Veneered Particleboard for Scroll Saw Projects

[woodman44]

I have a parkay venneer over particleboard table top. Since I have not started a project yet, I did not know if this wood is usable.
Any advise is certainly welcome

[Mick Walker]

woodman44, were you planning to use it as a backer or cutting a picture out of it? How thick is it? Cutting a scenic picture or portrait most of us use 1/8", 1/4", 3/8" or 1/2". I would try to cut it first. Wood with a lot of glue in it will dull your blades faster.

[woodman44]

Veenered Particleboard

Mick,

Thanks for your reply. My intentions are to make animal puzzles, baskets and bowls. The thickness is 1/2". I hope this helps.

Ken

[Mick Walker]

Ken, I would start with the puzzles to see how it cuts, Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Good luck with it.

[Tenfingers 2]

I wonder if warping would be a problem with only one side vennered. Seems it woud absorb moisture at different rates. Then again finish on both sides would keep that to a minimum.
Try it, you may like it.
I've cut waferboard for a few projects. The glue dulls the blades faster, but it gave me the 'look' I wanted. Blades aren't that expensive.

[woodman44]

Thanks to Mick & Tenfingers for your suggestions. I will give it a Go & see whatt happens.

[jim_mex]

Hi woodman - I would think that particle board will not be too sucessful a material. As has been mentioned, the board contains a lot of glue and also dependent on the quality of the board it can contain a lot of inert 'rubbish'. I've found that particle board in Mexico for example regularly contains small stones and even metal turnings! In general the material will quickly blunt new blades. Particle board also tends to crumble easily especially from the centre of the thickness where the material is usually less compact.

For cutting puzzles where the peices are liable to get a lot of handling I would think that it would soon start to break up. But, as has been suggested, give it try and assess your results.

[JohnB]

G'day woodman,
If I'm correct, over here Particle board = chipboard.
If you scroll it, I'm not sure what you would do with the exposed edges??

[Rolf]

I personaly would not use it for a real project. The veneer is very thin so sanding it is risky. With the exposed edges it would not appeal to me.