HD/Lowes Plywood

[Jay Jeffery]

Having not had great luck with borg plywood, I finally drove across town this month to buy a sheet of domestic red oak plywood from a hardwood dealer. It ran about $60/sheet versus the $45 at Lowes. I drove past a handfull of BORGs on the way to the hardwood dealer, got stuck in traffic and it took half an hour at least just for the transactiuon. I get cutting some dadoes in it, smell a familar smell I was not expecting, and realize that the plys are made of PINE!

There must be some sort of grading of plywood I don't understand. Whatever it is not simply "Hardwood dealer > BORG" or "More $ > cheaper."

I'm no wood grading expert, but when I bought a sheet of "Red Oak" plywood, I expected an oak veneer over some kind of decidous plys.

Okay, I'm done ranting, but not done learning.

One thing I will say about the BORG set up is that the panel can be really nice. With what it takes to break down sheet goods in my shop, having 4 free cuts and any more I want at 25 cents/cut makes life much easier.

[glenn bradley]

Import birch ply at my yard is under $30 per sheet for 3/4". Does your BB ply source carry "shop grade" or other low end sheetgoods? The reason I ask is that the worst stuff I've seen at my chosen lumber yards is better than the best stuff I see at the BORG around here (this varies by region). Just a thought. Just because you don't want high-end stuff doesn't mean your yard isn't the place to shop ;-)

[johnny means]

Jay, a large part of the plywood equation is the preservation and extension of resources. There is only do much clear red oak available for harvest and a lot if demand. Using it as inner plies would essentially waste several pretty oak faces for every sheet produced. Hardwoods are slow growing, thus difficult to replenish. Pine on the other hand is fast growing and relatively easy to replace. Dont feel as though pine core is an inferior product. The differences in quality have more to do with the actual construction of the core than the material used better products will will have inner cores that are made from trimmed and seamed leaves. Each later will be void free with nice tight seams.when seem from the edge your plies will look near, even, and parallel. Garbage is made by throwing a bunch o of untrimmed leaves into a glue soaked pile between trip face veneers leaving lots of overlapping leaves and voids. This haphazard construction is evident when seen from the edge. Better plywood us also sanded before the face is applied, so as to hide the grain of the substrate

What you were thinking of does exist. But, its a premium over the premium. Expect to pay a couple of hundred bucks a sheet for clear maple. Appleply is the brand that comes to my mind. In many ways this type out product is actually better than solid wood.

[Will Winder]

Apparently I got lucky when buying plywood this weekend, I don't buy very much plywood so I was surprised to read all these stories after my good experience.

I got some of the BORG's top end plywood, it was 1/2" Maple Veneer (labeled 12mm) and cost $45 after tax. They cut it up into the 6 rectangles I needed and I didn't see any voids along the edges. When constructing the first drawer I made dados for the bottom and still saw no defects. The veneer was very thin but at this point its hard to expect otherwise. It was made in China.

[Jerome Hanby]

I think what they actually stock is regional. For example, I've never seen anything other than oak and birch as far as hardwood plywood at the borgs in Birmingham...

Apparently I got lucky when buying plywood this weekend, I don't buy very much plywood so I was surprised to read all these stories after my good experience.

I got some of the BORG's top end plywood, it was 1/2" Maple Veneer (labeled 12mm) and cost $45 after tax. They cut it up into the 6 rectangles I needed and I didn't see any voids along the edges. When constructing the first drawer I made dados for the bottom and still saw no defects. The veneer was very thin but at this point its hard to expect otherwise. It was made in China.

[Fred Voorhees]

Wow....I haven't been on here with any kind of regularity for months on end... but it seems like some things never change.....people still ranting over the HD and Lowes plywood issue. At this point...I would think that anyone that has been a member of this forum for any length of time has been exposed to this issue and is fully knowledgable about the risks and gambles of dealing with the lower cost big box store plywood. Seems as if the price is still a factor in purchases. Me, I haven't bought any in a while, but when I did...I didn't have that bad of an experience with it. But darn man.....you guys are still going back to the well of risks and purchasing this stuff....at this point...I would think that your allowance for complaining is pretty much squandered.

