I wanted to take a minute and talk about the material that we’ve chosen to use for our window grills. We source our material from a company called Fessenden Hall. It’s an airplane hanger sized warehouse with just about every kind of sheet, good known demand, and they’re kind enough to be really nice to me, even though I’m sort of small fry in their world because we make small things as opposed to other companies that are making kitchen cabinets.
Birch Multi-ply
But the birch multiply that we get from them is actually a five-layer veneer core that is glued together, and I believe this comes from Vietnam. It’s imported from Vietnam. Been very happy with the finished product. Just like any kind of material that you’re working with, obviously you’re going to find some spots on the wood that aren’t usable, but generally the quality of the product that we get here is great and been pleased with it.
Birch Woodgrain
Right behind me, you can see a sample that I’ve used to engrave world map. This is an old ran McNally map from, I can’t remember when. The detail that you can get with engraving is great on this kind of a birch because you’re not getting a lot of interference from background or strong woodgrain pattern. There is a subtle woodgrain pattern here in the wood, which looks impressive, but it’s not enough to interfere with an engraving process. Now, obviously with our window grills, that’s not a great concern, and depending on the kind of finish that you select, you can still see some of the subtle woodgrain pattern shining through. I’ll show you a couple of samples here.
Birch Takes Paint Well
We’ve got the birch multiply here with the white finish. It’s a nice clean finish. We like the way that the birch holds paint With this product. There’s not a lot of voids, and so it’s a nice clean finish product. The black paint, which is probably our most popular. Also, again, you cannot see the woodgrain pattern through there with the mocha, which is also a popular finish that we sell here, you can see the subtle woodgrain pattern. It’s quite elegant. If you want a woodgrain pattern with the black, we can do a light sanding on it, and you can see sort of the subtle wood grain pattern showing up. I don’t know if I’m going to get that on the video here. You can sort of see that shining through here.
Birch is Stable
Our primary concern, however, with using the birch’s, we want a product that’s going to perform well in the long term for customers that’s stable, lightweight, easy to manage. There’s not the danger of it falling off and injuring somebody, and it’s also a lot less expensive than a metal cutting process. The alternative would be MDF. I know that there are some benefits to MDF, but with what we’re doing, we prefer the birch multiply instead. I haven’t been very impressed with MDF in the long term because as it sits, it tends to absorb moisture from the air. I remember seeing a bookshelf made out of MDF, but over time it starts to absorb moisture and you get some sag. And with our window grills, we want ’em to last a long time. We don’t want them to respond to ambient temperatures and start to warp or twist, and we found that the birch multiply is excellent in that way.
Verdict: Birch is best
It holds up well. It’s easy to finish. It’s nice and clean, and creates an elegant, finished look. So certainly if you have any other questions about the material we use, feel free to give us a shout. You can reach us with any questions or get an instant window grille quote. Feel free to ask us questions about our product and we will be happy to answer!
