorithm of actions:

1. The raw materials are fed to the sizing and cleaning line, where knots are removed from the logs and the bark is separated. The material is cut into pieces of the required size.
2. The resulting lumps are placed in a bath of hot water. Additional components may be added to the liquid to maintain or improve certain properties. This step is necessary to ensure that all the wood has the same moisture content. The process also greatly facilitates further processing.
3. The logs are placed on the peeler and fixed between two shafts, which set the rate of rotation. The blades located on the edge remove the veneer. Other methods can be used, but peeling is the most effective.
4. Sheet or strip veneer is placed on a cutting machine, where the size is formed. For these purposes, you can use a guillotine or specially configured knives, depending on the supply of raw materials.
5. The drying stage begins: moving along the roller system, the material is successively processed with hot air. The result should be products with a residual moisture content of 4–6%.
6. The veneer is fed to the inspection area, where defects are eliminated and sorted. Although the production line is as automated as possible, some work must be done manually. Raw materials are distributed by size, pre-cleaned and grouped into piles.
7. A gluing mixture is applied to the core material, and the top is lined with perpendicular layers. If it is necessary to strengthen the structure of the slab, then additional layers are added.
8. The formed sheets are placed on the pressing area. Depending on the glue used, the cold or hot method is used. The first option involves compressing the layers for 6 hours at a constant temperature, the second involves the use of high pressure and a hot press.

In almost all factories, the layout of the line for the production of plywood sheets is the same, and the quality of the final product depends on the technological level of the equipment that makes up the conveyor. After this, final processing is carried out, which makes it possible to obtain the material with the required degree of finishing: sanding, lamination, coating with various decorative compositions.

Making veneer yourself

Making veneer is quite feasible at home. If you have at least a little skill in handling wood and some tools, you can safely begin solving this problem. To make sawn veneer with your own hands, you need a wooden beam, on which you should make vertical markings with lines at a distance of no more than 12 mm. Next, the timber secured to the workbench needs to be cut along the markings with a jigsaw or saw.

In a similar way, you can get sliced ​​veneer. In this case, the workpiece is processed using an electric plane. To make peeled veneer with your own hands, you need a cylindrical blank. The workpiece should be secured so that it rotates. By removing layers of wood in a spiral, you can get large sheets.

The scope of application of veneer is quite wide - from the production of furniture, decorative plywood, musical instruments, to the finishing of car interiors and cruise ships. Veneer finishing gives products uniqueness and attractiveness due to the natural beauty of wood texture. Resources of valuable wood species are inexorably decreasing, and the use of veneer helps to save this unique, scarce material.

Assembly of plywood

Finished veneer sheets can be collected in bags:

1. Apply glue to both sides of the veneer and connect the sheets together into bags.
2. Place the bags under a cold press.
3. Glue veneer packs into plywood sheets using a hot press. Do not forget that the number of veneer sheets must be odd; they must be connected so that the fibers of the sheets being glued are perpendicular to each other.
4. Now you can cut the plywood sheets to the size you need.
5. Sand the plywood using a sander until the surface is perfectly smooth.
6. Finished plywood can be decorated with paint or varnished.

How to make furniture from plywood at home?

A significant reduction in costs comes from using your own utility room.

What we win:

• no rental costs;
• completed production cycle;
• the tools for the production of plywood furniture are already partially available;
• production costs are low.

A designer, constructor, carpenter, supplier and advertising agent in one person is an excess of responsibilities. Installing the PRO-100, Cutting program on your computer is a significant help in modeling and economical cutting of material.

Minimum set of tools:

• circular saw with tire;
• manual frezer;
• high-speed jigsaw;
• belt and orbital sanders;
• screwdriver with force adjustment;
• industrial vacuum cleaner.

A panel saw for cutting plywood is an ideal option for your own production. When purchasing a household model, being picky about the play and rigidity of the guides is commendable. The parallelism of the cutting of the workpieces will become clear during operation.

