An old friend who worked at a plywood plant said nothing went to waste. The veneers made plywood, the chips made strand board, the sawdust made particle board and they even recorded the noise and sold it as rock and roll.
I agree. It gives a less overly polished style, places you there a bit, and gives a bit of personality to the place, especially when you could hear the music being played by the people working there.
As an engineer myself, the machinery is always more interesting to me than the products they make. As a kid, everything got taken apart to see what made it tik...lol
I was a hot press operator at a plywood mill back in the 1980s. Much more hand work then. The glue was applied by a four person crew, one person feeding 4' core pieces through the glue spreader, one person catching them and laying them out and two flipping backs, centers and faces onto the glued core pieces. Our mill did 24 panel loads. The stack of panels came to me via conveyor which fed into an hydraulic pre-press that compressed the sheets just enough so I could handle them. Then the panels went on a vertical ride with me to the top of the hot press. There I fed them one at a time between plattens. When the press was full and I was back on the ground, I'd close the press, wait 4-6 minutes and do it all over again. From the hot press the panels went on to the trim saws and sanders. Lots of hard, physical work, but very rewarding - you'd made something that would be used all over the world.
I always wondered how the logs were made into broad sheets/ boards. I was left thoughtless when I saw how it was sliced when it was held by a rotation component. The stability of the structures to perform the mechanism... Kudos to all the units involved in the process of making this indispensable component we use today! 3:22 Giant sharpeners? 😲
@@chancebutler6472they are planted by the logging industry for that as specific purpose. Solid lumber cannot be used for every need, because it is not structurally sound in large sheets. This is actually a very sustainable industry that uses every scrap for something useful. You benefit daily from this type of manufacturing.
@@chancebutler6472 who says this is garbage. You can get more boards off a log than lumber, and a board has a higher structural integrity due to the glue, and is less impacted by expansion and contraction. In other words, for many use cases this is the more environmentally friendly and more economical approach
but on the other hand, the road to hell is paved with good intensions, if you let the machinery go out of hand without giving something back to nature. Eventually we will all pay for it, and we are allready paying for it, question is, does nature have something terrible in store for us if we push it "over the edge", who knows where that edge is. Whenever that edge comes, we have no choice to turn back.
Luckily that isn't his only job I bet, he's working with the other guy to maintain the output end of that machine. So packaging, and handling to shipment. If that was his only job I think he'd wish for the day to be replaced 🤣
It’s amazing the thousands of things we Walk by or use every day that we don’t know or think about how they were produced. Certainly makes you appreciate things more when you see how things are manufactured
It’s the things we consume including tap water that’s more worrying. Those processes. They say tap water in 2021 has already been through 6 humans 🤷🏻♂️🌎
What I’m most impressed by , is the knowledge to create these machines , to coincide with each other to take a tree and make it into plywood . Amazing !!
the knowledge? they destroying new trees to make a crap product...... not to mention they could make it after using the tree as lumber for 100 years THEN DO THIS NONSENSE.
Very cool footage. A super-important step is that the individual plies are layered with the wood grain of each at 90-degree angles to the sandwiching layers. This is the entire point of making the plies in the first place. This alternating of the wood grain in each layer is what gives plywood its tensile strength.
@starpawsy Exactly, the grain patterns would have to be alternated prior to cutting into 4x8 size. Also, if they're cut to 4x8 prior to lamination what is the cutting process after lamination? Wouldn't that result in sheets smaller than 4x8?
I was a core operator at Boise cascade in medford. OR. We layed slivers of 4' long pieces perpendicular to the 8x8 sheets and it was the most physical job I've ever had and hot. Even in the winter time it was over 100° up on that platform. The line never stopped! 8 straight hrs of GO! 2 ten min breakers and 1, 20 when you relief felt like relieving you. We worked as a team and you didn't want to piss anyone off because then you'd be the last to be relived.
Guys like you keep society going, thank you! It's a small underappreciated thing but it's true. Plywood and wood products and hard work are appreciated!
perhaps you were smart enough not to destroy entire logs to make plywood.. and even if you really wanted to turn entire trees into plywood.... we could use them for a 100 years before ruining them like this.... and still make crappy products like this after.. with the same wood.
They forgot to include the last step after packaging, the warping process! The warping process occurs in transit, from when they left production until their stocked for resale. The wood was flat when it left production but because of the strap on each end of a 4x8, the sheets become warped/bowed in the middle. New plywood, pre-warped for your enjoyment.
That's not how it warps. At all. If the ambient heat & humidity are at a certain point in relation to the moisture content of the veneer, or if some of the veneer had too much moisture, the panels will warp as they cool coming out from the press. Usually happens due to moisture, but can easily happen if the hot plywood cools off too quickly.
@Peter Evans It's not scrap, they have to glue it to make large flat sheets. You don't don't shit. Scrap wood would be all the off cuts that is then glued and pressed together like paper to make particle board.
Great video tour without talking, the sounds alone are wonderful to hear. The text was just right and good pace. It felt like being there and seeing the overall process helps bring an appreciation of how this product is produced. You guys set the bar high on quality and detail. Great job!
theyre destroying entire brand new logs to make plywood and not one of them thought maybe we could do ANYTIHNG with the logs before destroying them for a garbage product lol. heck we could make plywood with them after using as beams or something for 100 years first..
-- So tell us professor... where do you plan on getting all of these "beams" to use instead of raw logs to keep up with the demand for plywood every single day across the country and the world? And who is going to pay to salvage those beams and somehow process them if they are large enough to actually use? Clearly, you haven't thought this one through! - Max Giganteum
Engineers rely on other professions to do their work. My brother who is a Mechanucal Engineer called himself a "Catalogue Engineer" as he found information and made orders from business catalogue. Remember, a complicated factory like this needs Builders, Structural Engineers, Architects. Scientists, wood Technolgists, etc.
I was actually kinda disapointed. These aren't really sheets of plywood but engineered joists. Play wood has layers of ply with the wood grain alternating in direction. That's what gives sheets of plywood their strength. These are engineered joists used in structural applications where the span or required strength exceeds the capabilities of standard dimensional lumber. I was confused thinking "so when are they gonna show us the alternate layering"
As a kid, I joined my father twice to visit St. Regis’s logging operation in WA and a smaller mill’s in Maine. He was the companies’ banker at First National City Bank, so he got the royal treatment (and his spoiled kid, too). I never looked at a piece of paper or lumber the same way again afterwards. It’s valuable to see the supply chain and all the people, skills and machines that go into it. We met a lot of people who were missing fingers!
Worked in a similar factory in New Zealand for a short period of time. This brought back good memories as I always found it very interesting watching the different processes that were required. I worked in the finishing off department where we puttied any holes and regraded sheets prior to repacking. Though very laborious it was one of the many necessary processes required to making a quality product. Thanks for this, most appreciated.
I worked in a brickyard in college. Kiln was 150 yards long with about 2400 stacked and interleaved bricks on an 8x8 railcar that was continuously pushed through 24/7. I worked on the sorting and stacking and those we did on Monday were way cooler than those on Friday.
Here in the u.s. we get poorly glued sheets that are not puttied an pay a huge markup. I purchased 4 sheathing sheets at $298.00 after tax, it was the absolute cheapest an thinnest I could get! Then again I can thank the politicians I didn't vote for who have dropped the country into it's grave so we are the laughing stock of the world. I'll take back Bush Sr., Cliton, an Trump back or anyone better!
It is the most sought after products in developing countries now due to heavy construction,no wonder I saw paupers getting rich by trading in these plys.
Y'know from what 'I' hearD the price increase is from a lack of Shipping Containers (!) (A guy who works at the piers in Philadelphia down here said the HUGE warehouse is FULL of wood that's come off the ships there BUT they can't get it out the door because there's been the ongoing lack of containers to ship everything ouT with.
Love to see the process never seen it before just wondering what’s the yellow paint for never purchased a sheet a plywood with yellow paint on it. Thanks
Yes, the yellow paint. That was my question too, why the yellow paint. I am not in the USA and I have never seen yellow paint on any plywood in any of the countries I have lived or visited.
