Columbia Forest Products is North America’s leading producer of veneer core hardwood plywood, manufacturing fine decorative plywood products and servicing the US and Canada for more than 65 years.
General Veneer Core Attributes
Veneer core panels are made with alternating veneer inner plies. In North America, the innerply species are usually softwood (fir or pine) on the west coast and poplar or aspen on the east coast. Veneer core panels are relatively light in comparison with composite panels, typically weighing about 70 lbs. per 3/4″ panel. Veneer core offers great strength and stability with better spanning properties than either PBC or MDF. Veneer core does have a wider variance in thickness in comparison with highly engineered PBC or MDF. Additionally, this core is not as forgiving with today’s thinner face veneers; varying degrees of core transfer is possible depending on the surface veneer or core construction specified. For high-end, plain sliced woods, standard or premium two-step constructions are recommended to reduce core telegraphing.
Columbia’s 100% veneer core products offer a variety of panel construction options to satisfy a range of quality and price point needs as directed by a specific application:
Standard One-Step
Comprised of 100% regional species core* (aspen, poplar or fir, depending on your region) in a line-by-line construction. This traditional veneer core construction is predominantly used for commodity rotary panels and is suitable for use with faces of dark colored commodity sliced woods such as red oak or cherry. Standard one-step veneer core construction in Maple and Birch is a retail/do-it-yourself favorite.
Premium MPX® One-Step
Combination of regional species core* with smooth HP-1 J-grade outer crossbands selected for uniform color and surface smoothness next to the face and back, assembled in a line-by-line construction. Recommended for value-priced UV Wood panels, and suitable for use with faces of lighter-colored sliced woods, sap birch and sap rotary maple unfinished panels as well as high-grade rotary and dark sliced UV Wood panels. Available at additional upcharge. Ask your Columbia representative for details.
Standard Two-Step
Platforms comprised of 100% regional species core* are sanded before they are assembled with the face and back. Pre-sanding gives two-step panels a tighter thickness tolerance than one-step. Suitable for use with faces of darker premium sliced woods where color variation from outer crossbands is not a concern, such as cherry, alder, red oak, walnut and hickory. Works well for high-grade rotary and dark sliced UV Wood panels.
Premium Two-Step
Platforms comprised of the regional species core* with J-grade outer crossbands are selected for uniform color and surface smoothness and then sanded before they are assembled with the face and back. Pre-sanding gives two-step panels a tighter thickness tolerance than one-step, outperforming industry standards. Suitable for use with faces of lighter-colored premium sliced woods such as high-end maple, anigre, sycamore and sap birch. The uniformity of these premium panels ensures better fitting components and even finish applications.
*The platform and core species is determined by the types of trees that grow in the region of manufacture. The regional species core choices will be either fir or pine cores in western US and Canada, aspen cores in northern US and Canada as well as parts of the central US, and poplar cores will be used in the south and eastern US (click on map to enlarge). Ask your Columbia representative from which regional mill your product will ship. Mill locations.
Composite and Imported Veneer Core Platforms
Multi-Layered Panel
This is a specialty all hardwood “European style” high plycount birch veneer core blank. This core is often used for decorative applications where the panel edge is revealed. Applications include drawer sides, children’s furniture, fixture components, and other exposed core profile applications. Many of the multi-layered panels on the market today have added urea formaldehyde. Columbia’s Europly PLUS uses a ULEF platform and the finished product emits below 0.05 ppm and qualifies under composite wood evaluation in LEED® and IFLI Living Building Challenge programs.
Commonly Used Core Applications
| Application | Veneer Core | PBC | MDF | Combi-Core |
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| Bookcases |  |
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| Desk Sides | |
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| Desk Tops | |
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| Drawer Sides and Bottoms | |
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| Furniture Structure | |
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| Furniture Tops | |
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| Kitchen Cabinet Boxes | |
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| Kitchen Cabinet Doors | |
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| Kitchen Cabinet Door Inserts (1/4″) | |
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| Media Centers | |
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| Plaques | |
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| Shelving | |
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| Store Fixtures | |
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| Utility/Storage Cabinetry | |
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| Wall Paneling, High End (>1/4″) | |
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| Wall Paneling, Budget (1/4″) | |