Stay Away From Plywood?

[apratt]

To my knowledge all plywood has to be stored on a flat surface untill you are ready frame a project, otherwise if you lay it on uneven surface or prop against a wall gravity will pull the plywood to uneven shape.

[doug hodder]

Here in El Dorado Co. Ca...one of the last large independent mills shut down last year...the reason...high cost of workmans comp, and environmental restrictions/ high taxes, we all better get used to it...that's what we get with a "global economy" Doug

[Tiki Dude]

I used a combination of 1/2" Russian birch ply, 3/4" ext. fir ply and moisture resistant luan ply. It has worked great. The thing with ply is shopping around, I get mine through my wholesale source and they always deliver quality wood products. Home Depot and Lowes has good stuff as well, but you have to sort through and be picky.

Good luck,

Tiki Dude

[JC]

[color=blue][/color]Hey, I am just new on this forum and want to say hello. My comment is, with regard to anything that you buy, You gets what you pays for! If I want to have a real nice finish on a project I would select a birch veneer plywood or some such, pay the price and not worry about it coming apart later. Price always is a factor but not the only factor. Just my two bits worth and thanks for lettin me comment.

[GPW]

Problem is ...Sometimes ,ya' just don't get what you pay for sometimes ...I'd consider 42 bucksUS pretty high for 3/4" Birch Chi-Ply ...
On the other hand (the eternal optomist .... no I don't do eyeglasses) I've noticed the Chinese DO improve their products as they go along , like all the rest of us , remember when Made in Japan was a sign of junk ???? Now it's a sign of bucks , and quality ...go figure ...
I've inspected my ply , after a couple of weeks cut and exposed no changes .... but I did open a brand new carton at the store ... I dunno'???? ..... at this point only prayer can help .... and a good can of poly ...and a beer

[GPW]

Over at the guitar shop today , I asked the boss , a master luthier, about Chi Ply ... He pointed to his workbenches, which were stained Katrina brown about the first three feet up ...They had soaked in real nasty for a month , aside from being UGLY , no delam ( from the HD)..... The architect/furniture designer next door confirmed this with his ugly stained Chi-Ply benches.... Apparently there have been good batches and BAD ....The architect said the only thing he didn't care for was the paper thin outer veneer....I dunno'!!!!

[asianflava]

I guess spotty quality is actually worse than bad quality. You never know when it will come out and bite you in the butt.

[PaulC]

Hey, I am just new on this forum and want to say hello. My comment is, with regard to anything that you buy, You gets what you pays for! If I want to have a real nice finish on a project I would select a birch veneer plywood or some such, pay the price and not worry about it coming apart later. Price always is a factor but not the only factor. Just my two bits worth and thanks for lettin me comment.

Hi JC and welcome to the forum. Comment as much as you like about any subject, you're sure to get a response from someone on this board Enjoy your time here and obey the Admins
Cheers
Paul

[Miriam C.]

Boy! The things ya miss when you slack up on the reading.

When our HD came to town they had a "power tools class for women". I took it. They showed us how to choose a good board from a bad one. Can't find a good 2x4 in Lowes or Depot. Bought 2 out of about 30. The Lowes guys promised to help and I told them I had already been through all they had and they were welcome to neaten up the stack I moved. The guy behind me was doing the same thing. Only he was in effect moving my stack back where it came from. Makes ya wonder.

Gonna read more.
Miriam

[GPW]

Here's my theory ... the HDs(only 2 open ) here have been going through an enormous quantity of building materials , we had a little storm pass through about 7 months ago , so the materials business is record breaking ... I was able to find some very nice #1 Pine , some spruce (light) and the CHI-PLY...all were being unwrapped/shelved at the time ... monstrous lines , some things not available .... but whatever is available is the latest stuff , fresh , not some stuff been sittin' there for months ...
These days , it's difficult to determine the quality by the price alone...everything is High around here...

[IndyTom]

A little something I noticed while walking through Menards one afternoon. All the 2X? stock above the size of a 2X4 was generally very clear and straight. So now, if I need 2X? lumber or 1X2's I buy larger stock and cut my own. It very easy to get completly straight and knot free lumber and for my trouble, it works out a little cheaper too, usually.

