Lee DeRaud - You Had A Great Question Below

[Howard Rosenberg]

There's a huge difference between MDF and Particle Board.

MDF = wood dust held together by glue pressed into sheets

PB = biiiig particles of wood held together by glue pressed into sheets

MDF's faces are super fine and smooth
PB's faces are coarser - they usually have something laminated to them - wood veneers or plastic-type laminates

They both weigh a ton but MDF generates exclusively very fine dust.

HTH
Howard

[Lee DeRaud]

So it's basically just a question of how fine they grind the wood up before they glue it?

(Like I said, I've seen what looks like the same stuff sold under both names...and a fair bit of range in the "graininess" of MDF being sold.)

[Mike Cutler]

Lee.

If I remember correctly. MDF is also sold in different weights per sheet(density). This may explain some of the "graininess" that you may be seeing.

[Howard Rosenberg]

how small the particles are that are left behind in processing the log.

Supersmall and not usable for PB, they get used in MDF production.

BTW - lightweight MDF is still pretty heavy....

Howard