Templates and devices are acquired. In the first place is the search for one’s own style and stable orders, development of technology with the exception of unreasonably labor-intensive operations. The crisis forces us to reduce prices. What it will be like in the end: home furniture made of plywood, equipment for food outlets or childcare facilities will show the demand for the model range.

Error: Handling internal acute mates manually is unprofitable

How to remove veneer to make plywood?

1. First, you should select high-quality wood - without knots, holes, wormholes and damage. The workpiece from which you will remove the veneer should be round in shape (for example, a log will do or you will need to use a grinding machine to shape the wood into a cylinder). Using a special machine, remove spiral veneer from the base material. Try to work in the same rhythm to get the veneer of the same thickness.

How many sheets of veneer are in plywood and how to lay them

Depending on the number of veneer sheets laid, the total thickness of the manufactured plywood sheet is also added up. The minimum number of layers is 3, the maximum is 25. In terms of thickness, this ranges from 3-4 to 40 mm.

Please note that a plywood sheet always has an odd number of veneer layers: 3, 5, 7, 9, etc. And the increment in thickness is usually up to 3-4 mm: 12 mm, 15 mm, 18 mm.

To achieve maximum strength of plywood blocks, the veneer is laid in such a way that each subsequent layer changes its direction. That is, the arrangement of the fibers in them was strictly perpendicular. This installation option significantly strengthens the structure of the material, making it much more powerful and durable than natural wood.

Materials

• Unpolished
  . This is the most budget option for plywood. It is used only for rough work. Its surface has many different defects.
• Sanded on 1 side.
• Sanded on 2 sides.
• Laminated. This is the most expensive type of plywood. But at the same time, it has a very large number of advantages. Firstly, it becomes decorative and is suitable for the production of furniture, packaging, finishing, etc. Secondly, the protective layer of resin-based lamination makes it denser and, most importantly, moisture-resistant. The lamination layer envelops the plywood and prevents moisture from penetrating inside.

How to treat the surface → Room decoration → How to choose the right paint → Surface treatment technologies → Leveling and finishing the walls → Selecting and applying a primer → Removal from the surface → Stretch ceilings and technologies → Reviews and testimonials

Legal registration of business

To open a furniture business, you need to register your activities with government agencies. If you plan to run your own business, then it is enough to become an individual entrepreneur. To register as an individual entrepreneur, you will need copies of your passport/TIN, an application, and a receipt for payment of the state fee (800 rubles).

For an LLC, the charter, minutes of the meeting, the founder’s passport, an application and confirmation of payment of the state duty (4,000 rubles) are submitted for registration. The contribution to the authorized capital is 10,000 rubles.

A simplified taxation system (STS) is recommended. Tax is imposed on profit (15% of the difference between income/expense) or income (6%). Review of the application takes up to 4 days.

Type of activity according to OKVED-2:

• 31.09 “Production of other furniture.”
• 47.91.2 “Retail trade carried out directly using the information and communication network Internet”, if planned.
• 47.59 “Retail trade in furniture, lighting fixtures and other household products in specialized stores.”

General technology

Plywood characteristics table.

Plywood is made using a special technology, which includes the following steps:

1. The logs are cleared of bark and the wood is processed using a special machine. The raw materials are exposed to moisture and water, cut into veneers with certain sizes.
2. The veneer is cut, after which the layers are glued and pressed together.
3. The stack is formed, the sheets are cut to obtain the required parameters.
4. Sanding can be done from 1 or 2 sides, in some cases lamination is carried out. For this finishing, a film is used; it can have a different color.
5. If necessary, cladding is performed.

For the manufacture of sheets, flaw veneers from various types of wood are used. In this case, the raw materials are fed into a special machine, which chops the material, and then transports it to assemble the sheets and prepare the rest of the components. The veneer size is 1.45 mm in thickness, and the degree of its pressing is 15-20%. During processing, the wood temperature is 25-35°C. Special knives are used for chopping; their installation height is -0.24 relative to the spindle, and the sharpening angle is 55°

It is important to comply with all indicators, since the quality of cutting will depend on this

Painting plywood

For longer service, plywood must be painted or varnished. This is especially true for material that is used outdoors.