I have never seen plywood yellow paint on it. Makes me wonder if it's for keeping moisture out as it is shipped, maybe on shipping container boats or through humid parts of the world. Then it is washed off somehow at distribution?
I've never seen yellow paint on plywood but then again, I've never seen 15 layers of 1/8" plies or 1 7/8" thick plywood either so it must be made for a specific use.
Worked in a Plywood Mill in the late 80s early 90s. Once the veneer came out of the dryer The Spreading/gluing was done by hand. The press(where I worked) was a 40 foot high elevator loaded and off loaded by hand. Automation has come a long ways since then. Most stations back then took multiple people to operate. And a shift had about 50 employees.
Today, with advancements in technology and automation, the plywood industry has become more efficient and streamlined. It's incredible to think about how far we've come in terms of reducing labor requirements and improving production processes. Thanks for sharing this glimpse into the past of plywood manufacturing!
Just because it has a specific dimension does not mean it isn't plywood.... Remember, these LVLs were giant thick sheets before being gang cut to dimension!
@@danielkim9436 plywood is the multiple layers of wood glued to together to create a sheet good. It can consist of 3 plys all the way to 15 plys for a good baltic birch plywood.
I make the glue used in this plywood manufacturing process. Extremely expensive raw materials involved in the resin manufacturing side of it. Was really cool to see how it was applied and pressed.
I wish we could buy such good glues for small job fabrication. I used to live near Southampton England where Borden Chemicals made marvellous adhesives for aero and boatbuilding. One day in the 70s some air pressure fault blew the fine powder resin out if a large silo and across town WHOOPS. a lot of resprays and replacement windows needed after that mishap. Now whatevet happened to Borden and Casco Cascamite glues I don't know but the modern retail offering is worthless. I think it was either a water activated casein glue or a phenolic resin . Whichever, a boat made with it stayed together and Cascamite was our only glue legal for aircraft construction . I see on U Tube the lady who makes Culver Props (worth watching her at work on UT) had problems sourcing adhesives . Famous as she is someone got her a substitute in the US .
@Rathlin Postman @Rathlin Postman Yes, the problem with smaller business customers here in New Zealand is that they can't purchase enough glue to make it worthwhile for glue manufacturers, forcing them to buy overpriced low quality glue retail. Our Phenol-Formaldehyde based resins, which are used in marine ply, for example, are made in 18-ton batches, so it wouldn't be worth scheduling reactor time for smaller jobs. Most resisns we make also have a short shelf life, making it difficult for smaller businesses to buy in bulk. The short shelf life is good for us as it protects us from large chemical plants in China or India for example, where they could make it for a lot less. Their Resin would be near expiry by the time it arrived in the country.
@@Finnimagoo ohh it's near bed time here but I really wanted to show appreciation of your quick response. It seems that you are speaking as an adhesive manufacturer ( true or false?). I find it a pity that the prospects of getting hold of decent materials is a serious limitation on proof of concept designers and prototyping workshops. I suppose these problems are nothing new in the Anna ls of engineering development. It just so VERY frustrating. Lately, and with working in wood, I have used epoxy resins (generally contraindicated for my tasks) to get projects advanced and explain the adhesive dilemma to interested parties. Dry powdered resins were always a mainstay. I wondered if Chinese manufactures would be interested in producing small containers for retail. Generally I find Chinese suppliers most helpful with responsive technical desks and reasonable delivery times. Moreover where kit has arrived damaged, restitution is a phone call away. Some of our UK sources could take a lesson in customer service.
I thought at some point the veneer sheets would have to be rotated in different directions before being stacked and glued together, otherwise the grain of all the layers of the veneer would be in the exact same directions and the plywood sheet would be especially prone to cracking alone that single grain direction. So, what happened to rotating the sheets of veneer to change the wood grain direction from one layer to the next?
@@justincameron9123 :: no more FieldTrips for you, Justin ! Once the logs are roughly cylindrical, 100” knives “ROTARY PEEL” the logs to about 3/16” sheets……….that is why the ‘book~matched/sequenced~matched pattern repeats. Choice woods like Teak, Walnut, Oak, are intentionally laid up into finished panels this way for the visual effect around a room, or on doors, etc.. At one time a Portland firm imported 3/16” x50” x 100” very beautiful rotary~cut mahogany plywood cores that many boat builders desired for appearance and flexibility………and that’s all I know, Justin. Me Voy.
Interesting how all this processing and the purchase, operation and maintenance of all this machinery still results in a product substantially cheaper than solid hardwood
Your answer is proven true. The absolute mind power to construct machinery to make a material it-self is a mystery to the blueprint of the machine that remains in that genius mind.
@@championshipworldwrestling2740 Weinstein could call himself a so called master, but, the only achievement he made was having his name known as loco to all public.
Got to tax the hell out of those billionaires! What? There will not be any sources of that capital? OH NO! But hordes of homeless will have fat EBT cards!
The one in grayling Michigan built over 2017-2019 was a 600 million dollar project. It's a particle board plant. The maintenance is what blows my mind.
@@glasslinger Who is John Galt? "Going Galt" means recognizing that the needs of others do not give them a claim to your time, effort, and achievements. "Going Galt" means shrugging off unearned guilt, refusing to support your own destroyers, refusing to give them what Ayn Rand termed "the sanction of the victim.".
Really cool. One question: since all the sheets are rectangular and laid atop each other, won't all the grains be in the same direction, leading to a weak product?
Good observation. Funny enough plywood has a directionality. There are markings on the plywood that detail the strength when installed one way vs another. The engineer will detail which way they want the plywood. The engineer can also call out "cross band", a much more expensive product because of the extra steps. Each layer is perpendicular to the next. Normally crossband is used in floor diaphram construction, as the forces acting on the floor are symmetrical.
Thanks, you have to admire the Engineers who design and build these machines. I would not like the job of maintenance manager. Thanks for the factory tour.
@Peter Evans The implication is that the end-purchaser is getting ripped off. Let’s be fair here. The cost of goods sold (wood + manufacturing costs) is only part of the equation. The manufacturer has storage costs (building, staff, sales, etc.). They sell to at least one other level of distribution for a smaller price than you’ve quoted. The channel participant has their storage, transportation, employee and other costs. This level of channel participant sells at a wholesale price to a retailer. The retailer charges the exorbitant price to the end-purchaser and hopefully makes a profit after their brick-and-mortar costs, employees, advertising, etc. You also haven’t mentioned that there is more than one plywood manufacturing company in the world. If Plywood Company A sells their product at too high of a price, either because they are terrible people or because they are covering inefficient manufacturing costs, then Plywood Company B will do its best to sell products of similar or better quality at lower prices. I think the retail price is more reasonable than you imply.
@Peter Evans This is pretty funny. When I read Internet comments that say unsubstantiated things I’m supposed to believe them if they “use numbers”? I’m supposed to believe they know more than I do? 87.4% of internet comments are just made up and 67% of internet commenters are full of bull. Do you believe me? Do I know more than you do? I used numbers didn’t I?
@@1953mr why waste the manpower? Why not release the human resource to sectors where they are needed and fewer advancements have been made? Jobs for the sake of jobs doesn’t improve an economy despite what your politician or fed chairman might say. Jobs are a metric of the economy, “creating” unnecessary jobs is a waste of human capital. It may improve the lot for that individual, but it makes society as a whole poorer.
I now see that even in (some?) metric countries, we’re actually still using feet here: our plywood (for household use) comes in sheets sized 122cm x 244cm. And that is 4ft x 8ft… What a wonderful insight on a Sunday morning.
@@pjotrtje0NL in the UK the plywood comes in sheets 122cm x 244cm but plasterboard sheets are 120cm x 240cm since studs are normally at 60cm spacings. Caught my neighbour out when he put the studs in and had to remove 2cm from the long side of every plywood sheet.
Rolling marks by hand is a quality control issue. Mills are very poorly insulated and typically hot, so you run the risk of paint explosions and leakage
I worked for a plywood plant in Texas in the mid 80's. I was out in the log yard and would switch from swing saws to barkers. One of the best jobs I've ever had :) Hard work but fun!
