If as a customer you are
looking for teak plywood that's made completely out of teak, rest assured that
it will be hard to find. The reason behind this is that teak is a very
expensive wood, and solid teak wood has a great demand in national and international
markets. So hardly anyone makes plywood completely out of teak wood. What
plywood companies generally do is that they obtain a good quality veneer from
the log of teak, and use it only as the topmost surface layer of the plywood.
The inside layers of the plywood are made using other woods.
Technically speaking I
would not call this as teak plywood, rather it can be called as Teak Veneered
Plywood.
Veneers are obtained by
rotary-cutting logs of wood, by peeling layers from them. For doing this, the
timber logs are mounted on a lathe-like machine, and rotated about their
longitudinal axis, while a sharp cutter peels off very thin layers (veneers)
from the logs. In the case of plywood, many such veneers (plies) are glued and
pressed together to form plywood sheets.
The most popular wood used
in India for making plywood is Gurjan wood (pronounced as Garjan wood). It is
quite strong but it's not as good looking as teak wood. So what is done is that
the base or core veneers are made from Gurjan wood, and to increase the beauty
of the plywood a teak veneer is glued as the topmost surface layer, either on
one side (face) of the plywood sheet or on both sides. The plywood made using
such techniques is known as decorative plywood.
Such decorative teak
veneered plywoods are available in all the standard sizes such as 8 feet x 4
feet, 7 feet x 3 feet etc. and in all standard thickness such as 18mm, 19mm
etc. These plywoods can also be manufactured in different grades such as
Commercial MR grade (Moisture resistant - Internal grade) or BWR grade (Boiling
Water Resistant - External grade) or as Marine grade plywood (which is used for
doing the flooring and decking woodwork in ships).
Teak wood is a strong and
attractive material that has been in fashion for a long long time. It has a
rich golden brown colour and striking straight grain patterns on it that make
it look very beautiful. It is also very strong and durable, and has a natural
oil within its cells because of which it has natural resistance against
termites and pests.
Similar to decorative
plywood, the teak veneers can also be glued over other engineered wood
substrates such as MDF (Medium density fibreboard) sheets. Quality wood veneers
are costly, and in case you decide not to go for teak veneered plywood or teak
veneered MDF, then the best option is probably to go for decorative laminates
such as Sunmica, Formica and other brands.
In case you are looking
for teak furniture, you can also think of buying solid teak wood furniture. And
instead of the regular blockboard doors, you can opt for teak veneered
blockboards of BWP External grade, or even solid teak wood doors. Solid wood is
considered stronger than plywood or blockboards, since its a homogeneous
material. Solid teak wood is expensive, but then it's also very strong and
durable and easily lasts a lifetime.
Strength comparison
between plywood and solid wood:
Solid wood is considered
to be stronger compared to plywood since it is a homogeneous material. It also
depends on which wood we are talking about. Good quality hardwoods (obtained
from deciduous trees such as teak or sheesham) are denser, heavier and stronger
compared to softwoods such as pine wood or mango wood.
Plywood on the other hand
is made up of sheets that have been artificially glued together and if the
'Glue shear strength' is low, then the individual plies can come apart. This
depends on the quality of the plywood though. The better quality plywood sheets
in India are often made from hardwood veneers such as Gurjan wood, which is
very stong.
For furniture such as book
Shelves, and wardrobe doors, plywood is not the most suitable material since it
has a tendency to bend in the middle when very long pieces are used. Better
suited for such cases is blockboard (which is cost-effective) or solid wood.
For cabinets, solid wood
is considered the best available choice, the next best can be veneered plywood
or laminated plywood. For example, a solid teak wood cabinet would be better
than teak veneered plywood, though it will also cost more. (A decorative
veneered plywood is one, where the base material is plywood on top of which a
better looking natural wood veneer has been glued).
For single and double
beds, diwans and settess, the material used most often is plywood.
For doors, plywood is not
the best choice, because of its tendency to bend. Considered better are solid
core flush doors decked up with a decorative veneer, or solid wood doors.
For desks, chairs and
dining tables, either solid wood or plywood can work equally well.
So if you are looking to buy timber,plywood and logs visit Allindiayellowpage.com to get detail information about timber and
plywood suppliers in your city.