Surfacing Softwood Dimension Lumber to Produce Good Surfaces and High Value Flakes

Two experimental cutting methods were evaluated as means of blanking softwood dimension lumber to produce flakes suitable for making high-grade particleboard and at the same time develop smooth surfaces on the lumber. In both experimental methods flakes were cut by a knife mounted on a disk 30-inches in diameter on a milling machine. In one method the knife cut a single flake while in the other a step knife cut three flakes. The particleboards made from flakes produced by the two methods had properties essentially equal to those of boards made from high-quality flakes cut on a disk flaker. Wood surfaces produced by the two experimental cutting methods were intermediate in smoothness between sawn surfaces and planed surfaces. All the flakeboards had linear movement only about one-third as great as the boards made from simulated planer shavings. The flakeboards also had significantly higher modulus of rupture and modulus of elasticity values, as measured by static bending, than the boards made from planer shaving. It appears technically feasible to produce high-grade flakes for use in particleboards when blanking green softwood dimension lumber.

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