VENDIA is now available also with mahogany face veneer!

VENDIA marine plank is now available also with mahogany face veneer. Body of the marine plank is still made of Finnish old-grown pine, but now we can offer sliced mahogany (khaya) veneer as a face veneer option. VENDIA marine plank with the mahogany face veneer is available on special order and delivery time for the product is approximately three weeks from the order. Other face veneer options are also possible.

Please contact us by e-mail (vendia@vendia.fi) and request an offer.

Veneer slicing video

We have been asked what the veneer slicing means in practice. Rotary cut veneer is more familiar for the most of us, whereas the veneer slicing is a quite unfamiliar method to produce veneers. We have been writing about the differences between sliced veneer and rotary cut veneer in this post. However we also shot a video how the veneer slicing happens and what is a starting point of VENDIA marine plank. Let the video speak for itself.

Impregnating agents and VENDIA

Impregnation of wooden boat is important to guarantee the decay resistance and longevity. We have made an absorption test of impregnating agents to see how VENDIA marine plank reacts with different impregnating agents. The test was made in accordance with Cobb-test, in which the impregnating agents were absorbed 168 hours (seven days) into the test materials. The test materials were normal structured 9 mm VENDIA (called evo1 in the pictures), 9 mm VENDIA Pro (called evo2 in the pictures) and birch plywood. The tested agents were Owatrol, Hempel, linseed oil mixed with zinc naphthenate and tar.

To increase the moisture and decay resistance the impregnating agent should be absorbed deep into the marine plank. For effective absorption it is essential how easily the impregnating agents can penetrate the glue layers of the marine planks or plywood.

The test results showed that all the tested impregnating agents were absorbed into VENDIA marine planks (red and blue bars in the picture) better than into birch plywood. The MUF adhesive used in VENDIA marine plank let the impregnating agents through whereas the phenol formaldehyde used in birch plywood didn’t have the same feature. In practise this meant that the impregnating agents couldn’t be absorbed deep into the plywood.

The absorption test results of tar were interesting – tar wasn’t absorbed into the wood as well as generally has been thought. The absorption of the tar used in the test into VENDIA or birch plywood was low. The tar only formed a layer on the marine plank’s surface which became thicker when the treatment was repeated. If tar is used it should be greatly diluted to enable proper absorption into the wood.

When impregnating a wooden boat, time and diligence are the key factors, no matter what impregnating agent is used. To increase moisture and decay resistance it is essential to have multiple treatments and a lot of time. The best result can be achieved by spreading the impregnating agent carefully and giving enough time for absorption between the treatments.