Solid wood or MDF: how to tell them apart
Three things to look at while the toy is still in your hand at the shop.
Labels use a lot of words: solid, natural wood, wood effect, MDF, chipboard. They are not the same thing, and the price difference starts here.
What solid means
The tree itself, cut and dried, in one piece. Look at a cut edge and the grain runs right through it.
What MDF and chipboard mean
Both are wood fibre or chips pressed together with glue. The surface may carry a wood pattern, but the cut edge has no grain, just a flat dusty face.
How to tell in a shop
- Check the cut edge for continuing grain.
- Pick it up. The solid piece of the same size weighs more.
- Look at the corners. Pressed board usually shows edge banding or a sharp change of material.
On a toy this is not only a quality question. Pressed board breaks down when bitten or soaked. Solid wood does not.
Faruk
I am building Masifico. I write these posts not as an expert but as someone who asked the same questions and wrote down what he found. If something here is wrong, tell me and I will fix it.
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