What is Flakeboard?

Flakeboard is an engineered wood. The classifications of engineered wood are defined by the original form the wood material was before it was formed into boards. Flakeboard is made from the shavings and flakes of wood that are generated at saw mills. The forest industry originally developed flakeboard production as a way of utilizing the wasted wood pieces that mills had previously disposed of. To manufacture flakeboard, a mill will use a variety of woods because the surface appearance of its boards does not need to provide a pleasant aesthetic. Rarely is flakeboard ever finished with anything other than an opaque laminate.

Flakeboard is produced by adhering thinly shaven pieces of wood together using resin before applying extreme pressure. The result is a synthetically constructed piece of wood that will not warp like natural cut wood. Sheets of flakeboard can be created in any dimension a manufacturer wishes because it is only dependent on the machinery’s limitations and not the properties of the wood. Most manufacturers produce large flakeboard pieces and then cut them to standard lengths and widths. Flake board will most frequently be used in the construction of cabinet side and rear walls. Countertops can be made from flakeboard, but due to the constraints from the shavings of wood, it is more likely that engineered-wood countertops will be made from particle or fiber board with a vinyl laminate adhered over it.