That's fantastic! The big concern with plywood lately seems to be the glues. You could leave old sheets of plywood out in the rain for months and they'd hold up surprisingly well. Newer plywood and OSB are said to swell up and delaminate. Is this the result of an EPA regulation?
Back in the day more glue was used than necessary, causing outgassing of formaldehyde from the plywood sheets (a known carcinogen) for months or even years. Regulation mainly mandated running a tighter manufacturing process resulting in much less outgassing after installation.
One of my first jobs was doing IT work in a sawmill and production operation, totally agree the amount of process engineering that goes into one of those setups and keeping it all running is amazing. Modern sawmills are full of impressive engineering.
@@revere0311 honestly the reliability of them is pretty decent. Yeah you had down time for broken parts but that’s expected. With a solid preventative maintenance schedule and a good team running them it can do wonders
Thats cool, i worked at a sawmill in the late 60s, we made just different size boards. I liked working there plus i could operate every different saw, my favorite was the chipper.
Ah, I wondered where I missed the rotating step. Also, why do they paint it yellow? I thought the top veneer of the plywood was the most important one. Or does this serve other purposes?
OSB 4x8 was $55 a few weeks ago . It’s coming down slowly . It was $24 a sheet a year and a half ago . Had a new roof put on,glad I had it done then. Everything is over priced now
@Andrew the trees were planted to havest u dope. Fast growing pines. As for meat, humans evolved as meat eaters. U cant act like u care about nature, then say 'nature isnt doing it right!"
Plywood is an amazing product. It's light, dimensional stable, and very strong. New processes and adhesives make a good product, a great product. I was confused on one thing. I had always thought that during layup, individual veneers are stacked with alternate direction of grain. For example, grain up / down first, left / right second, up / down, third and so on. Looks like all 4 x 8 sheets of veneer have grain running in same direction. Its different layers with glue where the strength comes from.
I used to work in a plywood factory. Ours was a much smaller operation, and we didn’t process the logs into veneer, instead we got the veneer by truck from a separate plant. So our process started with the stacks of wet veneer being fed into the dryer. When they came out they went thru the moisture detector, and anything too wet got a red paint stripe and had to go thru the dryer again. They then went down a conveyor where they were inspected (my job) and put into different stacks depending on grade. From there all the pieces less than 4 feet wide (random widths but still 8 feet long) would be cut in half into 4 foot lengths for making core, which runs crossways to the 4x8 stack. The core veneer then went to the glue spreader, which had rubber rollers coated with glue that would coat both sides of the core veneer. The veneer was manually fed into the spreader and manually caught on the other side and manually laid up in a stack between 4x8 full sheets, as many layers as necessary to get the necessary thickness. The guys doing the layup process were amazingly fast and got paid bonuses for production. After layup, the stacks of assembled veneer went to the hot press where they were inserted into slots by 2 guys on an elevator platform with pusher sticks. Once all slots were full, the press was started. It would clamp down at full pressure and hold it for so many minutes before releasing, then the press operators would push the plywood out the back of the press and load the next batch. The stack of plywood then was taken to the cooling area where it was left for hours to cool down. After cooling, it went to the saw line where each board was planed to the correct thickness and trimmed to exact dimensions. Finally it got a stamp showing where it came from and what shift made it and then stacked, banded and stored in the warehouse ready for shipping. This was not finish grade plywood so it didn’t have to have knots patched or anything like that.
I work at a plywood mill currently. Our system is similar to your experience, except for a few things. We do peel our own veneer on site, and clip strip core out of the ribbons as well as sheets. Our glue set-up is different, using cascading glue heads. We only have 1 press operator per shift. Lucky me (swing Press Op). And we trim the pressed panels hot, straight out of the presses. Go through the saw line to be sorted into CDX, TruPly, dunnage, Shop, etc., then to the strapper, stenciler, and doubler.
@@spencerferrier3857 Do you have to load the press by hand, or is that automated? The press where I worked could be operated by one man, but it was not easy! They may have done the trimming on hot boards where I worked, just not when I was there. The saw line only ran during the day shift, so the afternoon and night shift production got stacked up until the next day. The saw line was highly automated with a single operator and could keep up with the 24 hour production in only 1 shift.
@@gobdeep Where I worked the excess was chipped and shipped off-site, I’m not sure where. Some plants use the waste to fire a steam boiler for heating the dryer and/or hot press.
Greetings. Just a question. When I work with plywood, I see that every other layer, the grain is flipped 90 degrees. This certainly adds to the strength of the plywood. But I didn't see any part of the assembly which flipped / twisted the veneers to create the most strong plywood.
@@jorgesalgado3646 trees are not rare lol. Come to the eastern side of the US, or go to Canada. Enough trees to build several billion mansions for the entire world population.
@@pimcramer2569 if you look deeper into it you'd find that companies who cut down trees plant double the amount and do it in a way that promotes fast regeneration of forests
Never did wonder, but once you asked the question, I watched the video all the way through! I love “behind the scenes” videos of how things work and are made! Thanks!
That's a mega operation ! With such a large amount of machinery and with even larger number of moving parts, I wonder how complex the upkeep/maintenance of it would be....That would make for an interesting watch too...
@@ezicarus8216 I watch the Lumber price every day. Down near $500/kbf now but yards and big boxers still are sitting on high price inventory. I'll probably buy end of the month..
@@Protein33 everything needs maintenance cause, nothing lasts forever, like the human body so to keep it running as long as it can every once in a while they have to turn that machine off someone comes in and look things over. ''QUE NO!".
@@zggtf211 No one wants to pay for a new machine so, you fix what's broken just like a car just because you blew the radiator or flatten a tire, doesn't mean you're going to buy a new car or new machine especially how things are right now.
@@goaheadmakemyday9859 yes but not as you would think, I worked were insulation fiber glass pallets were made and we would run just two shifts of 12 hour each shift, my was from 6 pm until 6 am then day shift would keep running the machine. The only down time was when the machine would change the size dimensions of the boards how thick the customer wanted and we would add wood in between the fiber glass. The only day the machine would be turned off was a Sunday or for cleaning other than that it would run non stop.
I was a painter for Timberjack, later bought by John Deere, I painted forest equipment for almost twenty years, it’s incredible the things humans can manufacture, Engineers are the unsung heroes behind these incredible machines.
This was an awesome video as I have always been interested in "wood" and desire to have this type of operation simulated on my model RxR. This will help me decide how to arrange the buildings and for what purpose. I'll probably watch this video many times. Thank you for sharing.
These types of machines always absolutely fascinate me! Really impressive how people come up with the idea for them and put it all together! Way beyond my skill set but still awesome 😆
I was a new guy working construction in Wisconsin 20 odd years ago and I'd see these pallets of plywood still almost steaming going onto a house, hot to the touch in winter. Amazing how fast they go from standing trees to installed in houses.
This is one of those factories that you get your hand caught on something you’re freaking tortured before you die, like poured hot glue onto then squished like a pancake
Main thing to remember in a place like this is don’t put your hands where you wouldn’t put your nuts and if the machine starts fighting you let it win because it will
Lee, in the early 1990s in the town of Scotia, Humboldt County California, which is on the Pacific Coast. 3 men were killed in a saw mill accident. They climbed onto a large hopper for de-barking logs. Another worker walked by and noticed that the power was shut off and he turned on the switch. Two if the men killed were related, father-in-law and son-in-law.
@@cardo718 Ummm lock out tag out anyone? Guy I know saw a guy go though a wood chipper when he was s a kid. Sprayed the guy right into the pile of chips.
@@cardo718 ah fk... I didn't need that image and actual guilt feeling that I can empathize now, before sleeping. Even though I often watch horror movies before going to bed (fun)
@@redsoxvette love the name. Haha. we build a lot of barns, so if we can grab a truck full of 2x4s and 2x6s, that would be great, as those are ones we use a ton of.
An old friend who worked at a plywood plant said nothing went to waste. The veneers made plywood, the chips made strand board, the sawdust made particle board and they even recorded the noise and sold it as rock and roll.
Almost bro.
Dads on the internet again, somebody call mom.
