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Even for board manufacturers and distributors, many industry professionals find it difficult to clearly explain the differences between various boards in terms of their advantages and disadvantages. This article summarizes the processes, advantages, disadvantages, and uses of various boards, hoping to provide some assistance.
◎ MDF
Other names: fiberboard
Process: It is a type of engineered wood product made from wood fiber or other plant fiber as raw material, which is crushed and then coated with ursaldehyde resin or other suitable adhesives.
Advantages: Smooth and flat surface; not easily deformed; easy to process; good surface decoration.
Disadvantages: Poor nail-holding power; heavy weight, making planing difficult; swells and warps when exposed to water; lacks wood grain on the surface; poor environmental friendliness.
Applications: Suitable for use in display cases, painted cabinet doors, etc. Not suitable for applications with large widths.
◎ Particleboard
Other names: Particleboard, bagasse board, microfiber board, crushed material board
Process: It is a type of artificial board made by cutting raw materials such as wood into fragments of a certain size, drying them, mixing them with adhesives, hardeners, and waterproofing agents, and pressing them at a certain temperature.
Advantages: Good sound absorption and insulation; strong nail holding power; good lateral load-bearing capacity; smooth surface, resistant to aging; suitable for painting and various veneers; inexpensive.
Disadvantages: Prone to chipping during board cutting, making on-site fabrication difficult; extremely poor strength; granular internal structure, making milling difficult; high density.
Uses: Chandeliers, general furniture; not suitable for making large pieces of furniture.
◎ Multi-layer board
Other names: plywood, veneer
Process: A three- or multi-layered board material made by rotary cutting wood segments into veneers or slicing wood squares into thin wood and then gluing them together with adhesive. Usually, an odd number of veneer layers are used, and the fiber directions of adjacent veneer layers are glued together perpendicular to each other. The face veneer and inner veneer are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the core layer.
Advantages: Lightweight; not easily deformed; easy to install; low coefficient of shrinkage and expansion, good waterproof performance.
Disadvantages: Production costs are relatively high compared to other types of boards.
Applications: Such as panels for cabinets, wardrobes, tables, and chairs; interior decoration, such as ceilings, wainscoting, and floor linings.
◎ Plywood
Other names: blockboard, plywood, woodworking board, Malacca board
Process: It is made of two veneers (one or two layers on the top and bottom) glued and pressed together with a spliced wooden board in the middle.
Advantages: Lightweight; easy to process; good nail-holding power; high strength; strong stability; simple processing.
Disadvantages: The surface is relatively rough; one needs to be careful as the factory may cut corners during production, to prevent inconsistent wood strip materials or even the use of scraps.
Applications: Suitable for furniture, door and window frames, partitions, holiday decorations, radiator covers, curtain boxes, and other applications requiring sufficient structural strength in environments with relatively stable humidity and temperature. Avoid use in bathrooms.
◎ Finger joint board
Other names: engineered wood
Process: This refers to the vertical splicing of narrow and short wooden strips using adhesive (often with toothed joints), which is made of multiple wooden boards. No additional plywood is glued on top or bottom. Because the vertical wooden boards use a sawtooth joint, it is similar to the interlocking of two fingers.
Advantages: The surface can be directly coated with clear varnish; it has a natural wood grain texture; it is affordable; and it is relatively environmentally friendly.
Disadvantages: Poor waterproof performance; the board itself has a high moisture content, making it prone to deformation.
Uses: Generally used for decorative shapes or furniture frames; not suitable for wardrobes and cabinets.
Comparison of glue usage on boards
It's easy to see that the smaller the "volume" of wood in a board, the more glue is used: finger-jointed board < plywood < particleboard < MDF.
As the old saying goes, "Whether a board is environmentally friendly depends on the amount of glue used." Having talked so much about boards, there's one more I forgot to mention: eco-friendly boards, also known as melamine boards or paint-free boards.
The core material of eco-friendly boards can be of many types: particleboard, chipboard, plywood, etc. Therefore, the environmental performance of eco-friendly boards mainly depends on the material of the core material. It is essential to understand the core material when purchasing eco-friendly boards.
Eco-friendly organic board
Environmental standards can reach E0 level.
Formaldehyde content: 0.2 mg/L
These are most of the boards used in home decoration projects! It's hard to see the internal structure of boards after they've been veneered, so you have to be extra careful when choosing them, especially for furniture like bedroom wardrobes and tatami mats. If your budget allows, be sure to choose boards with a higher level of environmental protection.