Plyboo ... firsthand experience wanted

Not any direct but there was a fairly extensive article/discussion on the use advantages/disadvantages in FHB within the year that might be informative...

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No experience, but here is some info:

"Pat Barber" wrote

Even Coonasses got links, cher! :)

No one I know has even touched or seen the stuff, and I was hoping to find someone who had used it on a project. The client is very eco/conservation minded and is adamant about using something "green" for the material in her kitchen project.

One of the issues of likeminded folks with regard to interior materials seems to be the formaldehyde used in the glue during the manufacturing process. All data I've found thus far indicates that any exposure is only of concern to the workers during the plywood manufacturing process, and that very slight.

My initial point was that "plyboo", which is likely manufactured the same way (especially in China where this stuff comes from), would have the same risks, but that has now apparently been addressed with a product labeled "plyboo pure".

While this would seem to be an ideal material for the required spec, I can't, in good conscious, put my blessing on something without knowing how well it may stand up to the intended task. The ads/info sheets, etc. all have the blurb (regarding the glue used in manufacture) "no added formaldehyde", which is like saying "no added sugar", which doesn't necessarily mean there is none, or how much, of either.

Some are also touted as being "urea-formaldehyde free", but, from what I can determine, all this stuff is "Made in China" and we've seen what that gets you with regard to the veracity of ingredients.

In short, and needless to say, I'm skeptical of ANY new materials on $60K projects with "something not added" to the glue that holds the damn material together. :(

Even though there is obviously no "test of time" available with a relatively new product, I was hoping some wrecker had firsthand experience/use with the material, and that use/impression could provide some clues as to whether its suitability is OK to assume in this particular case.

That said, I suppose my other option is just to tout the "green" aspects of a good cabinet grade plywood. :)

... hell, I'm trying! :)

"Swingman" wrote

Two suggestions.

The first is to put something together that indicates china produced products are not all that green, regardless of what the marketing sheet say. I have a hard trusting a system that allowed melamine to be added to milk.

The other is to use more "traditional" green products. Part of being green is not using glues that outgas. Isn't applyply from Denmark? the gold standard for an outgas free plywood?

Thanks, all arguments above already craftily applied.

This attempt is to find someone who has used the stuff

RE: Subject

About 5-7 years ago here in SoCal, plywood from China was relatively new and known for TWO(2) things:

Maybe things have changed, but I wouldn't want to be the guinea pig in Houston to verify that change.

YMMV

Lew

For a start there's the shipping. It's a lot of miles from China to The UK or the US.

Swingman wrote: ...

As noted, all I have is the experience/impressions recounted in FHB article on using it. I wasn't muchly interested so remember little -- do recall it was used in the particular project for precisely the same reason(s) but don't recall anything about the adhesive debate specifically mentioned. AFAICR(emember), the guy liked the material itself but don't the finishing used can't recall.

I asked one of the two locals here when I ran into him at the donut shop a couple hours ago--he's not had any call for it, so no input there, either, sorry.

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"dpb" wrote

Thanks ... I do appreciate your effort. Mighty nice of you.

The saving grace ... One thing I've learned when dealing with customers and green building materials the last few years is how you can gauge their commitment to same by how long it takes them to utter the fatal, to the concept, words:

"Can we find something a bit cheaper?"

:)

Just got off the phone with a supplier in CA who sells a urea-formaldehyde free, bamboo plywood like the customer wants ... $290/sheet for 3/4" x 4' x

We'll see ....

"Lew Hodgett" wrote

LOL ... what I been thinking. :)

Swingman wrote: ...

Was no trouble and glad to do it...was curious (marginally :) ) about the answer if he had had any experience. He just finished a contract job for us on the church parsonage--nothing fancy there; we're about broke and if had known what was coming in the markets would probably have held off doing anything...

Fortunately, the green theeng hadn't yet risen it's head to any significance before I quit the remodel/refurb stuff and what we were doing (antebellum restorations from dilapidated rentals back to single or at most two-family residentials) the work called almost exclusively for traditional construction/styles. Not to the extent for most of having to live up to National Register standards, but did a couple of those too...

I don't think I'd have the patience for the current customer for the most part...Despite grain markets' recent retrenchment, think I'm better off back on the farm. :)

Good luck w/ it--be interesting to hear what you think if it were to go that way.

Didn't Kermit the frog say something about "It's hard being green" ???

From those numbers, it's a little pricey be> Just got off the phone with a supplier in CA who sells a urea-formaldehyde

What? You don't like the industrial look? :)

Mon, Nov 24, 2008, 6:21pm (EST-1) snipped-for-privacy@nospam.com (Swingman) doth query thusly: No conjecture, please. Client is considering using "plyboo", or "plyboo pure" for a new kitchen cabinet job. Any woodorker here used it, touched it, cut it, glued it, stained, or otherwise finished it? Any experience with this material welcome. Thanks ...

You'll never go wrong with painting them yellow. Unless if's after Labor Day.

JOAT Where the choice is between only violence and cowardice, I would advise violence.

- Mohandas Gandhi

It costs about $6000.00 to ship a container from China to the US. How many sheets of plywood can you get in a shipping container? I would say shipping is rather cheap. I'd also say that the importer is making a killing if this stuff sells.

On the plus side, the more people go for this kind of stuff, the more real wood it leaves for the rest of us. ;-)

"Pat Barber" wrote

Here's something for Kermit to ponder ... apparently ALL of Columbia Forest Products plywood, the supplier for Home Depot last I heard, is now "formaldehyde free":

If this is indeed the case, and since the client has subsequently advised that they are most concerned about out gassing over sustainability, and since they have bamboo, along with her fallback wood choices, we may be looking at a fit somewhere.

... besides, it'd be a real hoot saying the plywood for this project "came from HD." :)

"J T" (Swingman) doth query

LOL! ... hey, Bubba, that sure was a purty poem you posted over in ABPW!! :)