In the following blog you’ll learn about the different commercial ways in which wood is delivered after it leaves the sawmill and arrives at the carpentry shops or specialized warehouses.
Sawn timber: Natural or solid versus pre-fabricated
To begin with, let’s remember what is sawn timber.
Sawn lumber is all wood that comes in whole pieces and is obtained from the tree trunk. In other words, sawn lumber is the final product of the wood procurement process.
After the felling process, the aim is to obtain products ready for carpenters and builders to buy.
The most common commercial products are: planks, boards, panels, laths, and moldings. However, these are not the only ones.
In addition, it would be good for you to keep in mind that these final products can be polished, that is, smoothed with polishing machines, which obviously increases their price. You can also find them unpolished or rough, which are cheaper.
In fact, this is how most carpenters buy them because they already have the polishing machine and other equipment in their workshops.
Below, we’ll describe each of these presentations. But as always, we recommend that you take a look at the blog on wood basics, where we describe key technical information to understand everything related to this material.
Commercial presentations of natural wood
Natural woods are those obtained directly from tree trunks.
The most common are:
- Strips.
- Boards.
- Sheets.
- Planks or boards.
Wooden strip
What is it?
Lumber is obtained by cutting a log into smaller sections.
In addition, these pieces can be square or rectangular in shape, but their size is always smaller than that of a board.
Dimensions
In general terms, they have the following dimensions:
Thickness: 3.5-5 cm.
Width: 4.5-6.5 cm.
Length: They are usually no longer than 8 cm.
However, in marquetry, there are often smaller strips.
Note: keep in mind that these measurements are only a guide because they usually depend on the manufacturer of the piece and also on the country where they are marketed.
Woods used to make them
Most of the time natural wood slats are made with Pine or Spruce wood and in some cases with Oakwood, the latter being more expensive.
Main uses
They are mainly used to finish corners and nooks, as well as to serve as supports for light structures such as drawers.
Wooden boards
What is it?
Planks are pieces of varying sizes that are extracted from the felled log.
Dimensions
The boards have the following dimensions:
Thickness: 1 to 6 cm.
Width: 16 to 50 cm
Length: variable, they can reach up to 2.5 meters.
Wood they are made of
When made of natural or solid wood, it is usually from pine and spruce wood.
However, they can be made of any wood.
Main uses
These boards are given all kinds of applications, but they are most commonly used in the manufacture of pallets, furniture, supports, and the construction of boat hulls, among others.
Wooden plank
What is it?
It is a larger board, sometimes it is the union of 2 boards glued at the edge, that is to say, its lateral end.
Dimensions
Thickness: between 7 and 12 cm.
Width: between 10 and 30 cm.
Length: Varies according to the use to be employed but can be up to 4 m long.
Main uses
In general, its applications are very similar to the ones of the boards.
Wooden panels
What are they?
The union of several boards at the edge is called a panel, therefore, this piece is characterized by having a large flat surface.
However, in technical terms, a panel is any large piece of wood that is made up of smaller pieces.
So, you may see a panel composed of veneers or, a panel composed of planks, etc.
In any case, the most common panels on the market are those made from boards and strips.
Dimensions
Remember there is no single size, but the standard is as follows:
Thickness: between 3 mm and 19 mm or 0.3 cm and 1.9 cm
Width: 2440 mm or 244 cm
Length: 1220 mm or 122 cm
On the other hand, the joints of the pieces are made by means of assemblies (joints), gluing or by applying pressure on the surfaces of the wood to be joined.
Here are some varieties of natural wood panels.
Wood moldings and profiles
What are they and what is their use?
Moldings are obtained by molding groups of strips to give them a more refined appearance and to be used for decorative purposes on ceilings, doors and walls.
For this purpose, the wood of good quality is needed as it must be flexible, but at the same time hard so that the machines do not crack it.
Dimensions
Thickness: between 14 and 27 mm or between 1.4 and 2.7 cm.
Width: between 60 and 120 mm or between 6 and 12 cm.
Length: between 2 and 3 m.
What kind of wood are they made of?
European ash wood is widely used for this purpose.
Round wood profiles
What are they?
Profiles are cylindrical-shaped pieces.
Dimensions
Diameter: between 2 and 50 mm
Length: from 8 to 10 cm.
Wood they are made of
You can find them in woods such as beech and balsa.
Main uses
They have generally the same applications as moldings.
Veneers or wood sheets
What are they?
These pieces are the result of unrolling the wood from the trunk by cutting it very thin and flat.
The process consists of rotating the log on a lathe and spinning it while a large blade falls on its surface. The wood then comes out in very thin layers or slices of the same length as the log, forming a sheet of veneer.
Pretend you are peeling an apple with a peeler or knife. The peel comes out in very thin layers, right? Well, the same thing happens with wood in this process.
Also, one thing to consider is that the rotary process can erase the natural grain or lines of the wood. Therefore, this process is only used to obtain veneers destined to cover floors or more demanding uses.
On the other hand, when veneers are made for decorative purposes, the process is no longer done on a lathe but on a flat surface, where the blade cuts the wood into thin slices, protecting the natural design of the wood.
Also, keep in mind that the vast majority of furniture, doors or parquets (floors) are not solid wood but veneered wood, that is, its frame is built with prefabricated wood or cheaper woods such as pine and covered with veneers of the finest woods (ash, oak, cherry) that are attached using glue under pressure.
Dimensions
Thickness: from 5 to 9 mm.
Width: between 25 and 40 cm.
Length: 2 to 3 m.
What kind of wood are they made of?
Commonly, they are made with fine woods such as oak, ash, cherry, chestnut, etc.
