Veneer-Cutting Machine

a machine producing a thin transverse shaving, called peeled veneer, from short logs (blocks). Such machines are used in the production of furniture, plywood, and matches.

During peeling, the knife of a veneer-cutting machine, which is mounted on a support, cuts off a layer of wood (veneer) in the shape of a wide, continuous band along the entire length of the rotating log. To increase the strength of the band and to improve its surface properties, the wood is held by a metal clamping straightedge. The logs undergo hydrothermal treatment (steaming). The thickness of the veneer sheet produced by a veneer-cutting machine ranges from 0.1 to 10.0 mm; the cutting speed, from 1 to 6 m/sec. The cutting angle usually does not exceed 27°.

In the USSR, veneer-cutting machines use logs more than 2.7 m long and up to 1.5 m in diameter. To decrease the diameter of the leftover unpeeled stub (pencil), the machines are equipped with a support collar plate, which prevents the log from sagging. Design improvements of veneer-cutting machines are aimed at providing fast-acting built-in or external loading and centering devices, automation of the feed and removal of the knife support, and stepless, continuous adjustment of the speed of rotation (when changing the log diameter) to maintain a constant cutting speed.