Factory Finishing Primer

Click image to enlarge.

- mitch

GreenDor

Lynden Door is pleased to announce the addition of an FSC* particleboard core to our GreenDor offering. Check out Lynden’s full line-up of LEED-compliant sustainable doors, including the new FSC-certified wood particleboard core, by clicking on the following link.



www.lyndendoor.com/resources/environment

*Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Lynden Door's 400,000 square foot facility is FSC Chain of Custody certified.

Additionally, Lynden Door can now offer FSC-certified reconstituted veneers in the following faux species:

• Cherry
• Ebony
• Fir
• Mahogany
• Maple
• White oak
• Teak
• Walnut
• Wenge
• Zebrawood

Created using abundant species (or plantation-grown timber) reconstituted veneers are prized by designers for their uniformity. "Recon" pricing is especially strong in varieties that replace exotic tropicals like Wenge, Zebrawood, Ebony and Teak.

Image: Reconstituted teak (click image to enlarge)

LDI doors can be perfectly matched with cabinetry or casegoods clad with identical reconstituted veneers.

Allfornow,
Mitchell

Rediscover Doors

Here's an ad Lynden Door is running in Green Space BC magazine, an annual green publication produced by Business In Vancouver for the BC marketplace.

A Gloss on Gloss

According to Wikipedia, a gloss is: a brief summary of a word's meaning, equivalent to the dictionary entry of that word, but only a word or two in length.


Well this gloss is about gloss, as it pertains to factory finished timber veneer doors. Gloss is also defined here as a measurement of the light reflected from a surface.

Image: Light reflection intensity measured at set angles of incidence

While gloss in veneer finishes is a complex subject and one that would outstrip the capacity of this humble blog, perhaps a recent customer experience can help to bring gloss into focus for designers, spec writers and architects faced with veneer finishing specification.

Our corporate customer - the design leader at an international hotel chain - had a specific door design in mind and had signed off on the stain variants she wished to use for the doors. But the gloss was still undefined. We agreed to bring the gloss down, "about 20 per cent," from the sample we had submitted. I went back to my finishing contact and expressed the customer's desire, and some real concern for the way in which we could zero-in on her needs. Our finishing man suggested that the sample was at a reading of around 38 on the gloss meter and if we brought that down by 20 per cent we'd be in the Satin range.

Highest Gloss Reading
Semi-gloss: 35-50
Satin: 20-35
Matte: 10-20
Lowest Gloss Reading
Graphic: higher (High-gloss) and lower (Flat) are available, but these (S-G, Satin and Matte) are the most common gloss levels for architectural doors.

Our finishing expert went on to say that, "sheen differences of 10 points or less are almost impossible to see with the naked eye." We concluded that to help our customer make an informed and confident decision, we should produce their stain sample in the veneer species of their choice with both a Satin and a Matte finish. This would bring the gloss down to the level she sought and give her assurance that the finished product would be in the same gloss range as the sample she selected.

The process allowed us to help to quantify the aesthetic she had in her designer mind's eye - a tricky proposition.

It's rewarding to be able to have tools and expert advice needed to make some of the nebulous aspects of design more empirical. This is another reason why we believe that factory machining and finishing are the "crown jewels" of the architectural door business. The control and precision afforded manufacturers who run modern CAD systems is a way to deliver on customer requirements, particularly for multi-key properties where uniformity is at a premium.

That's it - I'm finished for now. - MJT

Designing the Rediscovery Collection

A Case Study

A key supplier provides feedback on the Rediscovery Collection at a trade show.

Lynden Door enlisted an Advisory Council - a select group of industry professionals - to guide design choices for our new offering of contemporary, timber veneer architectural doors. One of these councillors, Barbara Bell, is both a professional designer and an employee of FP Innovations. FPI will be publishing Barbara's case study of our experiences in product development.

FP Innovations works to optimize the forest sector value chain and as Lynden Door's Rediscovery Collection is based on timber products (particularly veneers) our success in developing strong new products is in their interest. FPI is using Lynden Door's experience as a example for other forest sector product development teams.

Here is a link to a page with information on both the Rediscovery Collection and also the case study: REDISCOVERY LINK

Link for the case study, only: http://tinyurl.com/osyxed

allfornow,

MJT

See our DOORS @ HD2009 Expo

Lynden Door will have three reconstituted veneer doors on display at the HD Expo in Las Vegas. The doors feature unique Echo Wood brand engineered or "reconstituted" veneers supplied by Hardwood Specialty Products. (Image left: reconstituted wenge)


See these doors at Booth 7753, May 14-15.

