Steel Or Poly Banding?

[WIwoodworker]

Wondering if any of you who saw and ship quantities of lumber have an opinion on whether poly banding is sufficient for shipping or if steel banding is the way to go? It stands to reason that steel banding will be stronger but is it necessary?

I'm talking about quantities in the 200bf to 500bf range. Thanks.

[thecfarm]

This might help you out until someone else posts. poly banding  I did a search on steel banding and came up with this. 

[Ron Wenrich]

I have only seen steel banding in the mills I've been around.  Its coated, so you don't get any discoloration of the wood.  And, it can be recycled, which helps reduce the price.

[Bibbyman]

Here is another thread on the same subject...

Banding



We've used Acme 5/8 poly banding for over a year now.  We seldom use steel any more.

[Cedarman]

We use both depending on what is shipped and where it is going.
If bundles are going on a flat bed and will be strapped, we use 1/2" Tenex plastic strapping to keep the wood together. 
For loading in containers that will go overseas we use 3/4" steel.
For LTL bundles we always use steel with cardboard on corners to keep steel from damaging the corners.  Plastic won't stand up to the abuse at the trucking terminals.
For logs that are bundled and shipped flatbed we use steel also.

Plastic is a lot more economical.

[SAW MILLER]

  I use the poly from Baileys.It is tuff and has worked well on 500 b/f bundles of hardwood.
    I use it for all kinds of stuff other than banding.I'm always cutting me a little chunk of that yellow "rope" to get me out of a pinch 8)

[WIwoodworker]

Thanks for the responses. I thought I had seen a thread on it here once before but I couldn't find it.

[LT40HDD51]

I remember reading something somewhere about poly banding (thats helpful, aint it  : ;D). It claimed you could stretch it tight and it would allow the wood to shrink and still stay tight. It had some kind of one-way buckle, and the tightening tool could be used to re-tighten the bands after the wood shrinks and dries...

[Bibbyman]

The stuff we are using has some elasticity to it and tends to keep bundles tighter longer than steel.  But this kind uses crimped steel seals.

[SAW MILLER]

The material from Baileys has a steel buckle and can be re-tightened easily.

[Warren]

I have used 3/4" steel, 3/4" orange woven synthetic from Bailey's and currently using CordStrap brand plastic with same style buckle as Bailey's.  Synthetic is lighter to handle bulk bundles than steel.  Having the "all in one" tensioning tool for synthetic with buckles is easier than having the tension tool, the snips and the crimping tool when workig with steel.  Also very simple to cut the synthetic strapping with a pocket knife.  No need to run down a pair of snips to break a bundle open.

I still use steel when shipping to construction sites.  But, I am aware that steel strapping will break as well when mis-treated....

Warren