Panels of composite wood material are formed in a wet process which includes depositing a layer of wet composite wood material in a mat on a press wire screen mesh and moving the screen mesh to carry the mat into a pressing position between a pair of spaced apart pressure plates having generally matching, contoured facing surfaces for shaping the outer face and a smoothly contoured back face of the panel. The back face of the panel is not flat and generally follows or matches the shape or contour of the outer face so that regions of high fiber stress and dense, brittle areas of high fiber compression are generally eliminated. The resulting finished panels having excellent machining qualities, more uniform surface coating absorption characteristics, more uniform thickness and less rapid moisture absorption properties, along with a lower tendency to check, crack or split.