Styrofoam, Corriflute, and Hardwoods

• Styrofoam is expanded polystyrene foam, blue, easy to cut, shape and sand
• Styrofoam is strong, lightweight, water-resistant and a good heat insulator
• Styrofoam is used to insulate walls in caravans, boats and lorries
• Styrofoam is used for creating three-dimensional models and molds
• Corriflute is an extruded corrugated plastic sheet, similar to corrugated cardboard
• Corriflute is made from a high-impact polypropylene resin and available in a wide range of colours and sheet sizes.
• Corriflute is rigid, lightweight and waterproof, easy to cut but difficult to fold
• Corriflute is often used for outside signs, plastic containers, packaging, point-of-sale displays and for modeling purposes
• Hardwoods come from broad-leafed, deciduous trees which lose their leaves such as oak, birch and teak.
• Hardwood trees grow slowly so the timber is dense, hard and heavy.
• Hardwood timbers come in many different colours and are used for high-quality items such as furniture.
• Softwoods come from conifers - evergreen trees like pine, cedar and spruce
• Softwood trees grow faster than hardwood trees and the wood is usually lighter in colour.
• Softwoods are cheaper than hardwoods and are usually used in the building industry for roof, wall and door frames
• Hardwood and softwood terms describe the type of tree the wood came from
• Hardwood and softwood do not necessarily describe if the wood is hard or soft
• Balsa wood is classified as a hardwood, but it is very soft and lightweight

Activity Questions

• Paper types include layout paper, copier paper, bleed proof paper and sugar paper
• The thickness of paper is known as its weight, measured in grams per square metre (g/m2) or microns
• Paper with a weight greater than 170 gsm is classified as a board
• Examples of board are cardboard, corrugated cardboard and cartridge paper
• Styrofoam is blue in colour, easy to cut, shape, and sand for 3D models

Natural and Manufactured Timber

• Three main types of timber: hardwoods, softwoods and manufactured boards
• Manufactured boards are sheets of timber made by gluing either wood fibers or wood layers together.
• Manufactured boards are stable, easy to work with, and prevent natural timber from twisting and warping
• Examples of manufactured boards: MDF, plywood, chipboard or block board

Ferrous Metals

• Ferrous metals contain iron
• Ferrous metals corrode quickly and easily
• The majority of ferrous metals are magnetic
• Ferrous metals include mild steel, carbon steel, stainless steel, cast iron and wrought iron

Non-Ferrous Metals

• Non-ferrous metals do not contain iron
• Non-ferrous metals are much more resistant to corrosion
• Non-ferrous metals are significantly better electrical conductors than ferrous metals
• Non-ferrous metals are generally more expensive than ferrous metals
• Non-ferrous metals include aluminium, copper and tin
• Both types of metals are available in a wide variety of shapes and sizes
• Metals are created by extracting metal ores from rocks in the Earth's crust through mining.
• The metal ore is processed and refined to create a more usable material with improved properties
• Mild steel is widely used for building and engineering
• Stainless steel is resistant to corrosion and is used for cutlery
• Tin is often used for food containers

Chapter 9 Summary

• Timber includes both softwoods and hardwoods
• Physical and working properties determine timber selection
• Physical and working properties help timber fulfill the required functions of products in different contexts
• Timber is converted into useable forms, such as boards, planks, and sections
• Timber is an organic, sustainable, natural and renewable material
• Timber actually contributes to reducing climate change because it requires less energy to manufacture than any other building material
• Softwoods come from coniferous trees
• Hardwoods come from deciduous trees
• Manufactured boards are sheets of timber using both soft and hardwoods

Common Softwoods

• Redwood (Scots pine) is knotty, easy to work, finishes well, durable, widely available and relatively cheap, and is suitable for all inside work and most-used softwood in UK.
• Western Red Cedar resists insect attack, weather and dry rot
• Weather and dry rot resistance are due to natural preservative oils.
• Western Red Cedar is lightweight, soft, knot-free, straight-grained, very durable with an attractive surface: suitable for outside joinery and bathroom/kitchen furniture.
• Parana pine is hard, straight grain, usually knot-free, fairly strong, works easily, fairly durable used in internal building work.
• Whitewood (spruce) is easy to work, fairly strong, resistant to splitting and used for general construction work.

