measure twice cut once

at least you know what the problem is if they cut it wrong they should fix the problem

If you start with plywood that is exactly 96" wide and cut it exactly in half, assuming the saw blade is a typical 1/8" thick, the pieces won't be 48", they'll be 47 15/16".

My Home Depot's policy is "We'll cut it if you want, but we can't be responsible if the results aren't to your satisfaction. You own it".

;~) Hey, YOU "get it" too.

Actually I believe you end up with just shy of 60" for each piece, not

I guess we need to invent a "zero kerf/zero swarf" cutting method to solve this problem... maybe a hydraulic "paper cutter" or "pizza cutter" device would work? ;~)

"John Grossbohlin" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:

I'd suggest a giant "LAY-ZER". I'll use it to cut your wood unevenly unless you pay me... ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!!

Puckdropper

When building base cabinets that are traditionally 24" deep, I minimize waste (IOW, getting two, correctly grain oriented, end panels for the cabinet sides out of one 48" width sheet) by cutting the end panels 23

That way I end up with an assembled base cabinet that is precisely 24" deep.

Sounds a bit anal, but we often build for spaces that don't yet exist, so religiously maintaining that type of precision throughout a project keeps cumulative errors from causing problems during installation.

Comes from Chile. The large tree farms there and lumber mills.

Mart>

I buy plywood

Wouldn't that make the cabs precisely 24-1/2" deep?

...

Last I checked on their web sites, the nominal manufacturers' exterior dimensions were still listed in inches...well, let's check again...

Ayup...

Leon wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.giganews.com:

How thick is the face frame? Assume it's 3/4:

23-15/16 + 12/16 - 3/16 = 23-24/16 or 24-1/4

If the face frame is 1/2, then it works out to 24 exactly.

John

Check the thickness. See if it is a real 3/4" or 1/2".

So much is metric that is close. Trimmed down and that is it.

If you have a local ply mill then the buyers might buy from it.

Depends on where the forest they use is. If in South America then the ply comes from there. Lower cost to ship.

If from a local forest and mill structure - it might be metric or Imperial.

And cutting a 96" board in half won't give you 48" x 48".

Mart> >> They don't make 4x8' anymore. It is all metric and is close to that

Check the manufactuer's website spec's given earlier...they're in English units, 48x96 at thicknesses 1/32" under the nominal historical dimensions.

Nobody's claiming you can take a length and remove a kerf thickness and have the initial total length and my only comment was that US manufacturers are still using English nominal measurements for at least construction ply; some furniture/cabinet-grade products are otherwise.

Nope! 24-1/2" as I stated. 23-24/16 does not reduce to 24-1/4.

I could be wrong here but I don't think any "normal" cabinet face frames are 1/2" thick.

Leon wrote in news:kt2dnZMT5MNkZu snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

You're right. That's what I get for trying to do math in my head :-(

John

;~) I think Swingman might have misstated. He and I have built 50+ of those cabinets and face frames together. But he and I are both pretty anal about cutting down waste.

So the 1/2" sheet measures out at a 12mm sheet that has large dimensions. They don't take 1/32 away from you for nothing.

Mart> >> Check the thickness. See if it is a real 3/4" or 1/2".