Plywood or Particle Board
Just to share some of our thoughts regarding this topic. To us, both are raw materials that can construct into nice finishing furniture. The only question is:
“would the amount of money i pay equivalent to the value i am getting?”.
First, we need to identify whether we are paying the amount of money for “visual effect”, “durability” or “both”. It is a fact that there are good quality particle board that might be equivalent or better than plywood or vice versa. When you study through the article at (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particle_board), there are a lot of advantages and weaknesses that might arise when we use particle board to construct furniture. If that is the case, you would be asking “why 90% of kitchen cabinet/wardrobe/furniture specialist are recommending and sell their products using particle board even though there are so many weaknesses?”
The reason is majority of consumers are not aware of different labels for particle board. Particle board is also known as melamine board and chipboard. In local market, consumers are most likely refuse to construct their furniture if we mention the term “chipboard” but it turns out to be acceptable when we mention “melamine board”. Why? Simply because we are not aware of the materials used but the term sounds nice and SHOULD be good quality materials.
Plywood is another alternative material to construct furniture. I will quote a statement from wikipedia: “Modern plywood, as an alternative to natural wood, was invented in the 19th century, but by the end of the 1940s a shortage of lumber made it difficult to manufacture plywood affordably. Particleboard was intended to be a replacement.” Through this phrase, i believe we can understand why plywood is superior to particle board without the needs to debate and cause a lot of unjustified statements in forum and so on.
To my understanding, there are a lot of forums mentioning how good or bad plywood or particle board is. If you can spend some time to study, you will begin to notice that the users are actually dealers/seller/manufacturer/salesperson/specialist of their field to comment on the bright side of their products and talk badly about others. Therefore, facts are the most reliable information and sources to rely on before making a decision.
I will share a trade secret as interior designer and owner of carpentry workshop to answer a few WHY?
Ques:
Why manufacturer like to use particle board/ melamine board / chipboard to construct furniture?
Ans :
1. Cheaper in cost.
2. Very compact and condensed. Consumer thought and assume that it is solid wood.
3. Less work, less labour cost, more profit.
4. Durability reduced. Potential repeated business in future.
5. Can sell products at higher price such as products made by plywood.
————————-
Ques:
Why carpenter/contractor/interior designer never share much about the materials used for my carpentry works?
Ans:
Simple. When problem arises such as wood starts to swollen, infested with fungus, easily scratch etc, the common “Tai-Chi Tactic” and feedback would be “that is common situation for materials used because the amount of money paid decides the quality of the material you will be getting”. That is where consumers will be upset but have to rework by spending a fortune to solve the problems. If we as consumers can understand the pros and cons of the materials used, there are less likely to have arguments and dissatisfactions because the decision is made after understanding the risk we will be taking.
————————-
Ques:
Why majority of my family members/friend said their customized furniture/kitchen cabinet are very solid?
Ans:
Because particle board is manufactured from wood chips, sawmill shavings, or even saw dust, and a synthetic resin or other suitable binder which is pressed firmly and extruded. It is in solid form but not solid wood.
————————-
Ques:
Why there are minority of people share about using plywood to construct customized furniture/kitchen cabinet etc?
Ans:
Furniture made using particle board, 85% is manufactured by machineries while furniture made using plywood, 85% is hands on by a skilled carpenter. It is hard to find a carpenter with good workmanship and services in local market but that does not mean none at all.
————————-
Ques:
Will the cost be higher if construct furniture using plywood rather than particle board?
Ans:
Normally would be higher by 10-20% because more time and work to be carried out by skilled carpenters. Example: construct a wardrobe using melamine would take about 3 days but 5-7 days for plywood base. However, by contributing the additional 10-20% is also equivalent to 10-20% more durable for the products. Value for money.
————————-
We provide our carpentry services using plywood for better durability and astonishing visual effect desired by respective clients. Base on demand, We do accept works required us using particle board as raw materials. However, we will share with you the differences before making a decision.
Next, we will share with you “Why there are so many different pricing for a similar products in market”. Stay tuned..
JX Design and Renovation 