Common Hardwoods

• Beech is very tough, hard, straight and close-grained.
• Beech withstands wear and shocks and polishes well, but is liable to warp: used for toys, furniture and wooden tools.
• Ash is wide-grained, tough and very flexible.
• Ash finishes well: used for baseball bats, flooring and tool handles.
• Elm is tough, flexible, durable, and water-resistant, but is liable to warp: used for garden furniture (if treated), woodturning, and furniture.
• Oak is heavy, hard and tough
• Oak has open grain, finishes well, and is good outdoors
• Mahogany is easy to work and wide boards are available which polishes quite well
• Teak is hard, durable, and contains natural oils which resist moisture, fire, acids and alkalis and is very expensive
• Balsa is a very soft and lightweight wood with a coarse, open grain and is used for modelling structures, boats and airplanes

Common Manufactured Boards

• Plywood is constructed of layers of veneer glued at 90 degrees to each other for high strength and is used for furniture and building construction
• Flexible plywood is bent easily
• Marine Plywood is the moisture resistant form of plywood - used for boatbuilding
• MDF is moisture resistant, durable and has a smooth evenly surface perfect for painting
• Moisture Resistant MDF is resistant to moisture and is colored green
• Flame Retardant MDF is resistant to fire and usually colored pink or blue
• Blockboard is plywood with central layer made from timber strips with good resistance to warping - used for shelving
• Chipboard is made from wood chips and shavings glued/pressed together and requires covering due to poor strength on edges - used for kitchen worktops

Timber Origins and Sources

• Plain sawing is the cheapest cutting method but the outer planks tend to warp.
• Quarter sawing is more expensive, requires more time and labor and produces more waste.
• Quarter sawn planks are more stable.
• Timber drying is either natural or kiln-based seasoning to reduce the moisture.
• Natural seasoning is cheap and needs little skilled attention but takes several years.
• Kiln seasoning takes only a few days or weeks, kills any insect eggs in the wood, but is expensive to build and run.

Timber and Lumber Sources

• Redwood (Scots pine) source - Northern Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, Scotland
• Western red cedar source - Canada, USA
• Parana pine source - South America (mainly Brazil)
• Whitewood (spruce) source - Northern Europe, Canada, USA
• Beech source - Europe (including UK)
• Ash source - Europe (including UK)
• Elm source - Europe (including UK)
• Oak source- Europe (including UK), Russia, Poland
• Mahogany source- West Africa, e.g. Nigeria, Ghana
• Teak - Burma, India, Thailand

Manufactured Boards

• Manufactured boards help reduce the natural timber being used
• They are readily available in larger sheets from DIY stores and timber merchants.
• They are more stable than natural timber and less likely to twist and warp.
• They tend to be less expensive than natural timber

Rotary Cutting

• Veneers are a thin shaving of wood that is either cut from a log by rotary peeling or thinly sliced from a long block.
• Veneers are often applied to manufactured boards to improve their appearance and give them a smoother finish

Different Boards

• Plywood is made of three or more veneers of wood glued together. Each layer of wood, or ply, is glued at right angles to the next.
• Medium density fibreboard (MDF) is made by compressing tiny wood particles/fibres and adhesive together.
• Blockboard is made by gluing strips of softwood side by side. These strips are then sandwiched between two veneers of hardwood
• Chipboard is made by gluing wood chips together

Recycling Timber

• There are a number of ways that timber products and the waste created from producing them can be used again.
• Reclaimed timber is the term used when old buildings are torn down and the timber used in their construction is put to other uses
• Upcycling is the process of reusing materials in such a way as to create a product of higher value, such as furniture made from old pallets
• Downcycling is the opposite of upcycling; the timber is converted into a material of lesser quality, such as strips for blockboard or chips for chipboard
• Biomass is a fuel developed from organic materials such as scrap timber and is burned to create electricity

Eco-Materials

• Bamboo is a grass that grows quickly and is considered as an eco-material
• an oak tree can take 120 years to grow while bamboo can be harvested in 3 years

Commercial Forms and Sizes of Timber

• Timber is sold either rough sawn or planed.
• Planed timber can be either planed both sides (PBS) or planed all round (PAR)

Screws

• Countersunk head is used when you want the head of the screw to be level with the surface.
• Round head is used to fasten thin sheet materials such as metal or plastic to wood.
• Raised head is used for decorative purposes.
• Twinfast is used specifically on chipboard and has two threads
• Coach - used in metalwork vices which are fastened with spanners

Nails

• Round wire nails are used for general joinery work.
• Oval wire nails are used for interior joinery work
• Panel pins are used with small-scale work and for pinning thin sheet material.
• Masonry nails are used to fasten into brickwork or mortar.