Stages of painting work with plywood:

1. First of all, the plywood is sanded. For this, sandpaper No. 80 is used.
2. After this, the plywood is coated with acrylic primer and left for at least 4 hours.
3. If necessary, the surface is puttied with wood putty.
4. After the putty has dried, the surface is again rubbed with sandpaper No. 80-100.
5. Another layer of primer is applied and left for 4 hours.
6. And the final stage will be the painting of the plywood itself.

Having become familiar with how plywood is made, how it is bent and painted, you can build not only arches and partitions in your apartment or country house, but even make and decorate furniture yourself.

What it is?

What do stretch ceilings or wallpaper do first?

Laminated plywood is plywood that is not afraid of water and is resistant to mechanical damage thanks to a special protective shell covering it on the outside. The inner layers, like regular plywood, are made of several layers of glued and pressed veneer (thin sections of tree trunks from 1 to 10 mm thick), fiberboard or a combination of these materials. To impart increased moisture resistance, veneer layers can also be impregnated with water-repellent compounds.

Typically, the technology for creating laminated plywood involves the following:

• veneer layers are impregnated with waterproof and adhesive compounds and joined by hot pressing (pressure from 13 to 30 kg/cm², temperature – 130° C);
• the surface of the resulting plywood sheet is sanded and a laminating film is applied using a thermal method;
• The ends of laminated plywood are protected with an acrylic compound; sometimes they are also laminated, but this greatly increases the cost of the material.

Laminated plywood

Distinctive features of this type are:

• High level of moisture resistance;
• The use of adhesives with increased moisture resistance;
• Made from various types of wood;
• Resistance to natural and chemical environmental conditions;
• It is coated with a film made from carefully tarred paper;
• Has excellent density.

These parameters of laminated plywood give it the right to prevail in various industries and construction.

Advantages of laminated plywood:

1. Quite a long service life due to high wear resistance.
2. Reasonable price for buyers of various levels.
3. High quality.
4. Simple, convenient installation.
5. Attractive, aesthetic appearance.
6. Harmlessness.
7. Wide range of choice.

When choosing plywood, you need to decide for what purpose it is being purchased. Only after this, pay attention to parameters such as:

1. Thickness of plywood sheets.
2. Their sizes.
3. Moisture resistance level.
4. Safety and environmental friendliness of the material.
5. Type and quality of sheet surface treatment.
6. Variety
7. Product brand.
8. Price-quality ratio.

All information about this building material can be obtained from both sales consultants and highly qualified specialists.

What types of plywood are there?

Classification by type of processing:

1. FC. Moisture-resistant products based on urea adhesives. The purpose of the material is the lining of internal structures, as well as the production of interior items and packaging containers. The slabs are well suited for laying on laminate and parquet floors in high traffic areas.
2. FSF. Plywood with increased moisture resistance. Phenol-formaldehyde glue is used for production. The material has improved properties that allow sheets to be placed in areas that experience severe stress. High moisture resistance ensures durability and the ability to be used for roofing work.
3. FBS. Bakelite plywood impregnated with alcohol-soluble resin. Such products can withstand constant temperature fluctuations and are resistant to water. The treatment also increases fire resistance, which allows the product to be used in different conditions.
4. FBA. It is made on the basis of albumin-casein glue, has higher environmental safety indicators, but does not have protection from moisture.
5. BV. Bakelite water-soluble mixture is used for production. It is an alternative to FBS, but is not resistant to high humidity.
6. FOF. An improved variation of FSF with lining with high-density paper impregnated with synthetic resins.

