How Is Plywood Made?

Almost everyone has heard of plywood, but do you know how it's made? Of course, you probably know that the basic principle of plywood is that it consists of three or more thin layers of wood bonded together with an adhesive.

What are the processes involved in making our premium plywood?

At Treezo, we go from particle board to plywood, so we thought it would be interesting to go into detail about the process behind the scenes. It all starts with the trees. The trees used to make plywood are usually smaller than those used to make other types of wood, such as lumber, and plywood can be made from hardwood trees such as maple, poplar, and birch, as well as softwood trees such as radiata pine, hoop pine, and Lawan.

  Basswood Plywood

The next step in this amazing process entails making the wood veneer. The chipping blocks must be heated and soaked to soften the wood, either by steaming them or by immersing them in hot water, a process that takes 12-20 hours depending on the type of wood and many other characteristics. The heated blocks are transferred to the chipping lathe, where they are fed one at a time. The lathe rapidly rotates the blocks and the blades peel off successive veneers from the surface.

Now that we have the veneer, you can choose to process it immediately, store it in a multi-layer pallet or wind it onto a roll. The next step from here entails cutting the veneer to a usable width. In this step, the optical scanner searches for sections with unacceptable defects and cuts them out. But for plywood. The veneers will then be stacked according to grade, which can be done manually. Finally, the sorted slices are dried to remove moisture.

  Fire-Proof Plywood     

We have finished the veneer, so it is time to start having fun. The process of laying and gluing the components is now underway, which must be done manually or semi-automatically with the help of a machine. In the case of a three-ply panel, the back veneer is laid flat and passed through the spreader and the glue is applied to the upper surface. The short pieces of core veneer will be laid crosswise and the whole veneer will be passed through the spreader a second time. The finish will then be laid on top of the glued core.

Things start to heat up as we move into the tighter stages of the process. Sheets are loaded into the heat press, which can handle an incredible 20-40 sheets at a time! Once all the sheets have been loaded, the press squeezes them together with enormous pressure and heats them up to around 110-157 degrees Celsius. It's worth noting that the press finishes after only 2-7 minutes.

Once they have unloaded the sheets, they are trimmed to their final length and width by means of a saw. The surface of the plywood will then be sanded by using a belt sander or spot sanded manually depending on the grade.

 Birch Plywood

Beautiful final plywood products

Finally, the plywood products are graded and then shipped to us. The final step in the plywood process occurs when our wonderful customers purchase their panels, or, if you are able, you are welcome to come and see us in person and take home your shiny new plywood.

Treezo Group is one of the largest manufacturers of boards, millwork, and so on products in China. Our corporate goal has always been to provide the healthy, environmental-friendly, and complete selection of building material products available in the marketplace today. If you want to get more information about types of plywood wholesale, welcome to contact us today or request a quote.