AU2010100491B4

AU2010100491B4 - Timber components

Info

Publication number: AU2010100491B4
Application number: AU2010100491A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Jack Andrew Ghiotti; Marshall Ghiotti
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2007-02-01
Filing date: 2010-05-21
Publication date: 2010-08-26
Anticipated expiration: 2015-09-28
Also published as: AU2010100491A4; AU2007219333A1

Description

Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT Name of Applicant: MARSHALL GHIOTTI Actual Inventor(s): MARSHALL GHIOTTI JACK ANDREW GHIOTTI Address for Service: SANDERCOCK & COWIE 180B SLADEN STREET CRANBOURNE VICTORIA 3977 Invention Title: TIMBER COMPONENTS - 1 - - la TITLE: TIMBER COMPONENTS FIELD OF THE INVENTION 5 This invention concerns timber products which are manufactured by finger jointing. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Renovators and carpenters are able to buy softwood strips and narrow boards for interior 10 construction which are finger jointed. These may be offered in smaller lengths, for -2 example 0.9 to 2.7m. They assist the timber industry in that they utilise the sawn timber more profitably by converting stock too small for popular size stock. They assist users in that the product is knot free and planed all round. 5 Despite the mechanical adequacy of such composite products, there is prejudice against them in that the trade may welcome them as a substitute for natural stock with defects, but customers assume the substitution subtracts from the specification. In particular, there is resistance to the appearance of the product. The grain changes in the finished work are evident because the jointing cannot hide the multiple side by side boundaries 10 of the sticks and fingers. Thus table tops, seats, desks, stools, cabinets and other occasional furniture exhibit sticks with fingerjointing but are not as desirable as pieces made from a single board or two joined boards. Side grain and end grain is much less noticeable than the stripes in the grain of the face of the piece. 15 A further problem arises in the construction industry where floors and decks are fastened to bearers usually at 4 50mm centres. Much natural timber is wasted when the supplied lengths, usually in the 3m range, will not span the bearers and off-cuts accumulate. It is possible to supply longer lengths if finger jointed product is used, but the dislike of the striped appearance remains. 20 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The product aspect of the invention provides a composite timber board made of finger jointed sticks butted side by side, veneered on the obverse face of the sticks and 25 optionally reeded on the reverse face of the sticks. The veneer is preferably of the same timber as the component. For furniture where the top face is wider than the available veneer sheet, the veneer is 30 butted or overlapped and slit in known manner. For decking, the width of the component may be 65 -140mm and veneering in an unbroken width presents no difficulty.

-3 For decking, longer lengths tend to be more economically utilised than shorter lengths. Lengths of 4.2-5.7m are preferred. For such lengths where the available veneer sheet may be shorter than the component, it may be necessary to end joint the veneer. For such end jointing, the veneer strip ends may be scarfed. 5 The method aspect of the invention provides a method of making a veneered board made of fingerjointed sticks butted side by side, comprising preparing the obverse face of the sticks to take veneer, adhering a veneer to the obverse face of the sticks and optionally reeding the reverse face of the sticks. 10 Clearly the veneer may be substituted by other sheet materials. Plastic sheet such as pvc printed with timber grain, paper/polymer laminates as used for bench tops, and fibreboard surface finishes and equivalents in that they are applied by the same adhesive step with the result that the finger jointing appearance is rendered invisible. 15 The sides and the remaining face may be additionally veneered at the same time. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 20 One embodiment of the invention is now described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective of part of a prior art table top laminated across the width. 25 Figure 2 is a perspective of the same component with a face veneer. Figure 3 is a perspective of a fragment of a finger jointed billet. Figure 4 is a perspective view of a decking strip sawn from the billet and planed on one 30 face while being reeded on the opposite face. Figure 5 is a perspective view of the component of Figure 4 after veneering over the obverse face.

-4 DETAILED DESCRIPTION WITH RESPECT TO THE DRAWINGS Referring now to Figure 1 and 2 of the drawings, the table top 2 is made of mountain ash finger stock. The glue lines 4 separating the individual sticks 6 across the width are not 5 noticeable in themselves, but the grain ofthe individual sticks draws attention to structure of the piece betraying that it is laminated across the width. When three side by side sheets of ash veneer 8 are adhered to the obverse face of the table top, the colour match is perfect and the grain direction is hardly noticed. 10 Figure 3 shows a portion of a billet 10, 5.7m long and 90mm wide. It is made of multiple layers of kwila sticks 6. The sticks are 200-300mm long but vary in length according to the waste wood availability. Seven side by side sticks sit across the billet width. The sticks are at least 19mm deep along axis A of Figure 3 so that when the billet is bandsawn 15 into 90 x 19mm strips, the strips finish at 19mm. The strip is passed through a thicknesser which planes the obverse face 14 and cuts ribs into the reverse face 16 in known manner in order to dissipate moisture when laid on bearers. The obverse face is coated with a waterproof adhesive and a sheet of kwila veneer 0.6mm 20 thick 18 is applied to the face to produce the product shown in Figure 5. If the available flitch is less than 5.7m, the veneer is scarfjointed. The adhesives and veneer application are described in the literature. The veneer 18 is subject to a fine sanding. The end grain 20 is visible only on the exposed ends of the deck. No grain stripes are 25 evident because the face veneer covers the individual sticks. The same method is used to make a decking strip 130 x 19mm. It is to be understood that the word "comprising" as used throughout the specification is to be interpreted in its inclusive form, ie. use of the word "comprising" does not exclude 30 the addition of other elements. It is to be understood that various modifications of and/or additions to the invention can -5 be made without departing from the basic nature of the invention. These modifications and/or additions are therefore considered to fall within the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A method of making a veneered board made of finger jointed sticks butted side by side, comprising preparing the obverse face of the sticks to take veneer, 5 adhering a veneer to the obverse face of the sticks and optionally reeling the reverse face of the sticks.

2. A method as claimed in Claim 1, including end jointing the veneer in order to cover the length of the board face. 10

3. A composite timber board made of finger jointed sticks butted side by side, veneered on the obverse face of the sticks and optionally reeded on the reverse face of the sticks. 15

4. A timber board as claimed in Claim 3, wherein the veneer is the same timber as the sticks.

5. A timber board as claimed in Claim 3 or 4, wherein the board is a decking strip.