There are various alternatives to natural timber nowadays. This article concludes the discussion of a variety of boards, their advantages and disadvantages and also some suggested uses.
Chipboard
Chipboard forms the core of many kitchen units and is usually covered by melamine to make it more durable. It is made from wood particles held together by resin and pressing. It is usually quick thick as its mass and the outer laminate make up the integral strength together. Sometimes real wood veneers are used instead of foil laminates on the outside. If the outer laminate fails then it deteriorates when affected by damp.
Plywood
We are now getting to the more stable members of our board collection. Ply is different to the boards which have gone before as it is not merely particles held together by pressure, adhesive or both. Plywood is constructed from an odd number of veneers and is much more rigid in smaller thicknesses that the previous boards. This is because each alternate veneer runs at 90 degrees to the one before. This makes it much more resistant to warping. The adhesive used is resin. Marine ply uses waterproof resin and that makes it more suitable for use on board ships and in the garden. Some types of ply have a decent quality veneer on the outside and can be varnished. One needs to be very careful when sawing plywood as it has a tendency to splinter badly. When filing/sanding down the edges, it is best to rub towards the edge in one direction only, not in a back-and-forth motion which encourages more splintering.
Blockboard
Blockboard is the most expensive of the ones in this discussion. It is also the stiffest and most stable. The core is made from square-section lengths of softwood which are glued together. On the two plane surfaces they are covered by a veneer layer of plywood. Blockboard is used to make bookshelves which will not bend. It is also used in construction. It is heavy.
We have seen that there are many types of manufactured boards available. But none has the beauty, the patina, the quality of a well-polished piece of furniture made out of natural timber.
