Medium-density fibreboard Comparison

Comparison with natural wood

MDF contains no knots or rings, making it more uniform than natural wood during cutting and use.However, MDF is not perfectly isotropic because the fibers are tightly packed together by the sheets.Typical MDF has a hard, flat, smooth surface, which makes it ideal for veneers, as there is no thin veneer to transfer the underlying texture like plywood can. So-called "advanced" MDF can be used, which has a more uniform density across the thickness of the panel.MDF can be glued, pinned or laminated.Typical fasteners are T-nuts and pan head machine screws.Light shank nails are not firmly fixed, nor are fine thread screws, especially at the edges. Special screws with a coarse pitch can be used, but sheet metal screws work well too. MDF is less prone to cracking when the screw is installed on the surface of the material, but due to the alignment of the wood fibers, it may crack when the screw is installed on the edge of the board without pilot holes.

Advantages

• Consistent in strength and size

• In good shape

• Dimensionally stable (expands and shrinks less than natural wood)

• Good paint finish

• Absorbs wood glue very well

• High screw pullout strength due to material surface texture

• Flexible

Disadvantages

• Denser than plywood or particle board

• Low-grade MDF may swell and crack when exposed to water

• May deform or swell in wet environments if not sealed

• May release formaldehyde, a known human carcinogen that may cause allergies, eye and lung irritation when cutting and sanding.

• Blades dull faster than many woods: Using tungsten carbide edged cutting tools is almost mandatory because HSS dulls so quickly.

• While it has no particles in the plane of the board, it does have one going into the board.Screwing into the edge of the board will often cause it to split in a manner similar to delamination.