The Manufacturing

of Plywood

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Eng: Erasmo Reyes Perez.

Steps
Selecting the Log
Stripping the Bark
Peeling the Log
Making a Continuous Ribbon of Wood
Cutting and Stacking
Gluing the Wood
Pressing the Wood
Trimming, Sanding, and Finishing
Conclusion to the Manufacturing of
Plywood

Selecting the long

Plywood is made from
several different species
of trees.
The first step in the
manufacturing process of
plywood is the selecting
of the logs. The logs that
are selected are chosen
for their straightness and
roundness.

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Stripping the Bark

The selected logs are
then stripped of their
bark. According to the
following picture, the logs
are fed in from the right
by chain conveyors. The
logs are going to be
stripped so therefore,
they are rotated by ridged
wheels as the cutting
head on the track
reverses the log from end
to end.

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PEELING THE LOG

The next step of the

manufacturing process is
peeling the log. The log
sections, which show the
marks of the debarking knives,
are fed into the lathe loader
where the log revolves around
on a huge lathe against a long
cutter blade which is reduced
to a 6-inch core or sawed into
lumber or chipped (44). The
following illustration shows the
operation of the peeler.

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MAKING A CONTINUOUS
RIBBON OF WOOD
Following the peeler
process, the next step in
the manufacturing
process of plywood is
taking the logs and
making them into a
continuous ribbon of
wood. The cutting edge
of the lathe is forced
against the spinning log.
The wood is unwound in a
continuous ribbon varying
in thickness depending on
how its used

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CUTTING AND STACKING

The standard size for the

pieces of wood to be cut is 4 X
8. The thickness of the
plywood will be determined
later when the sheets are
glued and pressed together to
a varying thickness of which
to is the most common.
As the sheet emerges from the
peeler it is scanned
automatically and then it is
stacked green and is prepared
for the transferring to the
drying ovens

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GLUING THE WOOD

The next step in making

plywood is the gluing of the
plies together in order to
determine the desirable
thickness of the plywood
sheet. Modern methods of
manufacturing use synthetic
plastics such as urea resins or
phenol-formaldehyde for
bonding the plies together.
These glues are mixed
mechanically and then spread
on alternate layers of lumber
by passing between pairs of
grooved metal or hard rubber
rollers

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PRESSING THE WOOD

The following step in
manufacturing process is
the procedure of pressing
the glued sheets together
to a desired thickness.
One example of a hot
press machine.

Hydraulic or pneumatic
presses squeeze the
plies together with heat
and pressure or with just
pressure only. When
heat is used the glue
hardens within a few
minutes. The glue
solidifies as the plies are
pressed together; and
once the pressure is
released, the boards are
considered dry .

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TRIMMING, SANDING, AND

FINISHING
Lastly the sheets have to go through a process that gets
them ready to be shipped out for market. This processes
involves trimming, sanding and finishing the sheets. This
process also takes the sheets down to the proper size that
is desirable to the consumer. This is what makes the final
smooth edges that are seen in the modern lumberyard.
The finished panels of plywood are then divided into two
groups indicating whether they are for interior or exterior
use. Plywood may carry a quality grade, which is
indicated with the letters A through C, with A being the
highest quality. This grade is based on requirements set
by U.S. Commercial Standard CS - (35-36) (Wood 468).

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CONCLUSION TO THE
MANUFACTURING OF PLYWOOD
These are the steps of the manufacturing process of
plywood from the original type of tree chosen, clear to
the completed sheets of plywood stamped and ready to
be shipped to your local hardware stores and lumber
yards. This process shows how the plywood, which the
customer buys, comes from a variety of different tree
species. It also shows the mechanics of how the
plywood you buy is made into widths, lengths and a
variety of different thicknesses depending on the use of
the material. Hopefully, this illustrates the process of
how a tree is manufactured into the plywood that is
found in a local lumberyard.

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