Did they make engineered beams too?
No, if it was noise it would be rap.
Nope. The machines can carry a tune.
Im SO GLAD yall kept the raw sound, it love hearing the machines and such and not some cheesy annoying crf music
My ears hurt from hearing that garbage much I couldn't agree more
TRU DAT
Facts!
The true sound of money
I agree. It gives a less overly polished style, places you there a bit, and gives a bit of personality to the place, especially when you could hear the music being played by the people working there.
I'm impressed by the engineers who have designed and made those processing machines. Respect!
And the engineers who keep them running! I'm in IT, but I have worked at several manufacturing plants. They are national treasures!
As an engineer myself, the machinery is always more interesting to me than the products they make. As a kid, everything got taken apart to see what made it tik...lol
Engineers, the unsung heroes of this country..
@@MuzikSonics Engineers are in all countries, all around the world.
@@clutch5sp989 same, after a while my parents stopped getting expensive toys and just got cheap stuff for me to study(tear apart) lol
I was a hot press operator at a plywood mill back in the 1980s. Much more hand work then. The glue was applied by a four person crew, one person feeding 4' core pieces through the glue spreader, one person catching them and laying them out and two flipping backs, centers and faces onto the glued core pieces. Our mill did 24 panel loads. The stack of panels came to me via conveyor which fed into an hydraulic pre-press that compressed the sheets just enough so I could handle them. Then the panels went on a vertical ride with me to the top of the hot press. There I fed them one at a time between plattens. When the press was full and I was back on the ground, I'd close the press, wait 4-6 minutes and do it all over again. From the hot press the panels went on to the trim saws and sanders. Lots of hard, physical work, but very rewarding - you'd made something that would be used all over the world.
Thanks for sharing
Didnt ask for your life story
Pretty awesome, actually.
@@MrAlexClements I did.
Do you know what the yellow paint is for?
Definitely the Machine with the roller knife that turn the wood log into a sheet of ribbon is the most impressive and the cornerstone of that factory.
NO, it's clearly the speed metal that the sort operators was listening too.
@@Cenobyte40k dude speed metal? When did slipknot become speed metal
How can you say that when later on they use something called a "glue curtain"?
@Maniac 5000 u crazy man, out of ya damn mind.. Didnt u see that fella with the paint roller? Theres no machine for that intricate task buddy
Gives a whole new meaning to the saying "Cut down to size"
The designers of these machines are admirable people.
Indeed! And the sequence of events in the process, it is just so procedural!
Yep they r mech engineers
@@akashraja7656 mechatronic or mechanical?
@@BsnsFunding ig both
Thank you
The process is interesting but what is more amazing is the initial design
of the machinery that make the finished product!
No doubt, awesome
That's pretty much always the case
That's all I kept thinking about, how these machines were made and perfected over decades out of the thousands of years of human carpentry history
Indeed.
My thoughts exactly as I watch any assembly line type machinery videos. Amazing how the engineers come up with this stuff.
I always wondered how the logs were made into broad sheets/ boards. I was left thoughtless when I saw how it was sliced when it was held by a rotation component. The stability of the structures to perform the mechanism... Kudos to all the units involved in the process of making this indispensable component we use today!
3:22 Giant sharpeners? 😲
IKR.... and they sharpen giant logs much better than we sharpen our pencils... 😂
why wouldnt they use it as lumber first then make this garbage... society is broken lol
Its pine dude theres tons of it and it grows fast. Chill ya fookn koont @@chancebutler6472
@@chancebutler6472they are planted by the logging industry for that as specific purpose. Solid lumber cannot be used for every need, because it is not structurally sound in large sheets.
This is actually a very sustainable industry that uses every scrap for something useful.
You benefit daily from this type of manufacturing.
@@chancebutler6472 who says this is garbage. You can get more boards off a log than lumber, and a board has a higher structural integrity due to the glue, and is less impacted by expansion and contraction. In other words, for many use cases this is the more environmentally friendly and more economical approach
It always amazes me that we humans have come up with this great machinery, like the type of engineering in this things are next level.
Google CERN LHC if you want to see next level
The energy used in the machines and plant fuel will dump so much carbon into the atmosphere. Unsustainable.
@@jort281 So move into a straw hut, stop driving vehicles, throw away your cell phone, and farm your own food, or you are just a hypocrite.
but on the other hand, the road to hell is paved with good intensions, if you let the machinery go out of hand without giving something back to nature. Eventually we will all pay for it, and we are allready paying for it, question is, does nature have something terrible in store for us if we push it "over the edge", who knows where that edge is. Whenever that edge comes, we have no choice to turn back.
@@Mg3-Si2-O5-OH4 🤓
The dude with the paint roller is one machine away from being eliminated.
The probably does 10-25 other tasks a machine cannot do.
@@GokuBlack-uq5ki Drink Coffee?
Luckily that isn't his only job I bet, he's working with the other guy to maintain the output end of that machine. So packaging, and handling to shipment. If that was his only job I think he'd wish for the day to be replaced 🤣
p000
Imagine having that job for 35 years. Shoot me.
It’s amazing the thousands of things we
Walk by or use every day that we don’t know or think about how they were produced. Certainly makes you appreciate things more when you see how things are manufactured
First thing came into my mind was the trees. Feels sad
I used to think plywood was shit wood. While im sure some plywood is... not all. Very strong wood.
same, history popped into my head as how much those trees have seen, just like this wooden table where my keyboard is resting on.
Shows you that no one person makes anything. More reinforcement that “I, Pencil” is accurate.
It’s the things we consume including tap water that’s more worrying. Those processes. They say tap water in 2021 has already been through 6 humans 🤷🏻♂️🌎
What I’m most impressed by , is the knowledge to create these machines , to coincide with each other to take a tree and make it into plywood . Amazing !!
the knowledge? they destroying new trees to make a crap product...... not to mention they could make it after using the tree as lumber for 100 years THEN DO THIS NONSENSE.
Incredible
Very cool footage. A super-important step is that the individual plies are layered with the wood grain of each at 90-degree angles to the sandwiching layers. This is the entire point of making the plies in the first place. This alternating of the wood grain in each layer is what gives plywood its tensile strength.
Yes, good point. I don’t remember them showing how that step gets accomplished.
I get your point, but if the sheets are cut into 4 X 8 the same way you could not do that. Half the sheets would need to be cut the other way.
@@johnklekotka1028 at 6.11 in doco
@starpawsy Exactly, the grain patterns would have to be alternated prior to cutting into 4x8 size. Also, if they're cut to 4x8 prior to lamination what is the cutting process after lamination? Wouldn't that result in sheets smaller than 4x8?
Yep, I worked in a plywood mill for 15 years.
“Ever wonder how plywood is made?”
No, never. But go on.
Bwahahahahahahahaha Dude that was my first thought when I started it up.
Bruh I literally always think how do they make plywood
@@gorilla1624 I work construction. I deal with plywood daily. hilarious
I do to but I never knew how it was made
First thought 😁
All the machinery and stuff made for this mega factory looks so intricate and complicated, the engineers behind this are quite incredible
engineers for this an literally everything you can even imagine.. WOW
Such creativity
@@thegamingrepublic7014 I know right
@@r3driftяф
I was a core operator at Boise cascade in medford. OR. We layed slivers of 4' long pieces perpendicular to the 8x8 sheets and it was the most physical job I've ever had and hot. Even in the winter time it was over 100° up on that platform. The line never stopped! 8 straight hrs of GO! 2 ten min breakers and 1, 20 when you relief felt like relieving you.
We worked as a team and you didn't want to piss anyone off because then you'd be the last to be relived.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us.
Guys like you keep society going, thank you! It's a small underappreciated thing but it's true. Plywood and wood products and hard work are appreciated!
I just left the Medford plant to go to RVP as a curtain coater! 😂
Did you ever get hurt? 😢
Sweat shop job
Amazing the precision they build machines with. Never in my life had I thought of cutting a tree into a “ribbon”. Jaw dropping amazing.