For domestic premises, the most suitable material is considered to be environmentally friendly plywood of the “FK” brand, but it is necessary to take into account the type of adhesive composition, since the level of moisture resistance depends on it

Product varieties based on the quality of veneer used for manufacturing:

• I – there is a minimum number of defects on the surface;
• II – slight warping, cracks and wood inserts to correct defects are allowed;
• III – has all the described defects, as well as wormholes up to 6 mm in size;
• IV – products with many flaws, uneven edges of no more than 5 mm are allowed.

For front finishing, high-quality slabs E(1), B(1) and BB(2) are used; the third and fourth grades are mainly used for technical needs

What glue is needed for plywood

Several types of adhesive are used in production at factories:

for plywood FC are non-toxic urea-formaldehyde adhesives; for FSF - resin phenol-formaldehyde (more toxic); for FB - bakelite water-soluble connectors.

In construction stores you can find many adhesives used for gluing wood:

carpentry; quickly hardening based on PVA; two-component (including resin and hardener).

It is important to choose a product with a maximum spectrum of action - additional protection against fungus, mold and damp environments.

Dimensions

The optimal plywood thickness should be selected individually. When designing a subfloor, it is recommended to use a material no thinner than 12 mm. In this case, facial finishing can be carried out successfully even with 10-mm products. Laying in two layers is allowed, but you need to clearly understand whether such a step is necessary. For workshops, factory floors, shopping centers and cinemas, and other places with high floor loads, thick plywood (up to 25 mm) is preferred.

The smallest number of layers in plywood for flooring is 3 layers. Sheets 12 mm thick are made of 9 layers. The 16mm product consists of 11 glued layers. It is not recommended to lay plywood less than 3 mm thick on the floor. Under parquet with a thickness of 16 mm, a backing layer of 1 cm should be used; for thicker parquet (from 17 to 20 mm), a support of 1.2 cm is needed, and when using large-sized parquet, you will have to lay sheets no thinner than 1.5 cm.

Laying on joists involves the use of even thicker plywood - at least 18 mm. In the practice of domestic manufacturers, 2 types of slabs are widely used: standard and enlarged format. The standard design is a square sheet with a side of 1525 mm. Rectangular products have a size of 2440x1525 mm.

Large format slabs sometimes reach a length of 3660 mm. Typical FC sizes (in centimeters):

• 152.5x152.5;
• 127x152.5;
• 122x152.5.

FSF is most often cut into slabs and sheets:

• 150x300;
• 122x244;
• 125.2x305;
• 125x250 cm.

Types of plywood

Plywood, a building material made from layers of wood veneer glued together, is popular and well known even to people who are not involved in construction. As a rule, the number of layers is odd - 3, 5, less often 7. One of the secrets of the strength of this layered artificial material lies in the perpendicular arrangement of the layers of wood relative to the previous layer.

Depending on the glue and wood used, plywood has different strength and moisture resistance. There are several approaches to classification: by adhesive composition, by source material and by purpose.

According to the adhesive composition:

1. Albumin casein glue, FBA. The most environmentally friendly, but not water-resistant variety.
2. Urea glue, FC. Does not contain harmful substances, is slightly more moisture resistant compared to the previous type.
3. Melamine glue, FKM. Sheets made using this glue are suitable for finishing residential premises because they do not contain harmful substances, but at the same time they are not resistant enough to water to be used where there are increased requirements for moisture resistance.
4. Phenol-formaldehyde glue, FSF. Not suitable for residential premises and furniture due to the high concentration of harmful substances, but is very resistant to water.
5. Bakelite glue, FB. Not only the most waterproof, but also withstands aggressive environments. The cost of bakelite plywood is significantly higher than other types.

