What I know about Wood and Manufactured Boards

Wood

Timber is avaliable in different forms.

There are hardwoods, softwoods or manufactered boards.

Hardwoods come from decidious trees, they shed their leaves each autumn. They tend to bear fruit and are very slow growing. This makes them more expensive and slower to manufacture.

Softwoods come from evergreen trees, they don't shed their leaves at all. They often have fir cones and grow much faster. They are lots cheaper and readily avaliable.

Manufactured boards

Plywood - Skateboards, chairs

• Layers of wood (plys) put on top of each other with the grain at right angles to the previous ply
• generally stronger due to this
• often laminated with beech
• lightweight
• comes in different thicknesses

Chipboard - Tables, worktops

• Chips of wood and resin squashed into shape
• uses waste wood
• different thicknesses avaliable
• often laminated with melamine
• swells if it gets wet and goes out of shape

Sterling Board - Temporary boarding up

• large chips and resin squashed together
• weaker
• Cheap
• temporary

HardBoard - Bottom of drawers, back of wardrobes

• resin and fibres pressed into sheets
• less fibres than MDF
• weak
• has a rough side and a smooth side
• stronger than cardboard but weaker than most manufactured boards

MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard) - Worktops, cheap furniture

• Resin and fibres pressed into sheets
• Urea Formaldehyde is the resin used to bond fibres
• dangerous when cut or sanded - dust cells hook onto lungs or into eyes
• mask and goggles should be worn if being worked with often

Blockboard - Shelves

• Strips of wood stips placed side by side
• heavier
• can splinter
• gaps between strips/layers
• rougher finish
• stronger than plywood but not as nice

Hexaboard - temporary flooring

• embossed with hexagon shaped tred
• grippy
• strong
• temporary