This invention relates to a process for forming a reconsolidated wood product and to a process for forming webs useful in forming such reconsolidated wood product.

Australian Patent Specification. 510,845 describes a process for forming a reconsolidated wood product, the process comprising the steps of partially rending natural wood to form a flexible open lattice work web of naturally interconnected wood strands which are generally aligned along a common grain direction, a substantial proportion of said strands being substan¬ tially discrete but incompletely separated from each other, compressing the web to consolidate the strands whilst maintaining them such as to substantially extend in said original grain direction and bonding said strands together to hold them in juxtapositions assumed pursuant to said consolidation. While the process aforedescribed has been found generally satisfactory, difficulties can sometimes be encountered in handling webs as they are produced

because they become overly large such as overly wide during the rending process.

In accordance with this invention there is provided an improved process of forming a web as described above, wherein the said step of partially rending is effected by passing the natural wood, such as in the form of a log, successively through roller pairs, so that the rollers engage opposed surfaces thereof and effect cracking, wherein, during at least one pass of the natural wood through a said roller pair, the natural wood is divided prior to passage therethrough by engagement with a knife which operates to open the wood along the grain direction.

By this means, which results in division of webs as they are being formed, the width of finished webs can be maintained within desired limits. Alternatively or additionally, the depth of the webs can be controlled by such division. The process of the invention also assists in initial rending of logs, by interrupting the continuity of the log structure, particularly in the case of logs such as pinus radiata having spiral grain structure or massive knot structures.

The invention also provides apparatus for carrying out the process of the invention including a pair of adjacent parallel rollers arranged to present a nip gap therebetween and through which nip gap the natural wood is passed to effect said rending under axial rotation of the rollers, and including a knife positioned to engage and divide the natural wood as it moves to be passed through said rollers.

The invention is further described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a diagram showing the steps in pro- cessing reconsolidated wood products in accordance with the invention described in the aforementioned Australian Patent Specification 510,845; and

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention for processing logs to form webs useful in the process of Figure 1.

Referring firstly to Figure 1, in the process of Australian Patent Specification 510,845 natural wood logs 10 are first partially broken down, being passed successively between rollers 12 of one or more roller pairs to induce cracking and thence progressively open up the log structure to form it into a web of loosely interconnected splinter-like strands (called "splin¬ ters" in Patent Specification 510,845). The resultant web, shown at 14 in Figure 1 is of flexible open lattice work form, individual strands maintaining the original grain direction of the wood. Adhesive is then applied to the webs 14 such as by immersion in a suitable liquid adhesive in a bath 16 as shown. After removal of excessive adhesive, a plurality of webs 14 are assembled together, such as by laying them one over the other in a suitable mould 18. The assemblage of overlaid webs 14 is then compressed in mould 18 such as by compression between the base of the mould and an upper press element 20 as shown, and the adhesive is cured, to form the final product 22.

Product 22 is characterized in that it comprises a plurality of wood strands which remain naturally interconnected and which extend generally in the original grain direction of the wood. The strands are bound together by the adhesive but are positioned in somewhat displaced relative locations as compared with the positions occupied in the original log 10. The product 22 has been found to be particularly satisfac¬ tory as it possesses good mechanical properties, due to the relatively small degradation of the original wood structure which is caused by the process, as well as good nailability and a generally pleasing appearance.

The formation of the intermediate web 14 is of critical importance in practising the above described process; it is necessary to efficiently produce webs in a fashion such that they possess the required open lattice work structure.

Figures 2 and 3 illustrate the manner of formation of webs 14 in the method of Figure 1 as practised in accordance with this invention. As mentioned, the rolling step shown in Figure 1 may be effected using one or more pairs of rollers 12. For simplicity of description. Figure 2 illustrates a passage through two separate roller pairs, a roller pair generally designated by reference numeral 30 and a roller pair generally designated by reference numeral 32. Each of the roller pairs has at least one roller arranged to be driven so- that each roller rotates in the directions indicated thereon, for infeeding of logs 10 therethrough. Figure 2 shows processing by two separate passages through roller pair 30 and then by

two separate passages through roller pair 32. The first two passages labelled " step 1" and "step 2" respectively in Figure 2 are the first two passages effected in proces ^' sing, whilst the second two passages, labelled "step M-l" and "step M" are two consecutive subsequent but not necessarily immediately subsequent passages. Roller pair 30 comprises two rollers 34, 36 which are of relatively larger diameter than the pairs of rollers 38, 40 comprising roller pair 32. The diameters of the rollers 34, 36 are substantially the same, and the diameter of rollers 38, 40 may likewise be the same.

In practice, several passages through rollers 34, 36 may be first effected, preferably these being -carried out in an alternating fashion, that is to say, with first one end of the log 10 being first fed to the roller pair and then the other end being first fed in the next step. For a 100mm pinus radiata log the nip gap between rollers 34, 36 may for example be initially at 50mm. When a sufficient degree of initial breakdown has been achieved, such that the log, although not spread to a very great degree laterally, nevertheless exhibits a substantial degree of cracking, further processing steps may be carried out on the roller pair 32 including the rollers 38, 40 of lesser diameter than rollers 34, 36, that is to say by effecting a series of passages -N... -1, M,M+1.... +P, of which the two passages M-l, M are, as mentioned previously, shown. For the steps M-N...M+P the nip gap is progressively decreased such as through the range 25mm to 2mm for the mentioned 100mm pinus radiata log. A satisfactory end

product is then reached at which the log 10 has been converted into a web 14 having the above-described open lattice work structure.

Figure 2 also ^" shows the provision of a knife 44 associated with the roller pair 32, for the purpose of dividing the partly processed log 10 during each passage through the roller pair or during selected passages. It has been found that by arranging for such division to occur it is possible to contain the axial spread of the wood being processed so as to avoid the need to have overly wide rollers. Furthermore, it has been found that the division facilitates the production of webs of good quality as judged by usefulness in subsequent processing operations. That is to say, the production of flexible open lattice work webs is found to be facilitated. In the case of pinus radiata and other woods having a spiral woodgrain structure, it is believed that this effect arises partly by effecting unwinding of the natural wood by following the spiral grain. That is to say, a relative axial rotation will be induced into the partly processed log 10 as it is passed through the rollers and divided. In practice, the knife 44 may present a relatively blunt edge 44a to the incoming wood, it being found preferable to provide for a splitting action rather than actual cutting of the wood structure. If the log 10 has been adequately cracked during the first processing in roller pair 30, it has b*aen found that no difficulty is encountered in feeding through the roller pair 32 even where knife 44 is present. During initial passages through the roller pair 32, it will normally be found that the partly

O

processed log will divide evenly to either side of the knife 44. In subsequent rollings, however, it may be necessary to physically guide the partly processed log over the knife such as by use of sheet or roller guides.

While in the described arrangement the knife 44 has its median plane normal to the axes of the rollers 38, 40, the knife may be otherwise arranged such as with its axis parallel to the rollers axes. The described arrangement has been advanced merely by way of explanation and many modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.