This article is the first to describe a process of manufacturing engineered wood composites that combine two nonwoven textile technologies: bicomponent fiber and needle punching. Hardwood fiber was blended with 10 percent urea formaldehyde and formed into mats. The mats were sandwiched with polypropylene/polyester bicomponent fibers and then needle punched. Needle punching was done by means of barbed needles that oscillated in a vertical direction with regard to the surface of the fiber mat. The barbed needles mechanically interlaced the bicomponent web to the wood-fiber mat and pulled some of the polymer fibers through the thickness direction of the mat. During hot pressing, the polypropylene sheath of the bicomponent fiber flowed, bonded with adjacent wood fibers, and coalesced with the sheath of the adjacent bicomponent fibers. The mats were pressed until the urea formaldehyde was fully cured. Bending and tensile properties of the needle-punched wood composite were assessed and compared with medium-den...