From Log to Layon

This section describes the processes involved in transforming a sawn log, from a tree into a layon that is ready to be pressed and made into a decorative panel.

Stage 1: Slicing

Once the tree is felled it is then transported to a veneer mill. Here it is debarked, sawn, cooked and then put on a slicer or lathe. This cuts the logs, using one of the different cutting methods discussed here, into the sheets that we know as veneer. These sheets are then clipped along their edges and bundled up into manageable parcels usually comprising of either 24 or 32 leaves. It is at this stage that they are ready for inspection. Once we have selected the logs that we want to buy they are transported to our London warehouse.

Stage 2: Grading/Sorting

When the veneer arrives at the warehouse it is carefully graded and sorted on the basis of quality and several other criteria such as colour, length and grain pattern. Once this process has been completed it is either put into stock ready to be sold as flitch veneer, or it is put into Jointed Veneers to be made into layons.

Stage 3: Trimming

The veneer that has been sent into the jointing factory will have been carefully graded in order to fulfil the particular criteria requested by the customer. The first process must be to create a straight jointable edge on the outside of each bundle of veneer. At this stage the guillotine operator must be aware of how the layon is to be matched and if equal width components must be used, as discussed here.

Stage 4: Jointing/Stitching

Once trimmed, the bundle is ready for stitching and will pass through one of two types of machine.

The animation illustrates the traditional way veneer is jointed. Leaves are joined into a series of pairs, which are again jointed into larger pairs until the required width of layon is created. This process generally has to use equal width leaves in order to create a layon of 'face' quality.

The stitcher in the image operates by having the veneer fed into it horizontally and a moving stitching head passing up and down jointing the sheets together. This machine can produce layons of equal width sheets or it can be programmed to 'run and clip' layons, a manufacturing process detailed here.

Stage 5: End Trimming/Stitching

We now have a layon that is stitched to the required width. All that is now left to do is trim the ends to make it the correct length and to apply a stitch to top and bottom to prevent splitting when it is handled being put on to a panel/door prior to pressing. The layons pass through an 'End-Binding' machine that is programmed to trim it back to the required length and to apply an end stitch.

We are then effectively left with a finished layon. There is, however, one more process through which it passes before it is ready to be packaged up and sent to the customer. In order to check that all the joints are sound and also that any other problems with the veneer (which have not been picked up earlier in the production process), the layon is passed over a 'light-table' - a device that we built ourselves so that we are able to ensure that when the layons leaves our factory it is in first-class order and ready for pressing.