Birch Plywood For Painted Book Case - $50 vs. $75

Nice work! Just shows that matching the material to the project is the key. I think 3/4" would have looked a little "60s handyman" there myself.

Robert

It's all about scale and perspective-- something that stuck with me from the 15 minutes I spent in architecture school. :-)

On an 18inch shelf in a 3ft high bookcase, yeah it probably looks fine. But not on a 4ft shelf, 8ft high, across a 12ft wall.

I'm building some baby gates that are modeled after the staircase handrail and spindles in the home it will be installed. I'm scaling down the dimensions of the spindles to more accurately reflect the scale of the gate. Almost like they will look the same size when viewed from a distance. If I made them the exact same size, they would look way too big. A little bit makes a big difference.

ut I can tell you from experience that it can vary wildly. If I am looking for a certain plywood, I drive to the nearest store and look at their stoc k.

the large sink cabinet damaged by a bad leak at a client's house. I went to the closest HD looking for A/B, B/C, economy "cab ply", or even this unide ntified paint grade stuff from Chile they have once in a while. I found so mething called "pine ply" or similar. It was A/B in appearance, but all ha rd pine. No footballs, good veneer thickness, 8 layers of material (!!!), and really clean. Never seen it before. It was about $30 a sheet.

using almost all of it, the point being lots of cuts, probably 30 lineal f eet or so. ONE void, just one about the size of a pencil eraser in one of the layers. That's it. Held screws, brads, etc., with no problems and whe n using my countersink, it didn't splinter.

it back for my own use. I know that next time I need it they may (probably not) have it. We primed it with a roller on one side (interior of the cab inet painted per client) and put on a coat of paint before cutting. Assembl ed, we put on one more coat on the floor of the cab after the plumbing was reinstalled and I have to say it looks great. It sanded great, no splinter ing, and holds paint just fine.

wood from a distributor. Around here, the local wholesaler (DixiePly)sells a great deal of the same stuff in the big boxes. The stuff in limited sup ply like the cab ply from Chile (affectionately called "Chiliply" by me) is an HD exclusive so directly to them in lots. Most quality plywoods come f rom the local guys where available.

't seen the end results of his work years later. The carcass should be 3/4 ". Thickness of your shelves should be predicated on their load. When buil ding for all books, I use 3/4" plyood with a fascia (usually around 1x2) to compliment the style of the cabinet, and put a piece on the back of the sh elf to keep the overall dimensions. I have seen my work with that detail h old a library of law books, and a specialty open back cabinet to display la rge porcelain objects go for years without sag.

ted edge band on the show side and it looks and works great. The shelves h old kitchen towels, tablecloths, cloth napkins in a utility hutch that look a bit more finished in that small, skinny cabinet.

es are to be adjustable, and take a look from there.

that plywood at HD...

When I built the cabinet for my miter saw, I went to HD looking to buy some

Is it this product?

Now that you reminded me, maybe that's the way to go for these bookcases. T hey are going in a kitchen and that plywood probably has a better surface than the stick builts already in place. Besides, screwing up a $32 sheet beats screw ing up a $76 sheet. ;-)

I don't think that's the stuff. It's listed as sheathing, and I'm pretty sure the plywood that we're talking about was at least 7 ply and had one grade higher outer veneers.

However, I'm 99% sure that this all varies by region, so even though we may not be talking apples and oranges... we may be talking Granny Smith and Golden Delicious. :-)

Yes, it certainly is common and it is common sense in most cases. Of course, if you look at the picture the OP provided, the shelves look to be rather thin so perhaps he wants that look. I built in 16 feet of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves across my downstairs room and they have rather stout 2-1/4" edging to stiffen them up but that does give them a _very_ heavy look. At a 34" span in each bay there is no detectable sag even with a full load of heavy books.

ote:

, but I can tell you from experience that it can vary wildly. If I am look ing for a certain plywood, I drive to the nearest store and look at their s tock.

ce the large sink cabinet damaged by a bad leak at a client's house. I went to the closest HD looking for A/B, B/C, economy "cab ply", or even this un identified paint grade stuff from Chile they have once in a while. I found something called "pine ply" or similar. It was A/B in appearance, but all hard pine. No footballs, good veneer thickness, 8 layers of material (!!! ), and really clean. Never seen it before. It was about $30 a sheet.

up using almost all of it, the point being lots of cuts, probably 30 linea l feet or so. ONE void, just one about the size of a pencil eraser in one of the layers. That's it. Held screws, brads, etc., with no problems and when using my countersink, it didn't splinter.

ut it back for my own use. I know that next time I need it they may (proba bly not) have it. We primed it with a roller on one side (interior of the cabinet painted per client) and put on a coat of paint before cutting. Asse mbled, we put on one more coat on the floor of the cab after the plumbing w as reinstalled and I have to say it looks great. It sanded great, no splin tering, and holds paint just fine.

plywood from a distributor. Around here, the local wholesaler (DixiePly)se lls a great deal of the same stuff in the big boxes. The stuff in limited supply like the cab ply from Chile (affectionately called "Chiliply" by me) is an HD exclusive so directly to them in lots. Most quality plywoods com e from the local guys where available.

asn't seen the end results of his work years later. The carcass should be

fluted edge band on the show side and it looks and works great. The shelve s hold kitchen towels, tablecloths, cloth napkins in a utility hutch that l ook a bit more finished in that small, skinny cabinet.

elves are to be adjustable, and take a look from there.

nd that plywood at HD...