Plywood is a popular building material made from wood, glue and protective film
. Purpose:

1. Furniture. Obviously, it is used for the manufacture of cabinet furniture, tables and chairs, and upholstered furniture frames. This includes only completely safe varieties of material, since long-term and constant contact with people is assumed.
2. Construction For interior construction work, partitions, floors, suspended ceiling frames. It must also be environmentally friendly.
3. Aviation. Exclusively using phenol-formaldehyde glue. The strength of aircraft plywood is comparable to steel. It is used not only for aircraft construction, but also for shipbuilding, as well as in the automotive industry.
4. Formwork. Used for the construction of auxiliary structures in the construction of concrete and reinforced concrete structures.
5. Decorative. It has a beautiful texture and preserves the “natural” pattern of wood. It is used in interior design and furniture production.
6. Transport or automobile. Another variety with phenol-formaldehyde glue and high strength. Required for finishing or making parts of trucks.

Application area of ​​plywood (TOP 8 areas)

Due to its functionality and reasonable price, plywood is used in many areas.

1. In construction. This material is used for cladding various buildings. It is used at all stages of house construction, from formwork, floor formation and ending with the roof. The construction of scaffolding is also not complete without plywood, and in many other situations.
2. In design decisions. Plywood sheets are an excellent material for facing various surfaces. Soundproofing panels, window sills, elevator trim, door trim - these and many other building details are made from this material.
3. Furniture industry. Products produced by furniture factories quite often contain plywood sheets. Various accessories and decorative elements and designs for household items are manufactured.
4. Plywood is used in almost all branches of transport construction. It is used due to the light weight of the material and excellent strength. To equip vehicles and make them convenient to use, plywood is used (walls, floors, sides, etc.).
5. When organizing sports and play facilities, various types of plywood are also often used.
6. In packaging production, plywood is used to make boxes and various packaging products.
7. Objects found in everyday life. Advertising equipment and various semantic signs are made from waterproof types of plywood.
8. In the decorative area. High-quality products are used to decorate spaces in houses and apartments. Decorative elements are created.

Taking into account the technical characteristics, plywood can be used in various fields of human activity.

Plywood production technology

Plywood production technology today involves minimal use of manual labor. Most operations in the technological process are carried out by machines and robotic lines. But even with such a high level of development of equipment for plywood production, it is impossible to do without professional personnel.

The most critical operations in the production process - wood selection, culling, selection of high-quality veneer - are carried out manually. But among the necessary equipment for plywood production there should be:

• debarking machine;
• bath for soaking workpieces;
• peeling machine;
• guillotine;
• tunnel dryer;
• glue application machine;
• gluing line;
• presses for cold and hot gluing;
• format cutting machine;
• grinding installation.

This is not a complete list of production equipment. To expand the range of products, the list of equipment can include both a laser cutting machine for material and a machine for shaped molding of products.

Harvesting wood to produce plywood

To obtain products of the highest quality, the selection of the highest quality raw materials is required. The best raw materials are considered to be linden and birch. Hardwood produces products of average quality. But coniferous trees usually produce a product of the lowest quality, used in construction as a technological material for formwork or the construction of temporary structures.

Before entering the peeler, the wood is first steamed or immersed in a pool of hot water. This is necessary so that resins and tar are removed from the wood, and the fibers themselves become more plastic.

Veneer manufacturing and finishing procedure

After steaming, the workpieces are sent to the peeling machine. Here the log is clamped like in a lathe in two centers and begins to rotate around an axis. A knife the width of the entire length of the log begins to remove the veneer. This procedure is similar to unwinding a roll of paper. Only instead of paper you get a veneer sheet 1-1.4 mm thick. In the production of high-quality plywood, it is necessary that the veneer be of the same thickness along the entire length of the segment.

How is plywood made in a factory? Construction blog

Tell me, dear “Synthesis-Audio,” a colleague knitted his eyebrows the other day, “Why is such a bandura - sawn veneer - veneer, not solid wood?” Why peeled - I understand, but sawn - a centimeter board. Why is this veneer?

The most logical answer would be: because sprats, but I decided not to be rude, but to write a small educational article about plywood and veneer.

About why acoustic plywood is not exactly the kind of plywood that is used to quickly fill holes in the wall. And most importantly, about what your wonderful guitar with veneered sides, dear reader, has in common with the telephone of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin.