Reconstituted veneer is made by slicing veneers from abundant species (or plantation-grown timber) and then dying - with water-based, non-toxic colorants - and re-stacking, re-gluing and finally re-slicing the flitch on edge. This ingenious process results in an engineered veneer that, in its simplest form, has the appearance of a vertical grain veneer. Specialty looks can be acheived to simulate specific species, flat grains and figured veneer.


"Recon" veneer wins environmental points for substituting abundant species for rare or endangered trees. Designers love recon for its uniformity.



Macassar ebony (click image to enlarge)


10 distinct "species" are stocked and these veneers can be sketched (laid up with opposing grain directions) or mixed on one door. Virtually all of the Lynden Door options can be applied to recon-faced doors, including custom machining, no-VOC clear coat finishing (recon veneer cannot be stained), various cores; including fire-rated and the full complement of GreenDor environmental/health-related attributes.

Ask Rich Gorrill and his team at booth 7753 about the Echo Wood line and see the material in action on our full-sized door slabs, on display.

More show info:
http://hde09.mapyourshow.com/2_1/exhibitor_details.cfm?exhid=264169&markcamefrom=y

allfornow
Mitch

Body of Work

Since taking on a sales role on Nov. 21, '08, I've been working on a fairly wide variety of projects. My focus has coalesced around architectural doors for hospitality. Lots of middle east projects, with interesting side trips to other sectors and geos. I just put together a partial list of recent timber interior door projects where we are helping with design/samples, quoting or making doors:

• Qatar Foundation LEED Platinum student housing (Lynden Door is specified)
• 5-star hotel in Costa Rica
• specialty door designs for two upscale hotel brands (working with the corporate design team)
• 176 Madison - hotel/condo tower in NYC
• Georgetown Univ. School of Foreign Sciences, Education City, Qatar
• bamboo doors for a large Cdn green build townhouse project
• unique custom design for church doors in Vancouver, utilizing 3-form inserts
• approval for Lynden Door LD2000 20-minute suite entry doors for Marriott's SpringHill Suites brand
• sample doors to NYC architect - proposal for Yale University student housing
• Salalah and Muscat Airports, Oman
• 90-minute fire doors for a super-luxury space in Doha
• reconstituted teak veneer doors for a hotel in Venezuela
• US Sales colleagues at Lynden Door have recently received approval from Hilton as a preferred vendor

It's been an interesting couple of months!

MJT

StileLine - sapele

The Rediscovery Collection

Doors in a Modernist State of Mind

Let's face it, there are many times when a beautiful set of custom doors is designed for a project, at a significant cost, but they don't make it to the grand opening. Too often, as the project nears completion and budgets constrict, these masterpieces are lost to cost-cutting. More's the pity, the end result is often a complete reversal; the least expensive doors are substituted and the project suffers a profound aesthetic blow.

In an effort to prevent this, Lynden Door has developed a striking new offering - the Rediscovery Collection. To make the doors appealing but to keep our offering (and attendant costs) manageable, we've based our designs on the best advice we could gather from a select group of architects, designers and design cognizati. Input from this formal advisory council was matched with market research and the advice of our many door re-sellers - professionals working in the construction industry in North America and around the world. Then we worked diligently with our vendors and in-house production teams to scrupulously drive cost OUT of the line.

The result is a concise, urbane and definitive contemporary door collection with a reasonable price point and therefore, much greater accessibility.

At the same time, these great doors are available in a fully bespoke version - just ask. Also, GreenDor attributes - like no-added urea formaldehyde and agricultural waste fiber cores - are optionally available.


Tableau - horizontal walnut


Composition - sapele/maple


Grey Tree - reconstituted Macassar ebony


Rhytmus - jatoba (Brazilian cherry)

See the LDI site for more info: http://www.lyndendoor.com/products/stileline/rediscovery and also see the complete range of GreenDor options here: http://www.lyndendoor.com/resources/environment

allfornow

MJT

Marine salvaged timber from the PANAMA CANAL

                   

                                                                    

I have access to logs and/or veneer from marine salvaged tropical hardwoods recovered from the Panama Canal. These clear, old-growth timbers have a strong environmental pedigree and offer a unique appearance, exquisite quality and a compelling story.

In order to make the best use of this material, we need to connect with a large scale project - one seeking over 200 doors and also possibly veneer panels, matching furnishings (both solid and veneered) and other uses of this valuable fiber.

Prices are reasonable, so long as a high volume is involved. The vendor is a US firm with business in Alaska. The contact is a local BC boy who knows just about all there is to know about the timber industry and salvage.

Contact me for more images and information (species, cost, lead times, etc.). mitch.toews@lyndendoor.com

MJT