Good article on plywood - what to look for, what the differences are, etc

[Richard Cranium]

http://popularwoodworking.com/article/choose_the_right_plywood

This actually answered a lot of questions I have on plywood - and what to look for when selecting a sheet in relation to your project.

[Irish]

Great article, thanks for posting!

[Richard Cranium]

Yeah I'm a bit worried I'll sand right through the veneer on my arcade cabinet. If I do, I'll be hella pissed.

[Quads]

Excellent read.
Thanks for posting.

[Irish]

I was a little surprised by this statement:

The grade should be stamped on the side of the sheet but it is often missing in imported plywoods. Expect to pay $75 or more for a 4' x 8' sheet of A2 plywood with plain-sliced veneer. The oak and birch plywood the big home-improvement stores had in stock (about $40) at the time of writing this was graded C3.

I know the stuff you get at HD & Lowes ain't the best, but I was surprised it's THAT bad. And here I thought my old racetrack came out pretty nice...

[Quads]

I was a little surprised by this statement:

The grade should be stamped on the side of the sheet but it is often missing in imported plywoods. Expect to pay $75 or more for a 4' x 8' sheet of A2 plywood with plain-sliced veneer. The oak and birch plywood the big home-improvement stores had in stock (about $40) at the time of writing this was graded C3.

I know the stuff you get at HD & Lowes ain't the best, but I was surprised it's THAT bad. And here I thought my old racetrack came out pretty nice...

Go visit a wood store who sells nice wood (non-contractor grade) and specialty species and such and look at the maple / birch sheets there and you'll see the difference.

While at HD or Lowes, I usually have to pick through 8 or 10 sheets until I find one I like that is a good piece of veneer on it. (or something that I can cut around depending on the project)

[Richard Cranium]

Yeah that line jumped out at me as well. I'm definitely not getting my next sheet at Lowes or HD.

[JumperJeff]

I downloaded the article as a PDF and saved it for future reference.

[Quads]

For a lot of stuff, there is no problem with the material at Lowe's or HD. It really depends on the quality of the wood your looking to do with the project you're working on. (and most of the time picking through the pile to find a piece that works for you.

[wyatt880]

Thanks for the info!!

[vtpoker]

My summer job one year in college was making plywood. What a thankless friggin job. I used to work the press making all grades of plywood. I still have burn scars from the presses. You'd sit there, put a ply down, put adhesive on, add the next layer. Then you'd pick it up, roll it through one press and then put it into the heated press. The presses had to run around 3-400 degrees. The adhesive used some formaldehyde which was stored in vats across the plant. The smell would stick in your clothes along with any adhesive that got on them as well. It sucked, the most entertaining part of the job was working Graveyard shift. Man, there was nothing but nutcases and burnouts working then...some very funny conversations were had.

[bigslickwood]

Good article!

There's been a lot of plywood discussion lately over at www.sawmillcreek.org (an excellent woodworking/tool geek forum, if anyone hasn't seen it). After they were talking about the crappy $39 maple/birch stuff from HD and Lowes I went and looked at it. The lousy stuff is all imported from China and stamped as such on the side. The stack looked like a deck of very used playing cards.

A little further down the row at HD there was a stack of domestic maple plywood. Night and day. The stack was flat, smooth and looked good. It was also $58/sheet. :o

I'm getting ready to buy 5 sheets for the table/topper I'm starting. I had planned on using the cheaper stuff until I got a good look at it. Will be buying the more expensive stuff even if I end up eating the difference.

I know good quality plywood in other species (cherry/walnut/etc.) runs upwards of $100/sheet.

[MisterShark]

Great info and not well known knowledge I'm sure.

For my next project I'm going to venture out to the non-bigbrand lumber yard and see the difference for myself.