Mechanical woodworking - Transformation operations without cutting tools

Wood machining using cutting tools and material removal has been practiced since ancient times. Even today, the use of metal tools is the most common solution for manufacturing wooden objects.

But there are other ways of transforming material. Some, such as bending or stamping, have been known for a very long time, but the professionals who use them often do so empirically. The mechanical, physical and chemical phenomena that govern these processes are often unfamiliar to them, forcing them to trial and error to achieve results that don't always live up to their expectations (in terms of quality and productivity in particular).

Other processes, such as laser or high-pressure waterjet, are much more recent (second half of the 20th century). These technologies were developed for use in other industrial sectors (welding, cutting, heat treatment of metals for lasers; cutting of stone, concrete, cardboard or frozen foods for water jets). It was only after equipping these industries that equipment designers and manufacturers turned their attention to the wood processing market. Because of the nature of the wood material and the specificities of the machined parts, this market requires adaptations that are still in progress, as technological transfers are not yet complete due to the continuous evolution of lasers themselves.

All the processes described and studied in this article have one thing in common: they are not widely used in industry, and fundamental data are scarce. They are not widely taught in schools or vocational training courses, and are only passed on by apprentices.

The aim of this article is to present these different technologies, whose mechanisms are still poorly understood, to explain the phenomena that govern them, and to specify their fields of application.