Table Top Materials and Their Benefits
Height-adjustable tables are covered with high-quality table tops. There are three durable table top materials to choose from. What are their main differences?
Solid wood
Wood brings warmth to the room and is definitely one of the favorite materials to use at home. Oak is a very strong and durable wood and with good care lasts a long time. Seisuk oak table tops are covered with high-quality Osmo oil wax, which gives the opportunity to refresh them with a new layer of oil every year. By doing this way, the table top becomes more and more stronger and durable over the years.
Solid wood is a material that's name sometimes causes a bit of confusion, because we might assume that the pieces of such furniture are all cut out of a large tree. In fact, solid wood is also known by another name - glulam, which explains its nature much better. Glulam pieces of the required size are made by gluing wood together. This allows us to create wooden boards according to our wishes, preserving the whole natural and warm feeling. Glulam is stronger and more durable than ordinary wood board. It does not dry crack and does not change its shape when dry, it does not twist.
The disadvantage of wood is the softness and absorbency of the material, i.e. the coffee that is spilled on the table should not be forgotten there for all night long. However, minor water accidents do not damage the table in any way. Still, it would be a good idea to place a hot plate under the warm cup to maintain the long-lasting beautiful appearance of the table.
Detailed instructions for maintaining our wooden table top can be found here.
Seisuk has two different types of solid wood table tops - long lamella and finger joint. They differ in price, appearance and technical aspects.
Finger joint
The finger joint table top consists of short lamellae. The lamellae are glued to each other first at the ends and then at the other four sides. The finger joint on the table top has its advantages. One rule of woodworking says that the more gluing, the stronger the object. The number of glues in finger-jointed table tops is several times higher on a board made of long lamellae, which makes it particularly durable.
Unlike a finger joint table top, the lamellae are glued to each other on two sides. The production of lamellas requires raw materials without defects and knots. Such trees are rare and expensive today, which makes the production of lamellar table tops more complicated and the price higher.
Adjustable table made of oak long lamella
The wood is warm under the hand and is especially suitable for home offices, bringing in a nice earthy note. But why not make larger offices also more cozy.
Plywood
While solid wood pieces are glued side by side, then plywood is made by gluing thin sheets of wood on top of each other. In order to make the plywood more durable, a gluing technique is used, in which the direction of the fibers is changed with each subsequent thin plate. This is how wood and glue seams are created, which are strongly connected to each other. Such production methods provide excellent strength and abrasion resistance, as well as increasing the material's ability to resist moisture infiltration.
The main advantages of plywood are strength, naturalness and uniqueness of the surface texture. In terms of durability, plywood furniture is comparable to solid wood furniture. Seisuk birch plywood table top is finished with high-quality Osmo oil wax.
Seisuk wooden standing desks can be found here
Melamine
Melamine is a strong synthetic material often called artificial veneer. Melamine covered chipboard table top is obtained by pressing thermosetting resin impregnated paper onto the surface of the plate at high temperature and pressure. It can very successfully mimic natural veneer, being much cheaper.
The surface of melamine is smooth, shiny and durable. The smooth surface ensures hygiene, as there are no pores between which dirt can be hidden, and therefore the surfaces are very easy to clean. The melamine surface does not change its color even under UV radiation and is resistant to heat and damage.
The high-quality melamine table tops are made with laser cutting (Airtec technology), which makes the joint between the edge and the top invisible, which creates the effect of a monolithic plate. In addition to a beautiful visual result, it also provides better durability (for example, in terms of moisture).
You can find the melamine adjustable standing desks here.