Structuring

Structuring means changing the surface in such a way that certain parts of the wood appear raised and others recede into deepening. This creates the impression of having a very old, weathered wood in front of you. This trend began around 2010 and continues to this day (2019), as can be seen annually at the trade fairs Holz-Handwerk in Nuremberg, at the LIGNA in Hannover and at the furniture fair in Cologne.

However, not only the "weathering" of wood but also the creation of unnatural structures for modern interior design is technically realised. Examples of this are cross-structuring by means of a resaw or band saw unit or the creation of freely programmable structures by means of a moulder, see section "Technical realisation".

Application areas

floorboards
wall elements
furniture
beams, which have a load-bearing and also a decorative function

Technical realisation

Structuring through Planing/ moulding

FESTOOL offers special planer heads for its HL 850 EB planing machine for the production of different structures (Fig.).

WEINIG AG presented its new moulder POWERMAT 2400 3D at the LIGNA fair in 2013. This moulder enables the creation of free programmable surface structures on workpieces up to 230 mm width.

Structuring through sanding and brushing

If wood is exposed to natural weather conditions, the light, soft early wood zones in the annual rings pass away first while the darker, hard late wood zones remain in the annual rings. If the wood is exposed to water and sand, this washout process takes place more intensively. This effect is observed in wide belt sanders and structuring machine with the aid of brushing units achieved.

Brushes with metal bristles roughen the early wood zones. Subordinate brushes with plastic bristles smoothing the transitions and thus give the structure a soft appearance.

Manufacturers of sanding and brushing machines for surface structuring (small selection):

Boere	aggregate arrangement X-Line
Braun	brushing machine RUSTIKA
Costa Levigatrici	combined steel and Anderlon brushes, LEVIGATRICI T-CAR aggregate
DMC	WAVE generator on sanding roller aggregate
DMC	PLANETARIO planetary head
FESTOOL	offers the RUSTOFIX equipment for its RAS 180 manual rotary sanding machine
Heesemann	brushing machine BM 8, sanding machine MFA 10
Heesemann	effect sanding
HOMAG	effect sanding using U-aggregate and Q-aggregate
SCM	WAVE generator on sanding roller aggregates, gouge aggregate for the production of surfaces like hand-roughed as well as aggregate for woodworm optic

Cross structuring by means of a resaw

A modified band saw blade and an adapted guide and feed system for tool and workpieces make it possible to produce uniform structures that run transversal to the wood fibre.

Pictures: see bandsaw for structure refinement

Since sanding and structuring are close to each other in the work flow, the manufacturer SCM, formerly DMC, offers a structuring band saw aggregate for its wide belt sanders.

Images

structured/ unstructured
COSTA LEVIGATRICI, 2013
structured parquet floorboard
COSTA LEVIGATRICI, 2013
planed structure
WEINIG, 2013
source: Foto: WEINIG Gruppe
SELECT with X-line aggregate sequence
BOERE, 2013
source: BOERE
structuring brushing machine
BRAUN, 2013
source: BRAUN
band saw aggregate in wide belt sander
DMC, 2012
cross structure (band saw technique)
AGAZZANI, 2015
source: Höchsmann GmbH
planing heads for structuring, FESTOOL hand planer HL 850 EB
FESTOOL, 2020
source: FESTOOL
RUSTOFIX BMS 180 E
FESTOOL, 2020
source: FESTOOL
CD 2-600 aggregates
QUICKWOOD, 2013
source: Höchsmann GmbH