borg mdf question

[Steven Lee, NC]

I know borg plywood tends to suck. How is the mdf? I have no idea how to tell. I am planning on doing some veneering.

If borg stuff sucks, how do I go about finding good stuff?


thnx

[Victor Robinson]

I've been satisfied with borg MDF for the most part. But there is definitely a difference between the different stores that are close to me in terms of how carefully they handle and store sheet goods. The two most important things to look for are flatness and how beat up the edges are. It's nice to be able to treat the factory edge as straight and the corners as square, but you can't do that if they are all bashed up.

That being said, I tend to buy all my ply and mdf from a hardwood dealer now. They have a lot more choice and at the low-end the stuff doesn't cost any more than the borg.

[Prashun Patel]

I'm a contrarian here. There are good and bad BORG's. There are good and bad lumber dealers. The key is to look at the pieces yr buying with yr own eyes. I've never had problem with BORG mdf.

For jigs, I find BORG plywood, mdf, and melamine perfectly acceptable.

For furniture, I am sometimes a little more discriminating.

[Jerome Hanby]

I thought that Lowes MDF was fine, but then I bought two sheets at my hardwood dealer mostly because I was already there, but I found out that it was cheaper by a few dollars a sheet and it is better quality. The quality thing could be purely my perception, I didn't do any side by side comparisons, but the edges seemed tougher and the finished sides were smoother. The price difference (for me) would make it worth the trip, but I'd loose any of the savings buying hard wood on impulse. That would never happen in Lowe's <g>.

I was reading Tom Clark's cabinet making book and he mentioned buying sandeply from one of the borgs and claimed it was good quality and a good bargain. I saw some in HD the other day and it was all potato chipped, the piles didn't look that great (voids), and the price was higher than the less than top grade birch I bought at the hard wood lumber yard (which was flat and pretty much void free). Maybe this is a case of my borgs being ion the bad category... On the plus side the hardwood yard had a special on poplar shorts and I replaced all my poplar that I've used on jigs and shop cabinet doors for about $1.50 a bd ft (in 5 foot lengths).

[Jeff Monson]

I have no issues with BORG mdf either, I use it mainly for jigs. For veneering mdf as long as you are veneering both sides, I have not had issues with BORG mdf either.

[Gene Howe]

Haven't had any problems with BORG MDF. However, my local lumberyard has at least two suppliers of MDF. Seeing two bunks stacked side by side, I can see differences in density, at least on the edges. IIRC, the more dense ones came from Georgia Pacific.

[Peter Quinn]

The few times I have searched for MDF at the borg (blue or orange), it looked like a herd of Buffalo had just crossed over it. Dents, dings, scratches, bashes, marks, cupped, warped, wrecked. The rack it was on was racked, err, not flat. It was not the kind of thing you could use as a substrate for any veneer.It was not a quality issue but a condition problem. I don't entirely blame the borg for this, its their format really to blame. The public, well, they are not to be trusted. So if the stacks are open to the general public, the goods get generally abused. Take a casual afternoon on an off day and just sit in a borg lumber aisle and watch how people treat the goods. Astonishing how little respect some people have for the merchandise. If you have to buy sheet goods at the borg, be selective and inspect the goods carefully, be prepared to dig through an entire pile.

Now some stores may be better than others about storage and culling, you may walk in and find a new lift has just been put out, you may live in a community where the public really respects and takes care of its MDF supply. LOL. Choking on sarcasm. But the best particle board or MDF even at a real lumber yard is still cheap. And veneer is always expensive. Make it or buy it, by the time you lay it up its going to cost more in most species than solids accounting for time and materials. So my opinion is unless you have a particularly good MDF situation at your local borg, start establishing a relationship with a real lumber yard in your area. Given I have three within 30 minutes ride, two within 20 min, and work at the third, my perspective may be biased. I would not want to drive 45 minutes each way for one sheet of MDF if I had no local supplier. I might make that trip less frequently and stock up when I did.

So next best option? Find a local cabinet shop that buys from a plywood distributer and gets deliveries, see if you can piggy back on their orders?

[Steve knight]

density and the face quality are two things. I cut it on my cnc and I see the difference in cheap mdf and the good stuff. the good stuff cuts cleaner the faces cut better the faces are harder and smoother then the cheap stuff. so if you are painting it would save you money buying better quality. Plus the better quality will hold screws better.

[johnny means]

IME Borg MDF is of lower quality. Usually, it seems like some product in between MDF and LDF. Dent resistance and edge strength have never been as good as my suppliers. That being said, it rarely has made any practical difference in my use. One thing to check though is if they give you the extra length and width. Industry suppliers sell 49" x 97" sheets, my local borgs fluctuate between these and 48" x 96" sheets. Often this has greatly affected my yield.

[glenn bradley]

My Blue and Orange BORG have both been fine sources for MDF. My yard charges a few bucks less so if I am there I get it there. I'd be hard pressed to tell you which pieces came from where.