Artificial wood

[Jim S]

I have just repaired a vandalised, large, free-standing, notice board outside a church, and found it was made from 'artificial wood'. It is great to work with and of course it does not rot or need painting. The problem seems to be that it has little tensile strength as it broke, probably, because someone swung on it. Otherwise it takes screws in any direction as it has no grain. The colour was dark brown, but I suppose(?) that might be an option. I am not a professional so this material might have been around some time. Incidentally the supporting posts also seemed to be made of some composite material which was quite 'sticky' to drill and although the outdise was textered black, the drillings were dark grey. Can anyone explain what I was dealing with and how widely avaiable it is. Thanks

[Adrian Caspersz]

I found this some time ago, coming across a couple of long continuous strips of "wood" used for horizontal parallel fencing. In that application, because of summer heat, they expanded like railway tracks and drooped from the vertical supports. Didn't look good.

Known as Recycled plastic wood / lumber.

[Jim S]

Adrian Caspersz wrote in news:eiv9fkFddh5U1 @mid.individual.net:

Thanks Adrian. Interesting.

[damduck-egg]

I have purchase some boards and from this firm to support garden railway tracks. , they have a reasonable amount of information under the " the product information" header on this link they do supply a couple of different variety of materials some of which suit one application better than others.

There are other suppliers in the field , a search under recycled plastic furniture would yield many of them.

G.Harman

[dennis]

I have a bench made from plastic wood. Its quite strong and in the main looks like wood. You can see the difference in the end grain.

Its put together using mortice joints and other wood joints and screws.

Winwood IIRC.

[Brian Reay]

I noticed some 'wood finish' uVPVC while buying 'normal' uVPC board from a local supplier- the kind of thing used for facias and window sills etc. I assume it is similar to uVPC in construction, an interior softish filling with a 'skin' of coloured, possibly textured, plastic.

The white stuff is very cheap, a 8' x 8" x 5/8" (approx) board was about £9, the coloured stuff perhaps double the price. Other profiles are available. I can't imagine it would 'take' screws very well, the filling is too soft, but it glues fine. You can get a two part 'super glue'- the second part is an accelerator you spray on. Normal super glue also works but the two part is better as you can position the work then spray the joint to set it.

Like the stuff you describe, I doubt it has much structural strength.

[Brian Gaff]

Well there are various types. The one I've seen used for coffee table tops seems to be called formwood, which is probably a trade name. A company called Arborite used to make laminate and some rustic looking things that was plastic that looked like wood as well.

Its probably something like Upvc if its meant to be outside.

Brian