GB2308568A

GB2308568A - A woodcraft material and a method for its manufacture

Info

Publication number: GB2308568A
Application number: GB9526622A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Te-Kuei Chen
Original assignee: CHEN TE KUEI
Current assignee: CHEN TE KUEI
Priority date: 1995-12-29
Filing date: 1995-12-29
Publication date: 1997-07-02
Also published as: GB9526622D0

Description

TITLE: A WOODCRAFT MATERIAL AND A METHOD FOR MANUFACTURINr; THE WOODCRAFT MATERIAL BACKGROUND OF THE-lNVENTION 1. Field of the Invention: The present invention re-i ates to woodcraft materials, and more particularly, to a woodcraft material for use in-the making of wooden decorative objects and a method for manufacturing the woodcraft material 2. DescriPtion of Prior Art: Various woodcraft materials are available for the making of wooden objects. - With advance in technology, there are provided artificial woodcraft materials that have texture and quality imitating those cut up from trees. However, people still prefer wooden objects made fro. natural woods, Therefore, natural woods cut up from those fast growing trees such as rubber wood, poplar wood, pine wood, and so on are in great demand. Although these woods are bountiful in supply, it is a drawback of using these woods as woodcraft materials in that they are in general nonwaterproof, easy to get destructed by wood-eating worms such as lermites, low in strength and firmness, and poor looking in the appearance of their grain patterns.

Accordingly, there exists a need for a method capable of manufacturing woodcraft materials with the qualities of high strength, firmness, "and good-looking grain patt > a= from the aforementioned poor-quality woods.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore a primary objective of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a woodcraft material with the quality of high strength.

It is another objective of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a woodcraft material with the quality of high firmness.

It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a woodcraft material with waterproof capability.

It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a woodcraft material with antitermite capability.

It is still yet another objective of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a woodcraft material with the quality of good-looking grain patterns.

In accordance with the foregoing and other objectives of the present invention, there is provided with a new and improved method for manufacturing a woodcraft material. The method comprises the following steps of: (1) cutting a raw wood into thin pieces; (2) performing a dyeing Process to the thin wood pieces with a dyeing agent under a temperature of 80 "C to 100 OC, a pressure of 3 to 6 kg/cm2, and a pH of 8 to 9; (3) drying the thin wood pieces; and (4) bonding the thin wood pieces into woodcraft material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The present invention can be 1 o-r e f u 1 1 y u n d e r s t o o d by reading the subsequent detailed description of the preferred embodiments thereof with references made to the accompanying drawings,- wherein: FIGs. lA-lE are schematic diagrams used to depict the steps involved in a method according to the present invention for manufacturing a woodcraft material; FIG. 2- shows a wooden decorative object made from the woodcraft ~material manufactured through the method according to the present iventio; and FIG. 3 shows the wooden decorative object of FIG. 2 viewing from another aspect.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIGs. lA-lE, there are shown schematic diagrams depicting the steps involved in a method according to the present invention for manufacturing a woodcraft material. In the first step shown in Fig. 1A, a raw wood 10 is prepared and cut into thin wood pieces 11. Next, in the second step shown in Fig. 1B, a dyeing process is performed, in which the thin wood pieces 11 are placed in a container 20 filled with a dyeing agent 21.

Dipped in the dyeing agent 21 adjusted to a specific pH level.

the thin wood pieces 11 are subject to swelling under a specific temperature and pressure. Subsequently in the third step shown in Fig. 1C, after the dyeing process is completed, the thin wood pieces 11 are placed in a continuous hot-air oven 30 for drying.

Then in the fourth step shown in Fig. 1D, the wood pieces 11 are bonded together by the use of glues into a laminated piece suitable for use as a woodcraft material 12 according to the present invention. Heat and pressure are applied to the thin wood pieces 11 to further strengthen the bonding therebetween.

Finally, in the fifth step shown in Fig. 1E, woodcraft work is performed to the woodcraft material 12 to machine it according to design plan into a decorative wooden object 13 of desired shape.

If necessary, a fire-resistant treatment can be performed subsequent to the second step and prior to the third step to allow the thin wood pieces to possess fire-resistant capability.

The fire-resistant treatment is a conventional technique so that detailed description thereof will not be given herein. More detailed description of the steps shown in Figs. 1A-1E are given in the following.

In the first step shown in Fig. 1A. the raw wood 10 is cut by using cross cutting machine (not shown) into desired size and then peeling machine (not shown) is used for peripheral cutting of the raw wood 10 into material boards (not shown) of predetermined fixed thickness. Finally, horizontal cutting machine (not shown) is used to cut the material boards (not shown) into the thin wood pieces 11 with a thickness depending on the desired density of grains on the design.

