Our plywood products are manufactured from South American plantation forest timber, both hardwood and pine, and manufactured to the most stringent quality standards meeting all the international modular elasticity and strength requirements. Plywood types range from; marine ply; external ply, internal ply, form ply (film face) and bracing ply. Ply thicknesses vary with the various plywood products.
International pack sizes are approximately 900mm high therefore the number of sheets in a pack varies with each thickness.
Shipping pack sizes:
4.0 mm 225 sheets per pack
4.5 mm 200 sheets per pack (marine quality only)
5.2 mm 173 sheets per pack (underlay only)
5.5 mm 163 sheets per pack (Virola only)
6.0 mm 150 sheets per pack
9.0 mm 100 sheets per pack
10 mm 90 sheets per pack
12 mm 75 sheets per pack
15 mm 60 sheets per pack
16 mm 56 sheets per pack
18 mm 50 sheets per pack
20 mm 45 sheets per pack
21 mm 43 sheets per pack
22 mm 41 sheets per pack
24 mm 37 sheets per pack
25 mm 36 sheets per pack
The grade of the plywood is related to the quality of the glue used in bonding the sheets and also the quality of facing veneer. Marine ply and External Ply are bonded using A Bond Phenolic glue.
Veneer Cutting Methods and Veneer Characteristics:
The two main products produced from veneer are Plywood and Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL). Veneers are also used to cover lower grade wood or wood products such as particleboard to improve appearance. These veneers are either peeled or sliced, depending on the desired grain appearance.
To ensure that our clients get exactly what they are expecting, we offer the following information that will eliminate any confusion with terminology of veneer pattern.
Veneer is usually made from hardwoods. The most common veneer, Rotary Veneer, is manufactured from large diameter logs, called peeler logs. The debarked and steamed log is placed in a lathe, with a sharp blade against it, and is “unpeeled” – rather like unwinding a toilet roll. Veneer thickness peeled varies but goes down to as thin as 0.6 mm. Peeling may be pursued until a core of about 90 mm (3.5 inches) diameter is left, and this core is then chipped with the waste wood. Alternatively, the log may just be reduced to the core diameter suitable for sawn lumber.
The resulting lengths are then green-clipped (by an in-line guillotine) into fractions:
Suitable only for waste
Suitable for (inner) core stock
Of Intermediary quality (sheering grade)
The best fraction (‘A’ Grade face stock)
The appropriate sandwich is then laid up from numerous glued strips of veneer (each at 90° to the 2 adjacent strips), the whole hot platen pressed and dried, and finally trimmed to size.
Wood Veneer Cutting Methods and Veneer Characteristics:
The manner in which veneers are cut is an important factor in producing the various visual effects obtained. Two logs of the same specie, but with their veneers cut differently, will have entirely different visual characteristics even though their colours may be similar.
In veneer manufacture, five principal methods of cutting veneers are used.
Rotary Peeling:
The log is mounted centrally in the lathe and turned against a razor sharp blade. The result is like unwinding a roll of paper. Since the cut follows the log’s annular growth rings, a bold variegated grain marking is produced. Rotary peeled veneer is exceptionally wide. The grain pattern does not match that typically found in solid wood.
Quarter Cut:
The quarter log or flitch is mounted on the guide plate so that the growth rings of the log strike the knife at approximately right angles producing a series of stripes, straight in some woods and varied in others.
Crown Cut or Flat Slicing:
The half log or flitch is mounted with the heart side against the guide plate of the slicer and the slicing is done parallel to a line through the centre of the log. This produces a variegated figure.
Half-Round Slicing:
Half-Round slicing is a variation of rotary cutting in which segments or flitches of the log are mounted off centre in the lathe. This method results in a cut similar to a crown cut but slightly across the annular growth rings and visually shows modified characteristics of both rotary and plain sliced veneers. Generally produces a wide heart with reduced quarter grain on the sides of the crown.
Rift-Cut Slicing:
Rift cut veneer is produced in the various species of oak. Oak has medullary ray cells which radiate from the centre of the log like the spokes of a wheel. The rift or comb grain effect is obtained by cutting at an angle of about 15 degrees off the quartered position to avoid the flake figure of the medullary rays.
The best choices for the exterior are either a plain-sliced or quarter-sliced veneer. Both of these are cut in a straight line, duplicating the figure of sawn lumber. Rotary slicing involves centring the log in a lathe and turning it against a broad cutting knife.
Rotary-sliced veneer plywood looks the least like solid lumber. The veneer is peeled off the perimeter of the log, producing a wavy pattern that doesn’t exist in solid wood.
Plain-sliced veneer plywood is a better choice. The veneer is sliced as plain-sawn lumber would be, giving the look of solid wood. It is often book-matched at its seams.
Quarter-sliced veneer looks like quartersawn lumber. Both are sliced parallel to the growth rings. Quartersawn oak plywood with book-matched ray flecks has added appeal.
Flitches “Sticked” Ready for Shipment & Variety of Species and Sizes:
We welcome any enquiry from genuine buyer willing to enter into long term contract.