[fornesto]

Remember, all wood products are graded by the manufacturer (often the actual mill) and the buyer has the option to purchase the highest grade stuff or lesser quality. The good stuff is out there...HD and Lowes must have realized that most people buying plywood or 2x4s don't need the best, wouldn't know the difference, or don't want to pay for it. For something as critical as a teardrop wall, I went to the local Hayward Lumber - a real wood place that offers everything from rough siding to cabinet grade wood. If I were building a backyard shed or a dog house, I would go to HD or Lowes and save a few bucks.

[cracker39]

I too buy larger pieces and rip them down. I usually don't buy narrower than 1x8 to rip for framing. I also buy 2x6s to rip for spars.

I bought 8 sheets of 1/4" oak ply at HD on sale, and it is all still flat and straight. I bought some 1/4" luan ply and most is ok, but one sheet that I cut into two pieces curved badly. I still used one piece as I had lots of 2x2 framing to screw it to, and I used many screws to keep it flat. At least, it is on the lower rear and won't be as noticiable if it bulges a little. Since I only had problems with one piece, I guess I am lucky.

BTW, thanks for the tip of the thinned poly varnish. I'll spray my entire outer skin with that a couple of times to seal it before priming. But, I'll still put full strength poly on all the edges with a brush to seal them good.

[Woodbutcher]

I have been buying plywood professionally since 1973 for my business. I will say that quality has come down in general since then. But, the prices have not gone up that much on domestic and Canadian plywood as other commodities have. In 1973 we paid about 28.00 per sheet for 3/4 4x8 rotary cut veneer core b-2 grade. That same year I bought a 1973 Chevy Nova. My first new car for $2900.00. Now I pay about 47.00 for the same piece of plywood. And if they still were selling Novas it would be about 20,000.00 or roughly 6 times as much. How can domestic mills do it today? Well they have to compete with the cheap imports that started to come in in the 80's We used to buy Oak 1/8"door skins from a domestic source 36x80 for bookcase backs at a cost of about 7.50 each in bundles of 100. Everyone used them. Then soon the cheap imports started coming in and cost about 1.00 less each. Well if you use 100's a week thats a nice savings. Well it didn't take long and the domestic sources started to dry up. It soon became a problem as the cheap import skins face veener is 1/2 the thickness of the domestic mills used. Now try to stain that thin veneer . What happens is the glue has bleed through face veneer on 1 out of ten pieces. You can't see it till it's in the finishing department. It cannot be fixed ,so you tear off that piece and put on another. When you start to add up all the negatives it was no savings at all. Can't go back to the domestic guys cause they stopped making them because they could not compete. The margins in the plywood business are very small.
Today I only buy domestic of Canadian products. When shopping at the big box stores try to look on the edge of the 3/4 ply and see who made it and when it was made and the mill grade is usually maked there. When I need to use these types of stores if they are down to less then a few pieces in the bunk I look to see if they have another bunk up top. They will not want to open it till the crap on the shelf is gone so go back in a couple of days and get the new stuff. If you need good stuff find a hobby woodworking retailer or a cabinet shop that will special order you what you need. They make special bending stock with all plys going in the same direction for curves. No chance in breaking a sheet when bending into corners. Does it cost more? Of course. In the long run is it cheaper ,maybe. Does your project come out better? Most likely. Take the total cost of your project and at the end if I asked you if an extra 1 or 2 hundred dollars for quality lumber would have been worth it. I say yes. Big box stores sell imports because most customers don't know the differance and they want the best price. Not the best product. As for the variation in thickness. Most import stuff is metric in thickess. So all sizes tend to be thinner then we are use to. I won't knowingly buy import plywood or cars. Some things are just better," Made in the USA"! Sorry for the Rant!

[An Ol Timer]

Because of experience in boatbuilding I continue to use Marine plywood, not the usual stuff, but certified BS1088 Meranti. The 1/4" has 7 plies, the 3/8" 9 plies and the 1/2" 11 plies. I don't have any interior voids to deal with and therefore no voids on any edges. Edges rout like regular hardwood with no splintering. Fasteners also work like they do in regular wood. I actually only paid about 10% more for my last batch (30 sheets) than what they charge for plywood of the same size at the big stores. I see a lot of people talking about putting a lot of money into other parts of their Tears, why then scrimp on the basic structure.