Hardboard - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Hardboard, also called high-density fiberboard (HDF), not to be confused with 'hardwood

Hardwood

Hardwood is wood from angiosperm trees . It may also be used for those trees themselves: these are usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen.Hardwood contrasts with softwood...

', is a type of fiberboard

Fiberboard

Fiberboard is known as low density fiberboard is a type of engineered wood product that is made out of wood fibers. Types of fiberboard include particle board, medium-density fiberboard, and hardboard. Fiberboard is sometimes used as a synonym for particle board, but particle board usually refers...

, which is an engineered wood

Engineered wood

Engineered wood, also called composite wood, man-made wood, or manufactured board; includes a range of derivative wood products which are manufactured by binding the strands, particles, fibers, or veneers of wood, together with adhesives, to form composite materials...

product.

It is similar to particle board

Particle board

Particle board, or particleboard , is an engineered wood product manufactured from wood particles, such as wood chips, sawmill shavings, or even saw dust, and a synthetic resin or other suitable binder, which is pressed and extruded...

and medium-density fiberboard, but is denser

Density

The mass density or density of a material is defined as its mass per unit volume. The symbol most often used for density is ρ . In some cases , density is also defined as its weight per unit volume; although, this quantity is more properly called specific weight...

and much stronger and harder because it is made out of exploded wood fibers that have been highly compressed. Consequently, the density of hardboard is 31 lbs. or more per cubic foot (500 kg/m³) and is usually about 50-65 lbs. per cubic foot (800-1040 kg/m³). It differs from particle board in that the bonding of the wood fibers requires no additional materials, although resin

Resin

Resin in the most specific use of the term is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees. Resins are valued for their chemical properties and associated uses, such as the production of varnishes, adhesives, and food glazing agents; as an important source of raw materials...

is often added. Unlike particle board, it will not split or crack. It is used in construction

Construction

In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...

and furniture

Furniture

Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...

. Hardboard is produced in either a wet or dry process. The wet process leaves only one smooth side while the dry processed hardboard is smooth on both sides. It is also the material used by Rolf Harris to make his Wobble board

Wobble board

The wobble board is an instrument popularized by the Australian musician and artist Rolf Harris and featured in his best-known song "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport"...

History and uses

A product resembling hardboard was first made in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

in 1898 by hot pressing waste paper. In the 1900s, fiber building board of relatively low density was manufactured in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. In the early 1920s, improved methods of compressing wet wood pulp at high temperatures resulted in a higher density product.

Unlike solid wood

Solid wood

Solid wood is a term most commonly used to distinguish between ordinary lumber and engineered wood, but it also refers to structures that do not have hollow spaces. Engineered wood products are manufactured by binding together wood strands, fibers, or veneers with adhesives to form a composite...

, hardboard is very homogeneous with no grain. A wood veneer

Wood veneer

In woodworking, veneer refers to thin slices of wood, usually thinner than 3 mm , that are typically glued onto core panels to produce flat panels such as doors, tops and panels for cabinets, parquet floors and parts of furniture. They are also used in marquetry...

can be glue

Glue

This is a list of various types of glue. Historically, the term "glue" only referred to protein colloids prepared from animal flesh. The meaning has been extended to refer to any fluid adhesive....

d onto it to give the appearance of solid wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

. Other overlays include Formica

Formica (plastic)

Formica is a brand of composite materials manufactured by the Formica Corporation now based in Newcastle, Tyne & Wear, a division of the New Zealand company Fletcher Building. In common use, the term refers to the company's classic product, a heat-resistant, wipe-clean, plastic laminate of paper or...

, laminated papers, ceramics, and vinyl

Vinyl polymer

Vinyl polymers are a group of polymers derived from vinyl monomers. Their backbone is an extended alkane chain, made by polymerizing an alkene group into a chain . In popular usage, "vinyl" refers only to polyvinyl chloride...

. It has many uses, such as a substrate. It is used in construction

Construction

, flooring

Laminate flooring

Laminate flooring is a multi-layer synthetic flooring product fused together with a lamination process. Laminate flooring simulates wood with a photographic applique layer under a clear protective layer. The inner core layer is usually composed of melamine resin and fiber board materials...

, furniture

Furniture

, home appliance

Home appliance

Home appliances are electrical/mechanical machines which accomplish some household functions, such as cooking or cleaning. Home appliances can be classified into:*Major appliances, or White goods*Small appliances, or Brown goods...

s, automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

s and cabinetry, and is popular among acrylic and oil painters as a painting surface due to its economical price (though it must be coated with gesso

Gesso

Gesso is a white paint mixture consisting of a binder mixed with chalk, gypsum, pigment, or any combination of these...

or canvas

Canvas

Canvas is an extremely heavy-duty plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, and other items for which sturdiness is required. It is also popularly used by artists as a painting surface, typically stretched across a wooden frame...

before use). It is also used as the final layer in many skateboard ramps and the half-pipe

Half-pipe

A half-pipe is a structure used in gravity extreme sports such as snowboarding, skateboarding, skiing, freestyle BMX, and inline skating. The structure is wood, concrete, metal, earth, or snow. It resembles a cross section of a swimming pool, essentially two concave ramps , topped by copings and...

.

Tempered hardboard is hardboard that has been coated with a thin film of linseed oil

Linseed oil

Linseed oil, also known as flaxseed oil, is a clear to yellowish oil obtained from the dried ripe seeds of the flax plant . The oil is obtained by cold pressing, sometimes followed by solvent extraction...

and then baked; this gives it more water resistance, impact resistance, hardness, rigidity and tensile strength

Tensile strength

Ultimate tensile strength , often shortened to tensile strength or ultimate strength, is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before necking, which is when the specimen's cross-section starts to significantly contract...

. An earlier tempering process involved immersing the board in linseed oil or tung oil

Tung oil

Tung oil or China wood oil is a drying oil obtained by pressing the seed from the nut of the tung tree . As a drying oil, tung oil hardens upon exposure to air. The resulting coating is transparent plastic-like and is exploited in most of its applications, which include wood finishing and the...

until it was 5 to 6 percent saturated, and heating to 170° C (340° F). Tempered hardboard is used in construction siding.

Perforated hardboard

Perforated hardboard

Perforated hardboard is tempered hardboard which is pre-drilled with evenly spaced holes. The holes are used to accept pegs or hooks to support various items, such as tools in a workshop. Pegboard is a brand name of this product that is often used as a generic term for perforated storage boards...

, also called pegboard, is tempered hardboard that has a uniform array of 1/8" or 1/4" holes in it, into which tool-hanging hooks or store fixtures can be placed.

History and uses

See also