Hinge Types

• Butt Hinges- most common hinges. Used for doors, windows, boxes
• Piano Hinge - used when lots of support are needed for long objects
• Butterfly and Flush Hinges- used for lightweight doors

Components

• Magnetic catches are very common and are available in a range of materials.
• Spring catches tend to be used on more functional items as they are not as attractive.
• Ball catches can be recessed into doors and are very neat
• Toggle catches can be used to fasten the top and bottom of a product together

Different Locks

• Hasp and staple are used with padlocks to fasten shed doors and gates
• Cam locks have a tab that turns and catches in a slot; they are used in display cabinets
• Magnetic locks are hidden locks that can require a magnetic key to open; they are often used to 'child proof' cupboards.

Wasting

• Wasting involves cutting materials to the shape required and removing any excess material, sanding, drilling filing, and turning all examples of wasting.

Marking for Wasting

• Try Square - used to make lines at a 90 degree angle
• Marking Gauge - makes lines on timber, using a sharp spur
• Mitre square - mark or measure angles 45 or 135
• Sliding Bevel- can be set to any angle, using a protractor

Saw Types

• Handsaw - generic name for cutting pieces of timber by hand
• Tenon saw- general purpose used to make straight cuts

Drilling and Drill Bits

• Used in many machines, and come in different forms
• Forstner bits - provide smooth-sided, flat-bottomed holes
• Flat Bits- provide fast and accurate drilling in solid pieces of timber
• Hole Saws-allow drilling of holes of 20-75mm
• Expansive Bits-can be adjusted to drill shallow holes of 12-150mm diameter

Files

• Come in flat, round, curved, square or triangular.
• Flat edge allows for filing accurately

Planes

• Smoothing Planes- About 250 mm long and used for fine finishing end grain
• Jack Planes- longer and heavier to make surfaces flat for quick waste

Surform tools

• Similar to graders for removing wood quickly and come in round, flat, and curved shapes

Chisels

• Three basic types are used: the firmer chisel, the bevel-edge chisel and the mortise chisel.
• Firmer: has flat sides and is used with a mallet.
• Bevel: chisels cutting dovetail
• Mortise: has a thicker blade to lever

Planes

• Smoothing are about 250 mm long; they have a blade that is ground and sharpened for fine finishing and for planing end grain.
• Jack planes are longer and heavier and are used for the quick removal of waste wood to make surfaces flat and to achieve the required size.
• Bullnose used to plane into corners.
• Rebate cut out rebates or grooves along the edges of timber pieces.
• Router used to cut out groves across the grain of wood.
• Spoke shavers used to round curved pieces

Shaping with Machines

• Sanding machines are used to smooth wood, and come in orbital, palm, and belt forms
• Special tool shapes can be cut into rotating wood

Wood Turning

• Wood Lathe- rotates wood to cut a turned shape and carries Between Center and faceplate turning

Turning Cuts

• Several types of cuts with specially shaped cutting edges for performing particular cuts
• Gouges shaped edges for smooth bowl cuts
• Scrapers help remove material from flat or cylindrical shapes
• Parting Tools which help to part two wood pieces
• Spoon cutter- remove material and help form bowls

Routers

• Routers can create grooves and come in two types
• Complex shapes can be cut using router guides

Addition and Attaching

• Involves adhesion to join material together
• Use dovetailing nailing method which drives many nails into joint
• Pilot holes and screw will ensure a secure material to join wood

Joining Woods

• Butt joint: where timber joins in ends
• Dove Tail- rectangular cuts interlock and makes strong joints and easy for pins
• miter joins pieces of wood but can be very week

Fastening joints Construction (Frame construction)

• Biscuit, halving, mortal and tenon
• Kerfing is making cut for what wood can be bent

Structures of Trusses

• Box or carbon is made to construct cornors of product
• Stools construction used to make door and windows will use for small stool

Bending with Wood

• Involves steaming and pressing techniques
• Steaming is soaking woods over heat for easy wood bending
• Veneers helps make bending the woods is
• Fomers allow air pressure from out side to hold veins in face

Structural Integrity for Support

• Composed of cellulose for strength
• Weight for weight strength
• Triangulation- stability structures using triangular shape

Dowel rods

• Cross Dowels- are strong enough to either temporary or permanent
• Screwdriver is used to make structure integrity for support for product

Digital Software for Timber Structures

• Aids design and manufacture
• Saves waste and cost