1) It is suitable for local hot and humid weather.
2) It is light and easy to work with tools.
3) It is easy to use with PVC and Laminates.
4) It is easy accesible.
Plywood comes from the process of slicing and rotating a log in the slicer machine, similiar to sharpening your pencil in the pencil sharpener. This thin sheet of wood is called veneer. They will be cut into the desired sizes, mostly 1220mm x 2440mm , some times it can be 1220mm x 2745mm ,1220mm x 3050mm or 1525mm x 3050mm. Howevers as this stage , the veneer sizes will be bigger than the actual sizes for final trimming later. They will be graded after this , the whole veneer without much defects will be graded as Top veneer (A and B grade) and will be used for OVL/BTR (overlay or better) or BB/CC grade plywood. The broken or with visible natural characteristics like decay knots, splits, mineral streaks etc will be graded as C or D grade. Those in this grade will be used as UTY or Packing grade plywood. What follows is the process of kiln dried and lamination of the veneers together with glue. Different types of glues will be used for different purposes of plywood. After this stage, plywood will be sent to cutting section for the precise sizes like 2440mm x 1220mm, 3050mm x 1220mm, 2950mm x 1220mm or 1525mm x 3050mm etc, the end product will go through at least one time of sanding, in some cases, for the Top grade plywood, two-times sanding will be neassary. Plywood will be sent to the packing section, and they are ready for export and or local use.
Blockboard is similar to plywood. It is lighter, cheaper and much straighter than plywood. Carpenters will normally use it for doors and top rack of cupboards that are hanging on the wall. However, it is not a good material for putting heavy stuff. The process of making blockboard is the same as plywood, just that instead of layered of veneer to be glued together to become a panel, it is glued together using the boxheart of the log. Boxheart is the lowest density part of tree, which is the center of the tree. Those wood is cut into small block sizes, with thickness like 10mm or 13mm and joint together to become a slightly bigger 1220mm x 2440mm size. They will be sandwiched and glued together with two thicker veneer of approximately 2.5mm sheet to become the usual size of blockboard.
Naturally, plywood is stronger than blockboard. However, blockboard is still much sought after, mostly because it is straighter and cheaper than plywood.
With the goverment controlled legally grown logging areas in Indonesia now, younger trees like facalta are being used to make plywood and blockboard , the prices are now more stable and sources are ample.
In Merawood, we ensure our customers that we get our product from established factories that use legal logs from certified and approved plantation. They have to abide certain quality and standard that our company has been upholding for many years.