Best Quality Structural Plywood & Timber Veneers for Your Projects that Meet Stringent Specification

Timber veneer is real wood that has been thinly sliced. It provides the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly method of utilising timber and wooden products. A timber veneer has more than forty times the surface coverage of a 35 mm thick timber. The thickness of timber veneer used in Australia and New Zealand is typically between 0.5 mm and 0.85 mm. This naturally occurring and renewable resource competes with nonrenewable commodities such as steel, plastic, iron, and aluminium. Decorative timber veneer is made by slicing or peeling selected logs of wood to a thickness of about 0.6 mm.

The rotary cut timber veneer has a very broad appearance, whereas the quarter cut has a straight line pattern. Slicing the timber veneer at right angles to the growth rings produces a quarter cut.

Crown cut is a popular method of decorating timber veneers that is obtained by slicing the timber parallel to the growth rings. This cutting method produces a crown or cathedral figure, typically with a straight grain pattern on either side of the crown.

How are timber veneers joined?

Timber veneers can be joined in many ways. Some common methods of joining timber veneer are described below:

Book matched: The leaves of the timber veneer are alternatively folded out, providing it with opening like the centre of the book. This arrangement of joining timber veneer leaf results in a mirror image of the leaf.

Slip matched: The veneers are simply laid side by side, resulting in the repetition of the figure pattern.

Reversed slip matching: Each alternate sheet is reversed and to end. This method of joining timber veneers is often used with crown cut veneers.

End match: Two consecutive leaves of the veneers are book matched, and the next two are flipped, creating a four-piece end match.

Mismatch or random match: Individual leaves of the timber veneer are random matched. This method is often used for knotty veneers, and done by the woodworkers to dispense clusters of knots more evenly across the sheet.

Decorative timber veneers are available in many finishes at Matilda Veneer. These are:

Good Two Sides: It is used for the projects that need finishing on both sides, as both sides are seen, such as doors, windows, and shelves.

Down Grade Back (DGB): One face of the veneer is polished while the second one has a lower grade of the same species to back the sheet.

Any Back: Also known as Back at Manufacturers Option (BAMO), this finishing is used to counteract sheet material. Any Back timber veneer is used in the projects where the back is unseen, such as ceiling panels and wall panels.

Structural plywood with long-term carrying performance

Structural plywood is typically used when strength and structural stability are more important than the face of the veneer. Structural plywood is used in projects that require long-term load carrying capacity. Machine stress-grading or in-grade analysis, where the product is manufactured to a strict specification, determines the structural properties of the timber plywood. Structural plywood specialists at Matilda Veneer determine various properties of the plywood, such as

• Bending strength
• Modulus of elasticity (MoE)
• Tension strength
• Shear strength, and
• Compression strength

This is done to ensure that what is received is of the highest quality and meets the specific requirements of the project. In addition to the above laboratory analysis, Matilda Veneer conducts ongoing in-mill verifications for the strength and stiffness properties of the structural plywood.

The ease of workability, uniformity of performance, and durability of structural plywood are all highly valued. Roofing substrates, flooring, and structural bracing are just a few of the applications for structural plywood. When structural plywood is exposed to moisture, such as for external cladding, it must be treated to a hazard class of at least H3.

The benefits of structural plywood

• It is resistant to heat, cold, and humidity
• Structural plywood has two times shear carrying capacity compared to timber veneer
• The plywood offers dimensional stability to a high degree
• Resistant to damage, corrosion, and chemicals
• Offers a high strength to stiffness to weight ratio
• Nails can be placed close to the panel edges of the plywood

Structural plywood often uses A-Bond or B-Bond adhesives. A-bond is made from phenol formaldehyde resin while B-bond uses melamine-urea-formaldehyde. Of the two types, A-bond is more resistant to water than B-bond.

Other than structural plywood, Matilda Veneer offers a wide range of timber veneer and plywood options, including enhanced veneer, sliced veneer, tuewood veneer, hoop pine plywood, birch plywood, rotary veneer, Fireply X, and more. Matilda Veneer has a wide range of timber veneers, including quarter cut Amoora, crown cut White Ash, quarter cut Black Bean, quarter cut Tasmanian Blackwood, quarter cut Grey Ironbark, quarter cut Queensland maple, and many others.