Design Solutions - Summer 2008 - (Page 53) Plywood is three or more layers of wood or wood products laminated into a single sheet. These layers can and do include particleboard, fiberboard, and other products. Combination core panels, for example, often use both layers of veneers and formed panels of particleboard. ConStruCtIon BalanCe The key to good performing panels is balanced construction, that is, the same materials and finishes on both sides of the central core material. While three is the minimum number of layers, there will always be an odd number – 3, 5, 7, 9, etc. This is required to balance the laminations around the core. From time to time you will hear the term faces applied to veneered panels. This term refers to the decorative layers on the outside of the panel, the ones your client will see when the panels hang on the job. 1. Species Selection The selection of a wood species, color, grain and figure is one of the most enjoyable parts of a veneer paneling project. Design professionals need little or no help in this area. In any case, the wide range of veneers available for fine architectural woodworking is staggering. None of us can be expected to know everything there is to know about every available species. It’s estimated there are about 900 different veneer species and cuts in stock in the marketplace at any one time. The selection and specification process is even more difficult because those 900 are a portion of thousands of potential veneers and the stock condition is always changing. As a result, the look you achieved on that project eight months ago may NOT be available for your current project. The look of the quartered Anegre samples you are seeing today will almost surely not look the same as that species when you specified it for a law offices project back in 2005. Every tree is different, every flitch is different, even individual leaves within a flitch are different. Buying veneer is different from buying HPDL or paint. The second part of the Big 5 is the selection of the cut of the veneer. Both solid lumber and veneers may be cut from the log a number of ways - each with a recognizable resulting appearance. The most common type of veneer slicing is called Plain or Flat Slicing. That beautiful cathedral effect you’ve come to expect in fine Walnut or Cherry is a result of plain slicing. The leaves are wider than Quartered or Rift. Quarter slicing, on the other hand, will almost always have a finer grain figure. In some wood species, like Maple, quartering results in a very “vanilla” appearance, almost eliminating the beauty of natural wood. The term Rift is most appropriate for Red and White Oak. When Oaks are quarter sliced, they often exhibit the outstanding flake or ray figure sometimes called “Tiger Oak” on antique furniture. If that flake figure is not desired, the log is sliced on a lathe to create Rift characteristics. Face Veneer Particleboard Core Balancing Face Veneer the “BIg 5” For SuCCeSS Faces are the part of the panel which require the most thought during the selection and specification process. There are five elements to every fine wood veneer paneling project. Each one requires selection and specification – none can be overlooked – if we are to succeed as design professionals and woodwork manufacturers. Figure 200-11, page 43, Quality Standards Illustrated summer 2008 I DESIGN SOLUTIONS 53 How to Produce a Veneer Paneling Project S o , P ly w o o d I S . . . The Big 5 are: 1 - Species Selection 2 - Cut of the Veneer 3 - Arrangement between leaves of veneer 4 - Fabrication within a single panel face 5 – Relationship of panels in a room – panel-to-panel Each of these elements, in order, will be examined one at a time. 2. Plain, Quartered or rift?
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