Quite often, when designing various projects, customers who order furniture products have questions about the materiality of the furniture and the price-quality ratio. So, what is the difference between the boards used in production and which ones should be chosen in order to achieve the best result?
Chipboard
This is a three layer, pressed, polished wood particle board – the highest quality raw material used in the production of furniture.
Chipboard is manufactured from various types of wood particles: shavings, small chips, plates, sawdust and other materials in particle form. These materials are mixed with glue and then hot pressed. The top layer of this board is decorative, covered with a special transparent film, which gives the surface strength. Subsequently, the production process of this board can be extended by applying laminate layer on the film. This produces a HPL chipboard, coated with a high pressure laminate.
When choosing table tops, you should pay attention to the density of the board, thickness of laminate, its resistance to stretches, temperature changes and moisture.
HPL – high pressure laminate
Particle boards of this type are especially suitable for working surfaces–kitchen table tops and office tables are often manufactured from these boards but their relatively high price limits the popularity of this product. However, when considering the resistance and practicality of the material, it is a very good solution.
HPL boards are highly resistant to shock, temperature changes, moisture and water, chemical materials, friction, scratching, and domestic dirt. The products covered with this board are easy to maintain and clean. It is also used in the production of floors, walls and doors but it can be used for other construction and repair purposes just as well.
Laminated chipboard
These boards are manufactured from plain particle board (E-1 emission class). Using the hot press both sides are pasted with the laminate – paper impregnated with melamine resin. Once laminated the MDP surface becomes resistant to moisture and higher temperatures. LMDP surfaces can have smooth, matte, wood or orange peel texture. Manufacturers provide a palette with a wide range of colours and textures.
MDF- Medium density fibreboard
It is produced from wood fibres using dry method where wood fibres are bound using milling and flat hot pressing methods. Later at the end of the production process some binding materials are added and the board is lacquered several times with a highly external impact resistant lacquer. Most often it is used when it is necessary to produce a coloured surface.
Medium density board is easy to mill, easy to paint, and since there is no need to glue the edges, you can get curvilinear surfaces, thus, it facilitates the production of more plastic furniture. Medium density fibreboard is also used in the panelling of floors and walls as well as the production of doors and it can even be used for other construction and repair purposes.
Plywood
This board is glued of three or more separate 1.4 mm thick birch plywood sheets. Depending on the quality of the outer wood sheets and the quality of their processing, the boards are classified into types, which determine their quality and the field of their further usage.
“Idėjų Parkas” team collects the raw materials for future products very responsibly. For furniture production we only order boards of the highest quality from various Lithuanian and foreign manufacturers.