Engineered molded fiberboard panels, methods of making the panels, and products fabricated from the panels

A multi-layer fiberboard panel, comprising:

• first and second core layers of corrugated fiberboard sheet material having opposite outer and inner faces with a plurality of ribs and grooves on each face, the core layers positioned with their ribs and grooves extending parallel to one another, each rib having a flat peak and the flat peaks of the ribs on the inner face of the first layer aligned and adhered with the flat peaks of the ribs on the inner face of the second core layer to form a plurality of open cells of hexagonal shape between the core layers;
• third and fourth layers of flat molded fiberboard material, the third layer having an inner face secured to the flat peaks of the ribs on the outer face of the first core layer and the fourth layer having an inner face secured to the flat peaks of the ribs on the outer face of the second core layer;
• fifth and sixth layers of corrugated fiberboard sheet material secured to the outer faces of the third and fourth layers, respectively, the fifth and sixth layers having a plurality of ribs and grooves extending parallel to one another and perpendicular to the ribs and grooves of the first and second layers;
• and
• seventh and eighth layers of flat molded fiberboard material secured to the outer faces of the fifth and sixth layers, respectively.