Main uses
Veneers are used to cover flooring and furniture surfaces. Also, in the construction of plywood boards, which are artificial boards generally marketed in sheets or rolls that are used to cover lower quality boards.
Plywood or plyboard
What is plywood?
They are pieces formed by joining several veneers glued one on top of the other. These veneers are glued and laid in perpendicular directions to maximize the joint and the strength of the piece.
In the panels, characteristics such as flexibility, hardness, durability, etc., depending on the wood they are made of.
For example, if we have a panel made with Pawlonia wood, it will be very resistant to fire because that is a property of that wood.
On the other hand, if it is made with Teak veneer, it will probably be very resistant to humidity.
Plywood is a piece with low density so it is light and very stable.
On the other hand, these boards are built because they are very flexible, resistant and have excellent workability,
Dimensions
Thickness: between 5 and 19 mm.
Width: between 220 and 240 cm.
Length: 120 cm.
Wood of which they are composed
Both the upper and lower layers are made of thin wood; the rest can be spruce or pine.
Uses
They are used in molding in order to make curved pieces used mainly in the manufacture of furniture, parts for car bodies and the elaboration of doors.
Prefabricated or artificial wood products
Now we will talk about prefabricated or artificial wood, which, unlike natural wood, is obtained in factories from mixtures of natural wood scraps.
For this purpose, materials such as the following are used:
- The bark of the tree.
- Branches.
- Wood shavings (residual material in the form of a curved sheet resulting from the wood planing process).
- Sawdust.
- Plastic
- Chemical binders.
Before continuing, let’s clarify some things, because, although prefabricated wood is inferior in quality when compared with natural wood, this does not mean that everything is disadvantageous with these woods, since, for example:
- They are much cheaper than natural wood and can be recycled, which may help decrease the demand for natural wood.
- Most of the time it is easier to work with prefabricated wood because it is more malleable than natural wood. Also, if you damage it in the process it will be much easier and cheaper to start over than if you had a solid piece of Cedar, for example.
- Those who work with prefabricated wood avoid having to treat it with varnishes and pesticides since they are already treated at the factory.
Finally, remember that every piece that can be made with natural wood has its equivalent in prefabricated wood, i.e. with these woods are also made boards, planks, boards, veneers, etc.
Now, let’s see which are the most conventional forms of prefabricated wood.
Prefabricated boards
These pieces are analogous to natural boards but in prefabricated timbers. They are usually made from sawdust or shavings of pine and spruce. This sawdust is compacted into blocks and once dry, it is divided into boards of the required sizes.
Blockboard
What is it?
A blockboard is nothing more than the union of several strips glued by its edge, that is to say, by its lateral ends.
Dimensions
Thickness: whatever you need.
Width: 240 cm.
Length: 120 cm.
Uses
This type of board is widely used in furniture manufacturing.
Multilayer board
What is a multilayer board?
It is a board made up of several laminated boards.
Dimensions
Thickness: 8 to 30 mm.
Width: 120 cm.
Length: 240 cm.
Uses
Generally used in construction, as they serve as structural support.
OSB Boards (Oriented Strand Board)
What are they and what are they made of?
They are pieces made of compacted and glued shavings. Although they are very strong, they are also very heavy.
The shavings are aligned or oriented in such a way that they are not interlocked so that the board has greater stability and compactness. Their appearance and texture resemble cork.
Dimensions
Thickness: 9.5 mm.
Width: 122 cm.
Length: 240 cm.
Uses
They stand out because they are economical. Mainly used as thermal insulators in construction.
Wooden chipboard
What are they and what are they made of?
They are pieces obtained from a pressing process (application of pressure by means of industrial plates) and a mixture of crushed wood particles glued with a synthetic resin that adheres to them.
To improve their appearance, they are covered with wood veneers such as pine.
They are also cheaper than solid wood board; they have good resistance to pest attacks and rarely splinter.
However, they suffer a lot from humidity, or rather, if they get wet they deform quickly and in many cases, the piece is lost.
To the touch, they have a rough and dry texture, although, the tonality remains uniform in the pieces.
Dimensions
These pieces are probably the ones that vary the most in their measurements because they depend a lot on the manufacturer, however, you can find them in the following sizes:
Thickness: between 3 and 70 mm.
Width: 2050 and 4000 mm.
Length: between 600 and 2000 mm.
Uses
Mainly used in the construction of interior furniture and thermal insulation panels.
Tablex
What is it and what does it consist of?
Finally, let’s talk about tablex wood.
In contrast to fiber wood, the wood waste used to make tablex boards is glued with natural resins that make them less thick and dense, making them lighter and more flexible. They have a rough texture to the touch, with solid colors.
Dimensions
Thickness: between 2 and 6 mm.
Width: between 1200 and 3600 mm.
Length: between 600 and 1300 mm.
Uses
In addition, they are very appreciated in construction and carpentry because they don’t splinter.
However, their appearance may be a problem as they appear synthetic, not at all similar to natural wood, and for this reason, they are almost always used to create cabinet bottoms, drawers and in general for structural uses of light products (or rather, they are used where they cannot be seen because they are not at all aesthetic).
They are also used in the manufacture of advertising boards because they resist well to humidity.
In conclusion, natural or solid woods are mainly used in interior carpentry, and in the manufacture of doors and window frames.
Also, these woods are used for decorative purposes.
Remember that these woods are fine (oak, cherry, beech) or of good quality (such as pine and spruce).
In contrast, prefabricated woods are mainly used for construction purposes.
However, with prefabricated woods, it is possible to make good quality furniture, not as fine as natural wood but durable.
Therefore, the first determining factor in choosing one or the other is the amount of money you want to invest and the particular utility for which you need them.