Products
Tradewinds will be a veneer manufacturing plant. Veneer is a thin sheet or “ply” of wood. Veneers can generally be divided into two types: decorative and utility. In the case of Tradewinds, we will start producing utility grade thick veneer for use in plywood and laminated veneer lumber (LVL).
There are two basic methods for making veneer: rotary cutting and slicing. Tradewinds will use rotary cutting. This type of veneer is produced by centering the log in a lathe where the block is turned against a broad cutting knife which is set against the log at a slight angle. The lathe peels the log into a ribbon of wood ranging from paper thin to as much as 1/6 of an inch. Tradewinds will produce mostly 1/8th” thick veneer.
Veneers have been used for centuries in a wide variety of applications, such as boat building, sporting goods, decorative furniture and lamps and musical instruments.
Most veneer of the quality manufactured by Tradewinds will be used in either plywood or LVL.
Plywood and LVL
Plywood is the term for multiple layers of veneer placed at right angles, glued and put under pressure to form a single panel. Plywood is manufactured in thicknesses ranging from three to seven ply. The most common sizes for plywood in the US are ½” or ¾” thickness. Plywood panels are most commonly four feet wide by eight feet long, but for special uses may be as long as twelve feet.
Plywood is not a new idea—the ancient Egyptians used veneer and plywood in construction of furniture and sarcophagi (burial vaults). The Chinese and Romans also used veneer and plywood. Plywood is used for sheathing houses, siding, truck beds, shipping container floors, concrete forms, cabinets and furniture. It is estimated that 80% of all household and office furniture contains hardwood plywood.
Plywood is a natural product made from renewable resources. Pound for pound, plywood is stronger than steel in static bending strength. Plywood is durable. Museums throughout the world house examples of ancient plywood furniture and decorative veneers hundreds of years old. Plywood panels are not subject to warping or twisting, so they are more stable than conventional lumber of similar dimensions.
The major use for our veneer is LVL, laminated veneer lumber, the most widely used structural composite lumber product. LVL is made much the same way as plywood, with the main difference being that all the plies are running in the same direction and the overall thicknesses are much greater. The veneer plies are bonded into a unit called a “billet,” a solid panel four feet wide by two to four inches thick. Billets can be produced in virtually any length. Billets are then cut to whatever dimensions are desired.
LVL is in high demand because it is completely stable—it does not warp, twist or bend. LVL uses less raw material to achieve the same strength as dimensional lumber and can use smaller trees. LVL is used for weight-bearing beams and headers, silent floor joists, and hip and valley rafters.
LVL is also extensively used for the flange material in pre-fabricated wood I-joists. To get the same strength and load bearing quality from solid wood requires much larger dimension lumber.
Want to know more?
Hardwood Plywood & Veneer Association
P O Box 2789
Reston, Virginia 20195
703 435-2900
http://hpva.org/
American Plywood Association
7011 So. 19th
Tacoma, WA 98466
http://www.apawood.org