Welcome to Greenline

Log Selection

FINELINE VENEERS are produced from timbers that are found in Central West Africa. Obeece, Ayous and Koto are the only trees selected for the manufacturing of FINELINE VENEERS. These species remain in abundance throughout its natural growth range. Legal regulations on Forestry and Wildlife have been put into place to insure that forestry operations are handled in efficient manor to insure sustainability and conservation. Many FINELINE VENEERS are also produced from plantation grown poplar found throughout Europe. The light color of these species along with their soft grain definition is perfectly suited to produce the many distinctive colors and patterns.

The process of converting timber into FINELINE VENEERS starts with the selection of logs. Once the logs have been selected, they are brought to the mill for processing. The timber is trimmed, sawn to length and debarked. The logs are now ready to be peeled.

Peeling of the Logs

The logs are mounted onto a giant lathe. Within minutes the timbers are peeled into rotary veneers. This is achieved by pressing a rotating log towards a large blade, thinly peeling a continuous sheet of veneer off the log as outlined in the drawings.

As the log is being processed, the veneer is then clipped into 26” wide components that are called leaves. These leaves are dried and stacked. The veneer then goes through its first stage of quality control. The veneer is separated for various characteristics. The lower grades that are not suitable for FINELINE VENEERS are used to make low grades of non-decorative plywood. The veneer that meets the highest quality standards is packed and shipped to the factory in Italy to be processed into FINELINE VENEERS.

Once all of the veneer leaves arrive at the mill they are separated into two piles, lighter and darker leaves. The lighter leaves are used to produce lighter colored patterns and the darker leaves are used to produce the darker patterns. The veneer leaves are now ready for dying.

Plane of Cut
Knife
Rotary Peeled Veneer

Dying

FINELINE VENEERS insures color consistency every time. This is achieved by dying the veneers to formulations that are created for each specific pattern. Depending on the item that is being produced, the selected raw veneer leaves are stacked into a stainless steel cage. To insure that each leaf of veneer is completely exposed to the dye, each leaf is separated by thin wires. Once completely loaded, the stainless steel cage is immersed into a pressurized, heated vat that is filled with water soluble dye. This system is controlled by a computer that insures that each leaf is given the correct amount of time to allow the dye to completely penetrate each individual leaf of veneer. Once the desired color has been achieved, the leaves are unloaded from the vat, dried and given a final inspection before going to the gluing stage.

Dying Vat
Dyed Veneers

Gluing

The gluing process is critical for the look of the finished product. Each pattern is created by following a formula to insure uniformity and repeatability. Depending on the pattern that is being produced, a combination of dyed veneers are glued together. When producing the various patterns, technicians follow a formula that outlines a sequence for the dyed veneers to be stacked together to create the desired pattern. There is a layer of dyed glue between each leaf of veneer. The dyed glue has two very important functions. The glue bonds the leaves of veneer together and it also creates the contrast as part of the grain definition. Once the stack has been laid up to the exact specifications in the formula, it is then put into a high pressure press to bond the leaves together creating a large rectangular block. The size of the block is approximately 27" x 135" x 30". This block is now ready to be sliced into sheets of veneer.

Glue Layer
Veneer

Creating the Mold

Uniformity and repeatability are the key characteristics to FINELINE VENEERS. The combination of dyed veneers and the dyed glue insure the color consistency. The repeatability of each pattern is achieved by the shape of the laminated block. The leaves of the dyed veneers are stacked into a mold that has a top and a bottom. The mold is pressed together forming the block of the desired pattern. Once the cycle is complete the block is now ready to be sliced.

Top of Mould
Straight
Bottom of Mould
1 Heart
2 Heart
3 Heart
4 Heart

Slicing of the Block

The block in now ready to be sliced into veneer leaves. Once the block has been produced, it is mounted to the flitch table of the slicing unit. The block now runs across a large blade slicing thickness controlled leaves of veneer. The veneer leaves that are produced are 26” x 99” or 135”. The process of creating FINELINE VENEER leaves is complete. The veneer is now ready to be further processed into spliced faces for lamination onto particleboard, MDF plywood sub-straights, Fineflex 10 mil paper backed and Fineform poly backed sheets. All veneers can be spliced into 4’ and 5’ wide faces with various combinations of lengths.

Knife
Block