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Rips

In the manufacturing process one of the most important steps is to "rip" the raw material. After the raw wood fibre has been either been optimized to its appropriate size or prepared to be a blank or block the wood will then be "ripped" into a form that allows it to be manufactured into a moulding.

This step is akin to a sculptor taking a large piece of quaried rock and slicing or breaking it into two separate pieces to then carve a scupture from.

A piece of ripped wood will be sent to a rip saw where it will rip the wood lengthwise in the shape that approximates the size and shape of the moulding to be produced.

For example, a casing or baseboard may be sliced at beveled angles - ripping two pieces out of the already optimized piece of wood.

When manufacturing a quarter round it may be necessary to rip the wood lengthwise in four square pieces. In the picture below you can see profiled mouldings stacked face to face. Two of these mouldings stacked face to face would have come out of the above block of wood.

From these ripped peices the next step is to send the wood fibre through the moulders to cut out the profile.

Pile of rips of MDF
Rips
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