Aga Ideal for cabinets, displays, fixtures, furniture and shelving Ready to paint Interior use only Stable composed core

Of course, there is also this, for only $8 more. Looks like at least 7 ply, but it's not listed as Pine, so it's probably not what we were talking abou t. How ever, it might work for my project.

Sandeplywood delivers durable beauty in cabinets, furniture, shelving, wall panels, entertainment centers, tables and varouis (sic) interior projects.

nes with heavy

No, you're looking way too deep into the picture I posted, but I posted it, so I'll take the blame. ;-)

Look no further than 2 matching units, each with a 2 door base cabinet that is a few inches deeper than the book case. One on each side of a window.

Each unit will be ~34" in total width, so ~32" shelves. 3/4" would be too wimpy both in form and function, so there will definitely be some edging used. Not 2-1/4" though. :-)

The ones in his picture wouldn't need any extra bracing, IMO.

Forget it. You have a better chance of teaching the Comet how to punctuate.

Yes, 9 ply (outer veneers count) and higher quality. More uniform finish veneers and fewer voids inside. Not what we're talking about but would certainly work for your project. Just make sure you cherry pick and get ones that haven't warped.

replying to krw, Iggy wrote: I will not be assimilated.

IMO, you could get away with a uniform (same thickness as plywood) edge band, front and back. Or a 1-1/4"-ish front edge band, rabbeted, like this...

I have done dozens like this and it's extremely strong.

Oh, and by the way... I went through all the fancy techniques of solid edge banding to a shelf. V-groove, tongue and groove, spline, etc., etc., etc.

This was by far the simplest and just as strong as the rest.

You can clamp two shelves at one time, like this....

You leave the banding proud of the shelf top, then trim it flush with a pattern bit. Lickety split.

e ones with heavy

Oh, to have the space that you have. Any *one* of your double glue ups would take up most of my shop. ;-)

Neither one is a "teaching" issue. Each one knows exactly what he is doing and simply chooses to be a dick about it.

That was my old shop. Present one is about 2x the size. The Sharn out back is 3x the size when needed. You want space? The present SUCKS award goes to Steve down in TX. His new shop leaves us all envious!

On 11/9/2017 5:20 PM, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote: Snip

Build to last a hundred years or more and build so that some one a hundred years later knows you knew what you were doing.

Your time is the most valuable think to put into your work. Cutting corners discounts your effort.

Best just ignore Iggy, do not quote respond to him. A kind of a PISS on him (yeah it is an acronym).

Well, I am dumbfounded. A commercial account at HD for 33 years, shopping there all the time, and I have never noticed that stuff. It HAS to be it. I pulled my HD receipt and that is the only thing that matches the descrip tion and price on the receipt.

I counted the plies on a pic I had of the finished cabinet and it is clearl y 7.

I wouldn't give a second thought to buying that for any paint grade project . One of the problems I have with some of the birch products is that they don't always hold paint well. No idea why. This stuff grabbed the finish well.

To lower my level of exasperation in dealing with HD, I always look online for products and email myself their location so I can walk in, grab what I want, and go. I have found that they do not update their product descripti ons as needed, certainly their quantity count is almost always wrong, and e ven the descriptions don't match. It comes from having a busy IT person th at doesn't understand the product nomenclature.

So... apparently I have been searching the same store over and over since I established it as "my Home Depot", the one by my office. It is a small HD , and they simply don't have the room for that stuff. The HD where it was purchased is double the size of "mine", and they show 51 sheets.

Sombitch.

I haven't had any luck with HD's other ply products, even the "Sande" stuff . Even my HD rep couldn't tell me what the face ply is on that product. We think that it is some kind of softer maple, but then another batch comes i n and it looks more like birch. His inquiry to their supplier is that "it d epends" on the batch. Regardless of what it actually is, I have had a lot of problems with chipping, and the veneer peeling. It is hard to transport to the job as the edges are very fragile. I will buy my "Chiliply" before I get that stuff. I have even had the veneer raise in a vein about 4" long and the width of a pencil when finishing with one of my ammonia laden late x enamels.

DD3, thanks for taking the time to post the link. On one hand I feel like a palm plant on my forehead is in order, but then in the other hand I am gla d to know I can get it at the next closest store when I need it.

Robert