Haven't you ever used toilet paper?....same principle!
perhaps you were smart enough not to destroy entire logs to make plywood.. and even if you really wanted to turn entire trees into plywood.... we could use them for a 100 years before ruining them like this.... and still make crappy products like this after.. with the same wood.
They forgot to include the last step after packaging, the warping process! The warping process occurs in transit, from when they left production until their stocked for resale. The wood was flat when it left production but because of the strap on each end of a 4x8, the sheets become warped/bowed in the middle. New plywood, pre-warped for your enjoyment.
What about the bowed and twisted 2x4s they want full price for? 🤦♂️
That's not how it warps. At all.
If the ambient heat & humidity are at a certain point in relation to the moisture content of the veneer, or if some of the veneer had too much moisture, the panels will warp as they cool coming out from the press. Usually happens due to moisture, but can easily happen if the hot plywood cools off too quickly.
@Peter Evans where are you from? Haha plywood here 4’x8’ going for around 60$ right now, and peaked around $85
@Peter Evans you might be thinking of particle board.
@Peter Evans It's not scrap, they have to glue it to make large flat sheets. You don't don't shit. Scrap wood would be all the off cuts that is then glued and pressed together like paper to make particle board.
Great video tour without talking, the sounds alone are wonderful to hear. The text was just right and good pace. It felt like being there and seeing the overall process helps bring an appreciation of how this product is produced. You guys set the bar high on quality and detail. Great job!
Perfectly said by you also . Thank you 🙏🏼
I’ve been in the construction business 40 years, watching that process was very informative thank you.
theyre destroying entire brand new logs to make plywood and not one of them thought maybe we could do ANYTIHNG with the logs before destroying them for a garbage product lol. heck we could make plywood with them after using as beams or something for 100 years first..
-- So tell us professor... where do you plan on getting all of these "beams" to use instead of raw logs to keep up with the demand for plywood every single day across the country and the world? And who is going to pay to salvage those beams and somehow process them if they are large enough to actually use? Clearly, you haven't thought this one through!
- Max Giganteum
That's the most factory sounding factory I've ever heard
I like it though, just the intricacies in every machine is amazing.
😂😂😂
Come to a yarn manufacturer.. if you want loud.
I used to work in regular old sawmill on and off for a couple of years, oh boy can you hear them from some distance
@ 2:17
Can we take a moment to appreciate this guy playing "The Devil in I" by Slipknot?🤘👏👏👏
Icona pop at 4:21
A lady you mean, you can tell by her hand
No because slipknot sucks.
@@Louzahsol you sir are factually incorrect
I came here specifically searching for other metal heads
The engineering that makes this happen is astonishing
powerful and precise
@john boy what if I don't believe you
@Ariyan Ahmed did you see who I replied to? Did you put 2 and 2 together that I was joking?
Engineers rely on other professions to do their work. My brother who is a Mechanucal Engineer called himself a "Catalogue Engineer" as he found information and made orders from business catalogue.
Remember, a complicated factory like this needs Builders, Structural Engineers, Architects. Scientists, wood Technolgists, etc.
@@emanuelmifsud6754 And machinists to make the machines.
I just want to take a moment to express my gratitude for the absence of annoying and pointless music and voiceover. Thank you.
2:17
That lumber being cut into a flat sheet in two seconds is very impressive!
"Have you ever wondered how plywood is made?" Honestly, no, but I'm going to watch this anyway and be amazed!
I was actually kinda disapointed. These aren't really sheets of plywood but engineered joists. Play wood has layers of ply with the wood grain alternating in direction. That's what gives sheets of plywood their strength. These are engineered joists used in structural applications where the span or required strength exceeds the capabilities of standard dimensional lumber. I was confused thinking "so when are they gonna show us the alternate layering"
Specially at 1am after a few beers
I have
“Fly wood” is an awesome name for a weewee.
Have you ever wondered how penguins have sex?
I can imagine James Bond being tied to this thing
Do you expect me to talk?
@@Xofttam No! I expect you to be painted yellow!
Bond wnk
Hahahahah
I would tell you, Mister Bond, what lies in wait for you inside this machine, but you'd be bored stiff.
As a kid, I joined my father twice to visit St. Regis’s logging operation in WA and a smaller mill’s in Maine. He was the companies’ banker at First National City Bank, so he got the royal treatment (and his spoiled kid, too). I never looked at a piece of paper or lumber the same way again afterwards. It’s valuable to see the supply chain and all the people, skills and machines that go into it. We met a lot of people who were missing fingers!
Worked in a similar factory in New Zealand for a short period of time. This brought back good memories as I always found it very interesting watching the different processes that were required.
I worked in the finishing off department where we puttied any holes and regraded sheets prior to repacking. Though very laborious it was one of the many necessary processes required to making a quality product. Thanks for this, most appreciated.
I worked in a brickyard in college. Kiln was 150 yards long with about 2400 stacked and interleaved bricks on an 8x8 railcar that was continuously pushed through 24/7. I worked on the sorting and stacking and those we did on Monday were way cooler than those on Friday.
Here in the u.s. we get poorly glued sheets that are not puttied an pay a huge markup.
I purchased 4 sheathing sheets at $298.00 after tax, it was the absolute cheapest an thinnest I could get!
Then again I can thank the politicians I didn't vote for who have dropped the country into it's grave so we are the laughing stock of the world.
I'll take back Bush Sr., Cliton, an Trump back or anyone better!
Do you have vacant on any position in your factory in New Zealand I'm interested
wow and not one of these fools thought to use the tree for something else before making this garbage out of brand new perfectly good logs
Funny you asking that as that factory only recently closed it was owned by a Japanese company.@@markjaysonenorme1058
It's good to know that they still make it out of wood, I even thought they were making it out of gold now, based on the price increase
Thank Wall St. Too bad we couldn't send some big investors through this mill 😈
It is the most sought after products in developing countries now due to heavy construction,no wonder I saw paupers getting rich by trading in these plys.
Lol
well said.
Y'know from what 'I' hearD the price increase is from a lack of Shipping Containers (!)
(A guy who works at the piers in Philadelphia down here said the HUGE warehouse is FULL of wood that's come off the ships there BUT they can't get it out the door because there's been the ongoing
lack of containers to ship everything ouT with.
Love to see the process never seen it before just wondering what’s the yellow paint for never purchased a sheet a plywood with yellow paint on it. Thanks
Yes, the yellow paint. That was my question too, why the yellow paint. I am not in the USA and I have never seen yellow paint on any plywood in any of the countries I have lived or visited.
I have never seen plywood yellow paint on it. Makes me wonder if it's for keeping moisture out as it is shipped, maybe on shipping container boats or through humid parts of the world. Then it is washed off somehow at distribution?
I've never seen yellow paint on plywood but then again, I've never seen 15 layers of 1/8" plies or 1 7/8" thick plywood either so it must be made for a specific use.
More like a wash. Anti bugs.
I just looked it up. It helps with weather issues... must be used for the outer surfaces of a project.
Worked in a Plywood Mill in the late 80s early 90s. Once the veneer came out of the dryer The Spreading/gluing was done by hand. The press(where I worked) was a 40 foot high elevator loaded and off loaded by hand. Automation has come a long ways since then. Most stations back then took multiple people to operate. And a shift had about 50 employees.
Today, with advancements in technology and automation, the plywood industry has become more efficient and streamlined. It's incredible to think about how far we've come in terms of reducing labor requirements and improving production processes. Thanks for sharing this glimpse into the past of plywood manufacturing!
Thank you for sharing
people doing different things now. Technicians for the machines mostly.
Crazy that they were paying 50 employees and it was still a fraction of the cost.
This isnt plywood, these are structural beams and headers called Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL)
I dont see the alternating stacking at right angles which id expect from plywood.
Still plywood, LOL
@@stallionranchwoodworks im not an expert - how do you define plywood and are there different types or categories of plywood?
Just because it has a specific dimension does not mean it isn't plywood.... Remember, these LVLs were giant thick sheets before being gang cut to dimension!
@@danielkim9436 plywood is the multiple layers of wood glued to together to create a sheet good. It can consist of 3 plys all the way to 15 plys for a good baltic birch plywood.
