Pine laminated boards

[tim]

Does anyone have experience of these?

As detailed in the Eden's catalogue:

Our Pine Laminated Panels are a superior production in two species with lamels 43mm or 56mm wide. They are flawlessly edge glued throughout the panel
with a type D3 glue for interior use in accordance with BSEN 204. The ideal material for making low cost worktops, cupboard doors and many kinds of
solid pine furniture

Comes in 18mm thickness in 2500x600mm boards


I have been asked to make a set of furniture for a bedroom - wardrobe, wall cabinets and bookcase with fold down desk. The customer wants pine and I'm trying to find an economical way of making up all the door panels and the wardrobe carcase so that I can keep the budget down. This seems like a potentially good choice.

What do you think?

Cheers

Tim

 

[Adam]

I've used this stuff to make both some free standing shelves, and some resting on supports. It's OK to use, it seemed fairly stable in use so far, I've seen no evidence of twist or warp (you wouldn't expect any either, given its made of smaller strips. glued together, I'm guessing they reverse the grain)

The stuff I used didn't really have what I'd call a "good finish", despite being described as "pre-sanded". The stuff I bought was individually wrapped in air-tight plastic, although it had riped in places. Despite this, I had no problems with it.

I selected mine myself from Champions, and it was possibly a much poorer grade than you are suggesting as it had plenty of knots, so I spent some time picking through them all to find the best.

Adam

 

[radicalwood]

Hi Tim,
I have use a simular product to this to make my bedroom furniture, " stand alone wardrobes, blanket chest, draws and some built in units. The wood seems to be stable and there has been no movement that I can see. I agree with Adam needs a good sand to get a good finish. built mine about 3 years ago. Good stuff to use and cuts down on glue up of panels.

All the best

Neil

 

[Pete W]

It's OK to use, it seemed fairly stable in use so far, I've seen no evidence of twist or warp

Agreed, but I have had a couple of boards cup a little, and I've had one that I was able to snap by hand along a glue line.

As Adam says, it's probably worth a bit of careful selection if you can.

 

[Joe90]

Hi
I use pine panels all the time and the quality is variable. I have had major problems with some suppliers. Many panels are pre sanded to 120 grit and if stored in less than optimum conditions they will degrade further and get rougher.

Problems can be many and varied including... sap streaks, loose knots, saw marks on the individual lamallae (spelling?) which is a disaster, glue joints failing, shakes... :x , i hate shakes... (surface of timber not joined to underneath, difficult to see before finishing, best method to find is to lightly rub your hand over the entire piece and listen for a 'whispering' noise), variable thickness!, industrial fillers! and probably even more problems.
They cannot be stored in humid conditions or they will be destroyed... they must be stored flat and wrapped in plastic and weighed down if possible.

But it's not all bad news... as i say some manufacturers do have much higher quality standards. And I buy in bale lots of 50 or so panels so they are unhandled and well wrapped, this gives the best chances of good panels. Also buy the best grade as it is more or less the same price. (+10% max) but there is no standardised grading system.

A big manufacturer in the UK as far as I know is Northwest Forest Products...

Cheers so
Joe

 

[woodbloke]

Tim - I used this stuff last summer to make bedroom stuff, got my panels wrapped in plastic sheeting from B&Q. If you're unlucky it's proper bendy wood, the stuff I got stayed reasonably flat but other boards got banana syndrome. It' supposed to be sanded, which it is but it looks about finished to 80g, so some work needed to bring it to an acceptable standard. For all that its reasonably priced and does make up into fairly decent solid wood furniture but it's a bit of a lotto. Finished my pieces with matt acrylic varnish - Rob

 

[Scott]

Hi Tim

I've used quite a few for wardrobes, built in cupboard doors etc. I've had them from various manufacturers and some are better than others (OK, I'm using French ones but I reckon you might find the same variation in quality over there). I've found all of the defects Joe90 mentioned on various boards (and all of them in some boards!!). Sap streaks have been the biggest problem IME. I only use them now and again so I tend to pick through what's available to find the best. Some have a LOT of knots.

I've seen a few warp slightly but had no probs with any that are used in frame & panel construction.

That said, they are handy if your client likes the look of them. They're not usually particularly well sanded but it's not too onerous a job to sand them when they're already glued up IMO.

No experience of them from Edens tho.


Cheers

 

[Paul Chapman]

Like others, I've found these laminated boards to be variable in quality, so I've not bought any for a long time. The B&Q stuff doesn't seem to be very good - I've seen lots of their boards wrapped in plastic and warped before they've even been bought. There are some good quality laminated boards out there but I think it depends where you buy them. I would be inclined to try a timber merchant rather than a DIY shed.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Pekka Huhta]

We use it a lot around here (where it grows), but even here the quality varies. Some of it is very good, I have built cabinet frames and booksheves (painted ones) from it with no problems.

I wouldn't buy any without seeing it first, but then again I wouldn't buy any wood without seeing. If you have a look of what you get you should be very safe, good quality board is pretty good. Not my first choise on some occasions, but prety decent anyway.

Pekka