Plywood differences

[Joseph Smith]

A couple of months ago I was at my Home Depot and on the floor at the front of one of their aisle I saw Maple/Birch plywood 4X8 sheets for $29.99. I gobbled up four because they rarely have ply at that good of a price (their Birch only is $40.00 as well as Oak).

Last week I finally started on a project w/ the ply and noticed that three of the sheets appeared to be composite of 12 thin layers of laminated wood where as the other looked to be five thicker layers covered on both sides with a veneer.

Went back to the Depot yesterday and they now seem to be carrying the Birch/Maple as a regular item, but on the five layered type. To, at last, get to the point; what is the difference between the two?

Joey in Chesapeake

[Phisherman]

Not all ply is created equal. The stuff from Russia is very high quality, if you can find it. Some ply is just plain crap with all kinds of defects, uneveness and voids, but then it really depends on what you are building.

[Ron]

I haven't seen (or looked for) the 12 layer variety yet, however, I'm currently using the 5 ply stuff for some cabinet sides. It's been working out quite well so far.

Ron

[Lew Hodgett]

My landlord, a gasket maker, uses 11 ply (5/8") to make cutting dies for gaskets and will not allow the Russian stuff in his shop.

This cabinet grade type of Birch plywood is imported from all over Eastern Europe as well as Finland and Russia.

The Russian stuff uses an interior glue, the Finnish an exterior glue. The rest, I'm not sure.

If you ever try to laser cut this stuff, the difference between Russian and Finnish becomes obvious.

You can't laser cut the Russian stuff.

Like my landlord, I limit my use to Finnish product.

[Bridger]

In Tucson all I can get is the russian stuff ; (

[Bruce]

Found the 1/2" stuff in Albuquerque, about $17 for a 5' x 5' sheet. I've already made a TS sled and am working on a router table next 8^)

-Bruce

[papaboop]

Looks like what you got is imported from China. I've been buying this for the lumber yard for a few years now. Good quality at a reasonable price. Early on there were some serious quality control issues with the Chinese ply, but no probs recently.

-- Papaboop

[Joseph Smith]

TKS Papaboop. Truthfully I like the 12 layered better. It seemed to have less tear out when I was dadoing it for some shelves than the five layer.