I love how when it shows the operator, they're listening to Slipknot-The Devil in I. 🤘🏻🤘🏻
Haha! Paused the video to see if anyone else noticed it was Slipknot haha. Rock on!
I’m pretty sure the operator you’re referring to is a lady. 💯😎
@@7Nahshon yes she is a lady.
Haha, noticed the same immediately 🤣
Just about to comment that!😸
I make the glue used in this plywood manufacturing process. Extremely expensive raw materials involved in the resin manufacturing side of it. Was really cool to see how it was applied and pressed.
I wish we could buy such good glues for small job fabrication.
I used to live near Southampton England where Borden Chemicals made marvellous adhesives for aero and boatbuilding. One day in the 70s some air pressure fault blew the fine powder resin out if a large silo and across town WHOOPS. a lot of resprays and replacement windows needed after that mishap.
Now whatevet happened to Borden and Casco Cascamite glues I don't know but the modern retail offering is worthless. I think it was either a water activated casein glue or a phenolic resin . Whichever, a boat made with it stayed together and Cascamite was our only glue legal for aircraft construction . I see on U Tube the lady who makes Culver Props (worth watching her at work on UT) had problems sourcing adhesives . Famous as she is someone got her a substitute in the US .
@Rathlin Postman @Rathlin Postman
Yes, the problem with smaller business customers here in New Zealand is that they can't purchase enough glue to make it worthwhile for glue manufacturers, forcing them to buy overpriced low quality glue retail. Our Phenol-Formaldehyde based resins, which are used in marine ply, for example, are made in 18-ton batches, so it wouldn't be worth scheduling reactor time for smaller jobs. Most resisns we make also have a short shelf life, making it difficult for smaller businesses to buy in bulk. The short shelf life is good for us as it protects us from large chemical plants in China or India for example, where they could make it for a lot less. Their Resin would be near expiry by the time it arrived in the country.
@@Finnimagoo ohh it's near bed time here but I really wanted to show appreciation of your quick response.
It seems that you are speaking as an adhesive manufacturer ( true or false?). I find it a pity that the prospects of getting hold of decent materials is a serious limitation on proof of concept designers and prototyping workshops. I suppose these problems are nothing new in the Anna ls of engineering development. It just so VERY frustrating. Lately, and with working in wood, I have used epoxy resins (generally contraindicated for my tasks) to get projects advanced and explain the adhesive dilemma to interested parties.
Dry powdered resins were always a mainstay. I wondered if Chinese manufactures would be interested in producing small containers for retail.
Generally I find Chinese suppliers most helpful with responsive technical desks and reasonable delivery times. Moreover where kit has arrived damaged, restitution is a phone call away. Some of our UK sources could take a lesson in customer service.
I thought at some point the veneer sheets would have to be rotated in different directions before being stacked and glued together, otherwise the grain of all the layers of the veneer would be in the exact same directions and the plywood sheet would be especially prone to cracking alone that single grain direction. So, what happened to rotating the sheets of veneer to change the wood grain direction from one layer to the next?
The engineering behind these mills are remarkable.
The way it turned from a log to a wood ribbon was very mesmerizing !
I was trying to figure out how dod that machine turn a log into a sheet a paper it’s insane
@@viitheforeigner the same way you peel a carrot
You should watch a menien lathe, the plant I worked I had a 2.5m and a 3.1m lathe, and 2 50 meter roller jet dryers.
@@justincameron9123 :: no more FieldTrips for you, Justin ! Once the logs are roughly cylindrical, 100” knives “ROTARY PEEL” the logs to about 3/16” sheets……….that is why the ‘book~matched/sequenced~matched pattern repeats. Choice woods like Teak, Walnut, Oak, are intentionally laid up into finished panels this way for the visual effect around a room, or on doors, etc.. At one time a Portland firm imported 3/16” x50” x 100” very beautiful rotary~cut mahogany plywood cores that many boat builders desired for appearance and flexibility………and that’s all I know, Justin. Me Voy.
Interesting how all this processing and the purchase, operation and maintenance of all this machinery still results in a product substantially cheaper than solid hardwood
All propped up by the futures markets. Once the futures collapse, everything shuts down for real.
This is probably true just somewhere. In Europe, especially in Czech Republic plywood is much more expensive than hardwood
@@digisneed7892 It’s coming…..
91usd. a sheet for 25/32 plywood. Was bitching last year when re sheated my roof when it was 28$ a sheet.
@@digisneed7892 these are real capital investments. A plywood mill makes products that are actually needed, it's not speculation, jeez.
Excellent! Thanks so much for NOT having music!! Best of luck!
“Yeah. I need this fat round tree to be skinny and flat.”
Say no more fam.
Two thumbs up for flat trees!
Didnt realize people say: “say no more fam”
Say no more fam
I’m guessing someone a really long time ago probably actually said that. I wonder who it was and when?
I'm impressed how is made it ,not because of the plywood it self,but whoever invented those machines to make the plywood is a genius.
Yeah I agree, they're a genius.
I wonder how did they do it.
Your answer is proven true. The absolute mind power to construct machinery to make a material it-self is a mystery to the blueprint of the machine that remains in that genius mind.
Must ask Weinstein how they did it
@@championshipworldwrestling2740 Weinstein could call himself a so called master, but, the only achievement he made was having his name known as loco to all public.
The capital expenditure to build such a factory must be huge! Amazing how this is all controlled and throughout the process.
Got to tax the hell out of those billionaires! What? There will not be any sources of that capital? OH NO! But hordes of homeless will have fat EBT cards!
The one in grayling Michigan built over 2017-2019 was a 600 million dollar project. It's a particle board plant. The maintenance is what blows my mind.
@@glasslinger Who is John Galt?
"Going Galt" means recognizing that the needs of others do not give them a claim to your time, effort, and achievements. "Going Galt" means shrugging off unearned guilt, refusing to support your own destroyers, refusing to give them what Ayn Rand termed "the sanction of the victim.".
No wonder plywood costs $100 a sheet
@@nemideergoon1844 , OMG, agreed on the maintenance. can you imagine ?? must be a forever F nightmare.
Really cool. One question: since all the sheets are rectangular and laid atop each other, won't all the grains be in the same direction, leading to a weak product?
Good observation. Funny enough plywood has a directionality. There are markings on the plywood that detail the strength when installed one way vs another.
The engineer will detail which way they want the plywood.
The engineer can also call out "cross band", a much more expensive product because of the extra steps. Each layer is perpendicular to the next.
Normally crossband is used in floor diaphram construction, as the forces acting on the floor are symmetrical.
Thanks, you have to admire the Engineers who design and build these machines. I would not like the job of maintenance manager.
Thanks for the factory tour.
I was thing that exact thing. Lots of dirty, gooey stuff in that factory.
I was thinking of you're in there doing maintenance and it turns on you're instantly dead
@Peter Evans The implication is that the end-purchaser is getting ripped off. Let’s be fair here. The cost of goods sold (wood + manufacturing costs) is only part of the equation. The manufacturer has storage costs (building, staff, sales, etc.). They sell to at least one other level of distribution for a smaller price than you’ve quoted. The channel participant has their storage, transportation, employee and other costs. This level of channel participant sells at a wholesale price to a retailer. The retailer charges the exorbitant price to the end-purchaser and hopefully makes a profit after their brick-and-mortar costs, employees, advertising, etc.
You also haven’t mentioned that there is more than one plywood manufacturing company in the world. If Plywood Company A sells their product at too high of a price, either because they are terrible people or because they are covering inefficient manufacturing costs, then Plywood Company B will do its best to sell products of similar or better quality at lower prices.
I think the retail price is more reasonable than you imply.
@Peter Evans you should have said that the first time.
@Peter Evans This is pretty funny. When I read Internet comments that say unsubstantiated things I’m supposed to believe them if they “use numbers”? I’m supposed to believe they know more than I do? 87.4% of internet comments are just made up and 67% of internet commenters are full of bull. Do you believe me? Do I know more than you do? I used numbers didn’t I?
So much goes into something we take for granted. Very grateful we have this technology.
You would never believe what's involved to get your stove to light.🤪
@@1953mr Then you'd be paying 5 times the price for houses.