In the dyeing process of the second step shown in Fig. 1B.

the thin wood pieces 11 are placed in a container 20 containing a water-soluble dyeing agent 21 mixed with an infiltrating agent.

an alkaline agent, and a pH-value adjusting agent. The dyeing agent 21 is selected according to design plan. The acid black with color index No. 210. 198, or the direct black 20, or acid brown 198 and 75 are commonly used dyeing agents. The container 20 is controlled at a temperature of SO'C to 100 OC.- a pressure of 3 to -6 kg/cm2, and a pH of 8 to 9 which is adjusted by the adding of- adequate amount of soda. Under these conditions, the thin wood pieces 11 are swelled in their texture. With the help of the infiltrating agent, which can be non-ionic laurylsufonated alcohols having a concentration of 1.0 to 1.6 wt/liter, the dyeing-agent is ~introduced into the grains on the thin wood pieces and then, with the help of the alkaline agent, which can be sodium chloride or sulfate having a concentration of 5-lOwtX, the dyeing agent is released from the solution to color the fibrous textures of the thin wood pieces. The grains of the thin wood pieces -11 are thus made more sharply defined and obvious to the eye due to the distribution of the dyeing agent over thcfibrous textures of varying density. The thus made thin wood pieces 11 could nonetheless preserve their natural appearance.

- In the third step shown in Fig. 1C, the drying of the thin wood pieces 11 is performed in the oven 30 at a temperature of 50 C to 100 "C. In the fourth step shown in Fig. 1D, the glues used to combine the thin wood pieces 12 into woodcraft material 12 can be any adhesive agents such as urea-malemine-formaldehyde resin, urea-formaldehyde resin, and so on. Moreover, depending on special requirements, the glue can be mixed with metal or stone powders so as to provide a metallic or marvel appearance to the woodcraft material 12, or with violet-absorbing agent so as to allow the woodcraft material to be used in weathered buildings.

In addition, the whole of the glue-bound thin wood pieces 11 can be pressed by a hydraulic type board joining machine with a pressure of 1-30kg/cm2 and then handled by a high-frequency wood laminating machine so as to harden the glue to firmly bond the thin wood pieces 11 into woodcraft material 12.

In the foregoing step, each adjacent pair of thin wood pieces 11 can be sandwiched with a layer of reinforcing material such as synthesis fiber, long fiber polyester, polyamide (nylon), cloth, paper, metal, or reinforcing film, so as to increase the strength and bonding of the final product of woodcraft material.

Through the treatment under the pressurized condition, the thin wood pieces 11 which were soft in texture, can be made with more firmness. In addition, by means of the use of resin for the bonding, the thus formed woodcraft material has improvements on its strength, firmness, waterproof capability, anti-termite capability, and durability.

FIG. 2 shows a wooden decorative object made from the woodcraft material manufactured through the method according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 shows the wooden decorative object of FIG. 2 viewing fron another aspect. In particular, the laminated layers of the wood pieces constituting the wood material are shown in Fig. 3. As shown in Fig. 2, the contour lines resulted from edge cutting of the laminated layers in the woodcraft material provide a special appealing visual effect.

The present invention has been described hitherto with exemplary preferred embodiments. However, it is to be understood that the scope of the present invention need not be limited to the disclosed preferred embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements within the scope defined in the following appended claims. The scope of the claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangemerfts.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. A method for manufacturing a woodcraft material.

comprising the following steps of: (1) cutting a raw wood into thin pieces; (2) performing a dyeing process to the thin wood pieces with a dyeing agent having a pH of 8 to 9 at a temperature of 80 C to 100 C, and a pressure of 3 to 6 kg/cm2, and (3) drying the thin wood pieces; and (4) bonding the thin wood pieces into a laminated piece used as the woodcraft material.

2. A process as claimed in Claim 1, further comprising a step of fire-resistant treatment subsequent to said Step (2).

3. A process as claimed in Claim 1, wherein in said Step (2) an infiltrating agent is added to the dying agent.

4. A process as claimed in Claim 1, wherein in said Step (4) the drying is performed at a temperature of 50 "C to 100 or.

5. A process as claimed in Claim 1. wherein in said Step (4) the bonding is performed by a hydraulic type board joining machine with a pressure of 1-30kg/cm2 and then handled by a highfrequency wood laminating machine so as to harden the glue to firmly bond the glue-conbined thin wood pieces into the woodcraft material.

6. A process as claimed in Claim 1, wherein in said Step (4) each adjacent pair of thin wood pieces sandwiches a layer of strengthening material selected from the group consisting of synthesis fiber, long fiber polyester, polyamide (nylon), cloth, paper, metal, or strengthening film, so as to increase the strength and bonding of the final product of woodcraft material.

7; A woodcraft material manufactured through a method claimed in-Claim 1.