Later, plywood was widely used during the period of antiquity, and with the fall of the Roman Empire, when the center of civilization suddenly and immediately moved to modern Europe, it was forgotten. Europe is rich in wood, and there was no point in the new masters of the world - the recent barbarians - to contrive and come up with a cover for their need. This Englishman, Samuel Bentham, remembered her.

Who, of course, lived half his life in Russia. And in the Crimean War he got very rich with his dynamite. I'm telling you, it's rock.

Let's figure out what these incomprehensible words about peeling, planing, and sawing mean. It all starts with the manufacturer going in search of a suitable wood supplier. It would seem, what difference does it make what thin wood sheets are made from? But at least from waste aspen? Why not?

But that's why. Because the peculiarities of the veneering process do not allow the use of wood that has too many tangled fibers and knots, which will subsequently crumble. It is possible from birch, but not from oak, from linden - yes, but from ash - yes, but it is more difficult.

Since we're talking about acoustic plywood, let's remember what kind of veneered guitars manufacturers offer us.

Here are the Izhevsk Jovial, the characteristics of which clearly indicate that both their decks and bodies are made of birch plywood.

Here is the famous hit - Yamaha C40. What did the manufacturers want to say when they wrote in the specifications that the soundboard of this guitar is laminated with spruce, and the sides and bottom are made of mahogany? Why is it written about laminate, but not a word about the origin of plywood?

How is plywood made? Manufacturing technology and equipment

Linden logs are relatively easy to cut into veneer - the sheets are smooth and neat, they do not crack or bend.

Expert opinion

Strebizh Viktor Fedorovich, leading construction foreman

Each type of wood used has its own performance characteristics, so different materials are made from different types of wood. If you want to clarify something, please contact me!

Stages of plywood production

Factory production of different types of plywood is slightly different at some stages, but the basic technological process of its production remains the same.

There are the following production stages:

• Wood preparation.
• Veneer preparation.
• Gluing veneer into sheets.
• Application of protective and facing coating.

Harvesting wood to produce plywood

For the production of plywood, veneers from hardwood and coniferous wood are used. For outer layers they prefer birch, less often hornbeam, poplar, beech and alder. The price of birch veneer in the purchase of material is the cheapest, which is why it has gained such popularity among manufacturers. Hornbeam, poplar, beech and alder are considered expensive materials, which is why they are used for the production of veneer for individual orders. The inner layer is often made from coniferous trees due to the good strength and low cost of purchasing this wood.

The delivered material is first calibrated on a special machine. All excess, knots and bark are removed, resulting in an even circle on the cut in relation to the center of the wood. Long logs are cut into identical logs and sent to the cooking stage.

A log softened in water lends itself more easily to machine blades, this speeds up the cutting process several times and maintains the pliability of the material for a long time.

Substances can be added to water to give future products additional properties. As soon as the wood is evenly saturated with moisture, it is sent to the veneer manufacturing stage.

Veneer manufacturing and finishing procedure

Veneer for plywood production

The prepared logs are loaded into special installations, fixing them between three rollers, and sheets or veneer strip are cut using blades. The rollers simultaneously fix and rotate the logs at a given speed. The dimensions are determined depending on the technical characteristics of the peeling machine and the size of the finished product. The sheets are stacked, and the tape is wound into a roll.

Next, the veneer is loaded into a format-cutting machine, from which a strip is released and cut into sheets of the required sizes using knives. The entire process is automatic and configured by the machine operator.

Drying is carried out in special enclosed rooms with automatic temperature control. They try to distribute hot air unevenly in order to divide the drying into several successive stages. Rolls or sheets are suspended and moved along a multi-deck roller system. This allows the drying process to be carried out as efficiently as possible while complying with all time restrictions. The moisture content of the veneer should be from 4 to 6%.

After drying, the veneer undergoes quality control inspection. Inspectors and workers remove all defective areas, and the sheets are sorted according to the required size and moisture content. The finished element is sent to the plywood production workshop.