@@1953mr why waste the manpower? Why not release the human resource to sectors where they are needed and fewer advancements have been made? Jobs for the sake of jobs doesn’t improve an economy despite what your politician or fed chairman might say. Jobs are a metric of the economy, “creating” unnecessary jobs is a waste of human capital. It may improve the lot for that individual, but it makes society as a whole poorer.
Where do they insert the gold and diamond dust? I missed that part.
🤣👍
"proprietary"
Thanks!
I didn’t see where the standard 4x8 sheets were being made. Looked like they just turned them all into LVL’s
I was going to say 6:30-7:30 but than realized the standard plywood around here is 1/4-3/4"inches those looked like 2-3" full inches thick 🤨 wth?
They are not regular sized
I now see that even in (some?) metric countries, we’re actually still using feet here: our plywood (for household use) comes in sheets sized 122cm x 244cm. And that is 4ft x 8ft… What a wonderful insight on a Sunday morning.
@@pjotrtje0NL in the UK the plywood comes in sheets 122cm x 244cm but plasterboard sheets are 120cm x 240cm since studs are normally at 60cm spacings. Caught my neighbour out when he put the studs in and had to remove 2cm from the long side of every plywood sheet.
was thinking the same
Amazing!!! How marvelous that the entire process is automated.
If they are painted yellow, how do we up buying natural color plywood on stores?
Gotta be a "fire grade" product
@@francom6230 I really wish I had read a few more comments to get to yours before asking that same question. Thank you.
Great stuff! What is the purpose of the yellow paint? Is it just for branding?
The engineering required to manufacture any of these mass produced products, regardless of what they are, is simply amazing.
Who ever calibered that saw to the speed of the conveyor at the final cut nice freakin job buddy
You got that right
👍
I think his name is Steve
No kidding. I was like... what the hell? Am I seeing this right? I watched it twice
Steve Dave is one to credit there
"I can make you a machine that paints the last edge of the stacked plywood"
Owner: "No, my son needs a job. Just go give him a paint roller"
😂😂😂
The best one was the guy just sitting there with a compressed air gun spraying the sheets coming out of the machine. That's literally his career.
Rolling marks by hand is a quality control issue. Mills are very poorly insulated and typically hot, so you run the risk of paint explosions and leakage
😆😂🤣 👍
It's scary
Amazing! The real crisp thing is the original sound in the video.
I worked for a plywood plant in Texas in the mid 80's. I was out in the log yard and would switch from swing saws to barkers. One of the best jobs I've ever had :) Hard work but fun!
That’s so cool 😎
Pretty slick. The machinery amazes me.
That's fantastic! The big concern with plywood lately seems to be the glues. You could leave old sheets of plywood out in the rain for months and they'd hold up surprisingly well. Newer plywood and OSB are said to swell up and delaminate. Is this the result of an EPA regulation?
Chinese efficiency.
probably
Back in the day more glue was used than necessary, causing outgassing of formaldehyde from the plywood sheets (a known carcinogen) for months or even years. Regulation mainly mandated running a tighter manufacturing process resulting in much less outgassing after installation.
I got to tour a plywood plant in person. Amazing machinery that has to all work together to get out a quality product. Truly a feat of engineering.
Yeah, i went on one in central CA. Lots smaller, more hand work too. They made walnut and other hardwood veneered sheets. Unbelievably loud.
Neatest thing i ever watched. Thanks. I am 66 years old. Been in construction all my life. Never new
Did my engineering internship at a mill exactly like this. Seeing the process in person is amazing
What’s the maintenance like? How’s the reliability of the machines
One of my first jobs was doing IT work in a sawmill and production operation, totally agree the amount of process engineering that goes into one of those setups and keeping it all running is amazing. Modern sawmills are full of impressive engineering.
@Tech Outsider: That's awesome and congratulations!
@@revere0311 honestly the reliability of them is pretty decent. Yeah you had down time for broken parts but that’s expected. With a solid preventative maintenance schedule and a good team running them it can do wonders
@@revere0311 bad
Thats cool, i worked at a sawmill in the late 60s, we made just different size boards. I liked working there plus i could operate every different saw, my favorite was the chipper.
@@ObscureStuff420 LOL! I came here to comment same 🤣
Bruuuuhbbh
That's laminated veneer lumber , not plywood, Plywood has alternating grain layers, LVL's do not.
Ah, I wondered where I missed the rotating step.
Also, why do they paint it yellow? I thought the top veneer of the plywood was the most important one. Or does this serve other purposes?
Once I saw the ending part I started thinking thesame thing
@@sanderd17 I think it’s painted to act as a sealer.
Says who??
I figure plywood also isnt coated in yellow paint
Thank You. This really helps me understand the high cost of plywood.
very interesting and educational. Thank you. The part I'll like best is when all lumber becomes affordable by normal humans because now it isn't.
Cabinet grade 3/4 4x8 sheet only 59.00 at lowes
OSB 4x8 was $55 a few weeks ago . It’s coming down slowly . It was $24 a sheet a year and a half ago . Had a new roof put on,glad I had it done then. Everything is over priced now
@Andrew lol
@Andrew the trees were planted to havest u dope. Fast growing pines. As for meat, humans evolved as meat eaters. U cant act like u care about nature, then say 'nature isnt doing it right!"
Dude listening to slipknot in the mill. Legendary.
Yea I heard that 2 the devil in i
So awesome!
R.I.P JOEY
Of all the songs these people didn't edit out. Left that song then back to factory noises.🤡
Who is slipsnot?
I have no one favorite part of the process: the whole thing is amazing!
Plywood is an amazing product. It's light, dimensional stable, and very strong. New processes and adhesives make a good product, a great product. I was confused on one thing. I had always thought that during layup, individual veneers are stacked with alternate direction of grain. For example, grain up / down first, left / right second, up / down, third and so on. Looks like all 4 x 8 sheets of veneer have grain running in same direction. Its different layers with glue where the strength comes from.
I thought about the same thing.
@@haydendoan7691 Thank you.
Love that the dude was listening to slipknot, what a legend
Agreed😂😂
Plywood was invented a long time ago,we are only amazed now how it is done.very very good technology
I used to work in a plywood factory. Ours was a much smaller operation, and we didn’t process the logs into veneer, instead we got the veneer by truck from a separate plant. So our process started with the stacks of wet veneer being fed into the dryer. When they came out they went thru the moisture detector, and anything too wet got a red paint stripe and had to go thru the dryer again. They then went down a conveyor where they were inspected (my job) and put into different stacks depending on grade. From there all the pieces less than 4 feet wide (random widths but still 8 feet long) would be cut in half into 4 foot lengths for making core, which runs crossways to the 4x8 stack. The core veneer then went to the glue spreader, which had rubber rollers coated with glue that would coat both sides of the core veneer. The veneer was manually fed into the spreader and manually caught on the other side and manually laid up in a stack between 4x8 full sheets, as many layers as necessary to get the necessary thickness. The guys doing the layup process were amazingly fast and got paid bonuses for production. After layup, the stacks of assembled veneer went to the hot press where they were inserted into slots by 2 guys on an elevator platform with pusher sticks. Once all slots were full, the press was started. It would clamp down at full pressure and hold it for so many minutes before releasing, then the press operators would push the plywood out the back of the press and load the next batch. The stack of plywood then was taken to the cooling area where it was left for hours to cool down. After cooling, it went to the saw line where each board was planed to the correct thickness and trimmed to exact dimensions. Finally it got a stamp showing where it came from and what shift made it and then stacked, banded and stored in the warehouse ready for shipping. This was not finish grade plywood so it didn’t have to have knots patched or anything like that.
I work at a plywood mill currently. Our system is similar to your experience, except for a few things.
We do peel our own veneer on site, and clip strip core out of the ribbons as well as sheets.
Our glue set-up is different, using cascading glue heads.
We only have 1 press operator per shift. Lucky me (swing Press Op).
And we trim the pressed panels hot, straight out of the presses. Go through the saw line to be sorted into CDX, TruPly, dunnage, Shop, etc., then to the strapper, stenciler, and doubler.
