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Wednesday 26 July 2017

King Tutankhamun's Plywood Legacy!

In 1500 BC Egyptian craftsmen used thin strips of dark ebony to decorate the outside of a cedar wood casket found in King Tutankhamun's tomb.

The Greeks and Romans later used this technique to produce decorative objects such as fine furniture. In the 1600's this method of decorating furniture became known as  veneering and the thin strips were called veneers.

Since then the technology has advanced considerably and plywood is now made from three or more thin layers of wood veneer, glued together with an adhesive. Each layer, or 'ply', has the grain running at right angles to it's neighbour, in order to reduce shrinkage and improve strength. 

Birch Ply Round Hamper Gift Boxes

Plywood has excellent strength and stiffness properties, and therefore performs well in applications where high strength and rigidity is required. It also has good resistance to humidity and is easy to work and handle.

Most plywood is supplied in large, flat sheets with thicknesses ranging from 1.4 mm to 76 mm. The most common panel size used is 1.2 m wide by 2.4 m long.

One of the great advantages of plywood, particularly birch plywood is that it can be pressed into simple or complex curve shapes, for use in furniture, boats and aircraft, so is an extremely versatile material. 

For example, the De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito flown so successfully in World War II was built from compound sandwich panels using Canadian birch plywood.

De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito

However, plywood is also used extensively in wood box making! Among the most common uses for thin gauge birch plywood is the manufacture of round boxes such as large round hamper boxes and shaker boxes.

It's also used as the base layer of wooden boxes to provide greater overall strength and rigidity and as the top layer of larger wood boxes where solid wood would tend to warp!

Plywood has a smooth even grain pattern that's ideal for the application of clear lacquers and beautiful, natural wood and colour stain finishes, that undoubtedly add a touch of elegance and class to the finished product.

For information about Polmac round plywood boxes CLICK HERE

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