Patent Application
20080199648
(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to laminated surfacing panels for use in making furniture and to a method of manufacture of the panels. In particular, the invention relates to the manufacture of laminated surfacing panels from strips of used wine barrels.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
A major component of furniture, both commercial and household furniture, are the surfacing panels used for tops, sides, and the like. Due to the expanse and visibility of these surfacing panels, it is often desirable to construct these components of a visually pleasing material. When making the panels of wood, a large expanse of wood with a pleasing grain or pattern is desired.
However, due to the large dimensions of many surfacing panels, it is difficult and expensive to manufacture the panel of a single wood piece. Therefore, the common practice in the furniture industry is to construct the panel of multiple parts that are joined together. In one type of laminated structure, a substrate of an inexpensive, dimensionally stable material, such as plywood or engineered lumber, is surfaced with a thin sheet of veneer, giving the appearance of a single piece of expensive wood.
It is also known to form furniture parts from strips of wood that are joined along their edges to form a laminated part. These parts may be used as the substrate of wood surfacing products by cutting stacked sheets of veneer or other lumber into laminated strips of lumber, which are then positioned during use so that the edge grain of the lumber strips is exposed, resulting in a wear resistant and decorative surfacing material. The edge grain may be brushed and filled with a filling material of contrasting color to enhance the appearance of the material.
While the above techniques result in durable wood surfacing products having a decorative surface appearance, there is still a need for decorative wood surfacing panels, and in particular panels that can be economically manufactured, while having the durability and required decorative appearance.
In the present invention, wood surfacing materials meeting these requirements are manufactured from the staves of barrels, usually made from air dried oak, that have been used to age alcoholic beverages, such as wine, bourbon whiskey, tequila, brandy, scotch, cognac, and the like. During the beverage aging process, which may extend over 2 to 12 or more years, components of the beverage penetrate into the inner surface of the barrel staves, creating a stained area of from about 5 to about 25 percent of the stave thickness that contrasts in appearance with the unstained area of the staves.
Generally, the present method creates wood surfacing materials that use this contrasting appearance by the steps of slicing the staves transversely of their front and back surfaces into strips having the desired thickness, and then laminating or adhering the strips together so that the concave inner surface of each strip abuts the convex outer surface of an adjacent strip. Joining of several stave strips in this manner creates a wooden decorative sheet or panel that can be used for a variety of purposes, including commercial and industrial furniture parts, flooring, paneling, etc.
Barrel staves, which are normally from about 18 to 36 inches in length, are double tapered so that the diameter of the barrel is thicker at the center than at the ends to distribute stress evenly in the barrel by making the barrel more spherical, and also making it relatively easy to roll the barrel on its side and change directions with little friction. As a result, barrel staves have convexly curved side edges so that the center width of the stave is wider than the width of the ends. Thus, the first step in using barrel staves that have formed a part of a barrel used to age wine or other alcoholic beverages is to trim the sides of the stave parallel to the longitudinal axis of the stave so that the edges of the stave are parallel to each other.
After trimming, the stave is cut into curved strips that have top and bottom surfaces parallel to the trimmed edges and front and rear sides corresponding to the inner and outer surfaces of the stave. The thickness of the strips will depend on the manner in which the strips are to be used. If the strips are to be laminated to each other to form a sheet without a substrate sheet, i.e., a sheet of plywood, engineered lumber, or the like, then the strips will be of sufficient thickness to provide a sheet with integrity due entirely to the strips, e.g., from about 0.5 inch to about 1 inch in thickness. However, if the strips are to be used with a substrate sheet, the strips can has a lesser thickness, e.g., from about 0.125 to about 0.5 inch.
After cutting to the desired thickness, the strips are joined side-by-side with the inner face of a given strip abutting the outer face of another strip. The alignment of the strips, i.e., the position of the ends of one strip relative to the ends of the adjacent strips is a matter of design choice. The strips may be aligned with the ends adjacent each other, or with the ends offset. The strips are joined to each other by known techniques using a suitable wood glue or adhesive.
The outer surface of the laminated wood panel that is formed by joining a plurality of strips can be finished in a variety of ways common to wood finishing. For example, wood filler can be added to fill any opening of depressed areas in the sheet. The surface can be sanded and/or stained. Generally, a urethane or other transparent or translucent coating will be applied to the surface of the sheet to enhance its decorative appearance and improve durability.
Since one end of the sheet is in the direction of the outer sides of the strips will be convex, while the inner end in the direction of the inner sides of the strips will be concave, it may be desirable in some instances, such as when covering a rectangular area, to trim the outer convex and/or concave ends of the sheet to a straight edge. Alternatively, the laminated sheet can be combined with other non-laminated sheet sections to fill in the spaces.
Various designs, limited only by the designer's imagination, can be created with the laminated sheets. For example, a first rectangular sheet formed of a plurality of curved strips, having their curvature in a first direction, can be combined with a second rectangular sheet section, with the curvature of the strips in said second section being in a direction different, e.g., opposite, from the direction of the strips in the first section. More than two sections can be combined to form a pattern.
These and other aspects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art after a reading of the following description of the preferred embodiment.
In the following description, terms such as horizontal, upright, vertical, above, below, beneath, and the like, are used solely for the purpose of clarity in illustrating the invention, and should not be taken as words of limitation. The drawings are for the purpose of illustrating the invention and are not intended to be to scale.
As illustrated in the drawings, barrel staves 10 are first trimmed along their edges parallel to the longitudinal axis of stave 10, resulting in a trimmed stave 12 having straight and parallel side edges. Trimmed stave 12 is then cut into a plurality of strips 14 having equal thicknesses, with the strips being cut parallel to the sides of trimmed stave 12.
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Multiple panel sections 30 can be combined in different ways to produce different designs. For example, as illustrated in
Certain modifications and improvements will occur to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the foregoing description. It should be understood that all such modifications and improvements have been deleted herein for the sake of conciseness and readability but are properly within the scope of the following claims.