What happens to all the excess that is trimmed off?
@@gobdeep all the big pieces are used by patching them together to form a 8x4 sheet. And the small pieces are used as fuel.
@@spencerferrier3857 Do you have to load the press by hand, or is that automated? The press where I worked could be operated by one man, but it was not easy! They may have done the trimming on hot boards where I worked, just not when I was there. The saw line only ran during the day shift, so the afternoon and night shift production got stacked up until the next day. The saw line was highly automated with a single operator and could keep up with the 24 hour production in only 1 shift.
@@gobdeep Where I worked the excess was chipped and shipped off-site, I’m not sure where. Some plants use the waste to fire a steam boiler for heating the dryer and/or hot press.
Greetings. Just a question. When I work with plywood, I see that every other layer, the grain is flipped 90 degrees. This certainly adds to the strength of the plywood. But I didn't see any part of the assembly which flipped / twisted the veneers to create the most strong plywood.
I wondered the same thing
Wow what an amazing process, all respect to the companies that fund and set up this incredible system
you make it sound downright benevolent.
@@gedofgont well they would have to be very successful to cover the risk and cost of this huge process setup
.,
Judging by the current prices I would have guessed it was made from ancient and rare trees that went extinct a century ago.
The trees are rare... Just not ancient anymore.
@@jorgesalgado3646 trees are not rare lol. Come to the eastern side of the US, or go to Canada. Enough trees to build several billion mansions for the entire world population.
Well they are getting rarer, were cutting down faster then they can grow.
@@pimcramer2569 if you look deeper into it you'd find that companies who cut down trees plant double the amount and do it in a way that promotes fast regeneration of forests
@@pimcramer2569 Clueless democrat.
Really amazing! Does anyone know why they are painted yellow at the end?
7:03 the rolling blade cutting perfectly perpendicular lines while the wood is still in motion also impresses me
Never did wonder, but once you asked the question, I watched the video all the way through! I love “behind the scenes” videos of how things work and are made! Thanks!
Well can they now lower the price back to normal.
@ Tim its almost 70 dollars for a piece of plywood here in Vegas
@@madteyahoo
$70 U.S!? Holy Crap. I'm assuming you're talking about 1/2"...
@@madteyahoo That's about what I paid for 5/8 in the Midwest a week ago.
I paid $67 for a sheet of 3/4 maple ply while the 3/4 sob was at $73.??? Figure that one out????
@@40intrek maple plywood isn't in demand .the suppliers had plenty if that left from before the pandemic .
That was awesome. Can't say enough about technology and how it's used to better humanity.
Could make things better. Technology will be humanity's downfall
The real genius behind this process is the designers of these machines, just remarkable.
That's a mega operation ! With such a large amount of machinery and with even larger number of moving parts, I wonder how complex the upkeep/maintenance of it would be....That would make for an interesting watch too...
Not as interesting as you think. It's a routine of changing X and Y parts and/or sharpening blades every Z hours of operation.
The amount of maintenance at that dryer is crazy with all those chains and sprockets. Great to see.
That almost made me uneasy to imagine working on it.
"So what do you do for a living?" "Well, you know the yellow paint on the end of a plywood stack at Lowes and Home Depot..." 😂
"I'm the guy that supervises the painter"
@@NumquamDeorsum So were you hired in, or was it 🪜 a “ladderal” move🪜 🎨🤣🤣🤣🥰🥰🙃!!!
@@Larita334 i saw what you did there kkkk
What a process! Always fascinating to see how things are made. Heavy industrial engineering went into all those machines.
Could you imagine the catastrophic kickback potential within the slasher platform?
Now if they would lower their prices back to Jan 2020 I could finish building my house!
Well sure but interest rates is on the rise. So be prepared for a recession
@@ezicarus8216 I watch the Lumber price every day. Down near $500/kbf now but yards and big boxers still are sitting on high price inventory. I'll probably buy end of the month..
@@coachwilson5967 i wonder how inflation is gonna effect lumber prices
what I'd like to see is the clean-up of each machine and the maintenance.
Maintenance? Ha! The only time they see that is when they break!
No maintenance they would lose too much money these are run 24-7 believe me.
@@Protein33 everything needs maintenance cause, nothing lasts forever, like the human body so to keep it running as long as it can every once in a while they have to turn that machine off someone comes in and look things over. ''QUE NO!".
@@zggtf211 No one wants to pay for a new machine so, you fix what's broken just like a car just because you blew the radiator or flatten a tire, doesn't mean you're going to buy a new car or new machine especially how things are right now.
@@goaheadmakemyday9859 yes but not as you would think, I worked were insulation fiber glass pallets were made and we would run just two shifts of 12 hour each shift, my was from 6 pm until 6 am then day shift would keep running the machine. The only down time was when the machine would change the size dimensions of the boards how thick the customer wanted and we would add wood in between the fiber glass. The only day the machine would be turned off was a Sunday or for cleaning other than that it would run non stop.
I was a painter for Timberjack, later bought by John Deere, I painted forest equipment for almost twenty years, it’s incredible the things humans can manufacture, Engineers are the unsung heroes behind these incredible machines.
This was an awesome video as I have always been interested in "wood" and desire to have this type of operation simulated on my model RxR. This will help me decide how to arrange the buildings and for what purpose. I'll probably watch this video many times. Thank you for sharing.
Who designs these machines ?
AMAZING 😄
Europeans
These types of machines always absolutely fascinate me! Really impressive how people come up with the idea for them and put it all together! Way beyond my skill set but still awesome 😆
They’re more impressive to me than the plywood getting made!
That's what makes it awesome!
I was a new guy working construction in Wisconsin 20 odd years ago and I'd see these pallets of plywood still almost steaming going onto a house, hot to the touch in winter. Amazing how fast they go from standing trees to installed in houses.
This is one of those factories that you get your hand caught on something you’re freaking tortured before you die, like poured hot glue onto then squished like a pancake
Main thing to remember in a place like this is don’t put your hands where you wouldn’t put your nuts and if the machine starts fighting you let it win because it will
Lee, in the early 1990s in the town of Scotia, Humboldt County California, which is on the Pacific Coast. 3 men were killed in a saw mill accident. They climbed onto a large hopper for de-barking logs. Another worker walked by and noticed that the power was shut off and he turned on the switch. Two if the men killed were related, father-in-law and son-in-law.
@@cardo718 Ummm lock out tag out anyone? Guy I know saw a guy go though a wood chipper when he was s a kid. Sprayed the guy right into the pile of chips.
@@cardo718 ah fk... I didn't need that image and actual guilt feeling that I can empathize now, before sleeping. Even though I often watch horror movies before going to bed (fun)
I always thought they alternated the direction of the grain as they stacked them, but according to this they don't.
Seems not. If they are all 8x4 they can’t be 90deg
@@Cous1nJack I thought the same thing myself. Maybe the plywood sheets were intended for a single directional loading.
I'd like to thank all the men like myself who keeps this world turning. The convenience of life that we have created is amazing.
All the amazing automated stations ending with Barry & his trusty paint roller 😅👍
If a robot is about to replace you. Just throw a net at it. Robots hate nets. They can't figure out how to get it off.😂😂😂
7:42
Vandalism of the workers caricaturing the supervisor
"GRRR"
My favourite part :)
Crazy amount/cost of processing equipment required & to keep running. Makes plywood seem not so expensive.
salute to those people who created these machines.
looks like the whole logs can be turned to a plywood in a single day.
That truck was carrying like 500 million dollars of plywood, with the 2021 prices 🥲😂
And to knock off a plywood truck is easier than a Brinks truck.
Do I sense a plan forming? I want in 😆
@@benteich Oceans 4 x 8’s
@@redsoxvette love the name. Haha. we build a lot of barns, so if we can grab a truck full of 2x4s and 2x6s, that would be great, as those are ones we use a ton of.
Ya, and all will sit on shelves. TILL THE BASTARDS LOWER THE GOD DAMN PRICES OF WOOD !!!! DO NOT BUY WOOD RIGHT NOW TILL THEY LOWER PRICES !!!