Plywood production workshop

Material characteristics

Wood plywood is made by gluing very thin sheets of wood (veneer) together. This material is easily amenable to various processing, both thermal and mechanical; it can be painted with paint and varnishes of any kind. It is worth noting that plywood harmonizes very well with any other material, which designers successfully use. Veneer, as plywood is otherwise popularly called, has the following characteristics:

1. It has a layered woody structure.
2. To produce the material, veneer sheets with a thickness of 2-4 mm are used; as a result, the thickness of the plywood sheet can reach from 4 to 32 mm.
3. The quality of construction plywood depends on the type of veneer, which can be natural or tinted. Natural veneer is more durable, stronger, environmentally friendly and safer.
4. It has very good thermal conductivity and environmental friendliness, in which it is superior to chipboard, fiberboard and MDF.
5. The ratio of performance indicators and production costs of plywood is higher than that of metal or plastic.
6. It is quite light in weight and easily tolerates temperature changes.

What it is?

What do stretch ceilings or wallpaper do first?

Laminated plywood is plywood that is not afraid of water and is resistant to mechanical damage thanks to a special protective shell covering it on the outside. The inner layers, like regular plywood, are made of several layers of glued and pressed veneer (thin sections of tree trunks from 1 to 10 mm thick), fiberboard or a combination of these materials. To impart increased moisture resistance, veneer layers can also be impregnated with water-repellent compounds.

Typically, the technology for creating laminated plywood involves the following:

• veneer layers are impregnated with waterproof and adhesive compounds and joined by hot pressing (pressure from 13 to 30 kg/cm², temperature – 130° C);
• the surface of the resulting plywood sheet is sanded and a laminating film is applied using a thermal method;
• The ends of laminated plywood are protected with an acrylic compound; sometimes they are also laminated, but this greatly increases the cost of the material.

Useful tips

Before you start bending plywood, read this useful information:

1. Transverse fibers are more difficult to bend than longitudinal ones.
2. The humidity of the rooms in which you plan to store bent plywood sheets should be low - no more than 10%.
3. Steamed and soaked workpieces bend more easily when warm.
4. The thicker the plywood, the more difficult it is to bend.
5. It is easier to bend plywood in which the veneer layers are located parallel to each other.
6. Do not overexpose the plywood in water, it may delaminate. To find out the exact time required to steam plywood of a specific thickness, you can use an experimental workpiece. Soak it and check the condition every 3-5 minutes.
7. It is still recommended to bend very complex and voluminous structures in specialized workshops.

Professional tips for laying plywood

Working with this material has its own specifics and a number of features, starting from the selection of sheets and ending with their laying and grinding. Even experienced craftsmen will benefit from a selection of professional tips that will help prevent mistakes when choosing material and laying plywood on the floor:

• It is advisable to avoid contact of 4 sheets in one place.
• Correctly calculate the width of the step between the logs: it should be 0.5 m of the side of the square.
• When laying plywood as a base under a laminate/parquet board, take the thickness of the sheets less than the thickness of the final coating.
• If you use non-moisture resistant plywood, do not forget to put a layer of waterproofing.
• Self-tapping screws should be 2.5-3 times longer than the thickness of the sheet.
• Plywood cannot be laid in rooms with a high percentage of humidity, including moisture-resistant ones.

The video shows how to lay plywood on the floor:

Historical information about plywood

Archaeological excavations have proven that the creation of the first plywood sheets dates back to the 15th century BC. Their creation began in Ancient Egypt. Later, the masters of Ancient Greece and Rome began to use the veneering method.

Plywood was a material for the production of household items; furniture was made from it. Over time, the Romans expanded the use of individual thin wood slices, which were subsequently used to decorate various objects.

At that time, plywood was made by hand, using various compounds of natural origin as glue. It is worth noting that from those times to the present day, resins have been the basis of glue.

In the 18th century, the first machines appeared on which plywood was made, and in the twenties of the 20th century, the first standard plywood sheet format was released.