Laminating, << LAM uh `nay` tihng, >> is a process of permanently bonding together two or more pieces of wood or other materials with glues, pressure, and sometimes heat. Large laminated beams and arches are manufactured by assembling multiple layers of short pieces of wood with their grains running parallel to one another. The ends of the individual pieces of wood in adjacent layers are staggered–that is, they are not even with one another. Plywood is produced by assembling veneers (thin sheets of wood) with the grains of adjacent layers at right angles to one another. Rearrangement of grain orientation before lamination gives plywood more uniform strength and better dimensional stability than the wood from which it is made.
