What is this material?!

[toller]

I saw some oak furniture on the curbside for the trashman, so I stopped to scavenge.

Most of it was veneered particle board (oh well) but the drawer sides looked like oak, so I knocked them out and took them home.

At home I saw that all the wood (1/2") thick had five layers, so I presumed it was plywood. I cut the dovetails off and sanded it up and got thoroughly confused. There are five layer and they are too regular to be natural, so it must be plywood; but it sanded up like real wood and takes a close look to see that it isn't.

It looks like plywood made of 5 layers of oak, but that is silly; why would they make plywood out of oak. Any idea what I have here? It will be fine for drawers, but I would like to know what it is.

I also got a nice oak 3 panel mirror my wife wants to put in the dining room, so it wasn't a total loss.

[Lawrence L'Hote]

Good Job!

I got some of that stuff from a junk desk beside a dumpster. Wish I had more.

Don't even suggest a loss. You only gained and the stuff isn't engorging the landfill.

Larry

[Frank McVey]

Hi, Toller,

It sounds like DSP - drawer side ply. It used to be quite popular for that purpose - it was actually a laminate, rather than a ply. I've seen it in oak, as well - 5 or so oak laminations - all with the grain in the same direction - glued together to form the material that they made the drawer sides from. If it was well done, you actually had to inspect it very closely to determine that it wasn't solid oak. It gave you the benefit of having a very stable material to work with for hidden parts - like drawer sides and backs, without the disadvantage of the usual long-grain-cross-grain plywood appearance. I don't know whether it is still available, but like you, I've salvaged quite a bit of it over the years, and it really is terrific stuff for its purpose.

Cheers

Frank