[Bruce Wrenn]

When at HD, look for the Pure Bond brand by Columbia Forest Products. Solid veneer core with few or no voids and extremely flat. Clean face with a very good reverse side. The face veneer is per industry standard thickness. No "red glue" coming through to the face. Available in the NJ area in red oak, birch and maple.

Here in NC, where Columbia Forest Products makes a lot of HD's plywood, we can only get Red Oak and Birch. HD stocks a C-3 grade, also know as "shop" in these veneers. Once in while, but not very often my local HD will get a unit of Maple in. Everything in Lowes here is from China.

[Jim Summers]

If I am working with 3/4" stuff, I generally just buy solid wood and joint/plane/glue to the dimensions necessary. The cost is basically the same and plus I generally have some useful scrap or for sure some good firewood. But for me time is not part of the cost equation.

HTH

[Ole Anderson]

If I am working with 3/4" stuff, I generally just buy solid wood and joint/plane/glue to the dimensions necessary. The cost is basically the same and plus I generally have some useful scrap or for sure some good firewood. But for me time is not part of the cost equation.

HTH

Cost is the same? You have got to be kidding.

Anybody see any of the 13 ply 3/4" cabinet grade (even chinese) at the BORG recently?

[Jay Jeffery]

Cost is the same? You have got to be kidding.

You mean you can't get solid hardwood for about $1/bf?

My local Rockler has been getting in pallets full of 2-4ft long pieces of wood they sell for $1/board. Not board foot, but board. Most of it is hardwood like red oak, maple, and poplar. Most of it is milled 1X with some thicker stuff that isn't. A couple of times I have been lucky enough to be the first to root through the pile and got oak boards 6-12 inches wide. That works out to be cheaper than oak plywood.

[Ole Anderson]

You mean you can't get solid hardwood for about $1/bf?

A buck a foot for decent boards is crazy low. Around here you pay twice that for #1 common soft maple or poplar unless you get into 100 bf or larger discounts or sel & btr red oak in 500 bf orders. Still for big flat panels I prefer ply as it is dimensionally more stable. Now big raised panels is another story...

[scott vroom]

The only plywood I purchase from HD is sheathing for construction applications. It's crap and twisted like a potato chip but usable for external wall sheathing and cheap $. One poster mentioned oak or birch 3/4" for $44. My first question would be whether the hardwood veneer is plain sawed or spiral cut.....I suspect the later, which makes it junk to me.

[Jeff Duncan]

Plywood is graded.....usually, box stores don't always carry material which shows the grade, if it has one, your buying. When I order material I can often order the grade of face veneer I want. I also specify only North American products. Generally the lowest quality material my suppliers stock is B, I think the box stores carry a lot of C.

Short answer is to look for yourself. If it looks reasonably flat and clean, then you may be OK. Of course it also depends on what your building. If it's cabinets for the shop then you don't need to be as picky as if your building a product for someone.

FWIW I would never consider building cabinets out of solid wood....too unstable and wasteful IMHO. Fine furniture has been using veneer forever, why re-invent the wheel?

good luck,
JeffD

[Bryan Slimp]

Same here. I bought fairly good ply at Lowes a couple of years ago. Went back this summer to eyeball the stock and the 1/4 probably had a 12 inch curl from center to edges, and 3/4 probably bent up 4 inches center to edges.

Menards is far and away better than the other two here.

[Albert T. Tappman]

I wonder if anybody has tried ordering Columbia Forest Products Purebond hardwood plywood from HD? Supposedly you can go to the "Pro Desk", whatever that is, and order anything listed on this product sheet. I think it's all made at a mill in North Carolina, using North American timber.

I was thinking of trying to order some MDF-core plywood this way, since the two lumberyards where I live don't carry it and won't try to get it for me.