Make Your Own Plywood

[Paul Bahlin]

Thought I'd pass on a tip/technique regarding plywood. Thin plywood like the birch that a lot of people use is not the greatest material for cutting with a laser. It is often inconsistent with junk for inner plies and unknown glue quality. Much of the work I've seen from using this material has shabby looking edges.

I decided to make my own plywood like this....

I buy veneer in bulk from the clearance shelf. Usually it has some small defect that makes it unusable for typical veneer jobs. For me though, small defects don't matter since I am using only small areas at a time so it's easy to avoid defects. You can get this stuff (I bought maple qtrd) for under a dollar per sq. ft.

I glue this veneer (three ply) with the center sheet at cross grain with the two outer plies. I use a product called Heat Lock by Better Bond. It is a PVA glue that is heat activated. You simply brush it on the two surfaces you want to join, let dry for about 20 minutes then put them together and press with a medium heat household iron. It makes a great bond.

One trick that you need to watch out for is that the glue causes a large curl to the veneer when wet. When you iron the first two sheets together you will have a curled panel. I take this curled up panel and place glue on the concave side. When you glue the third panel it counters the initial cure and you end up with a flat three ply panel that is about 0.060 thick and very strong.

This stuff cuts great and leaves an edge that is not visibly plywood if you leave it alone. If you sand the edge you have a hard time seeing the inner ply as it is good wood and free of voids that you get in junk birch.

[Jay Selway]

Thought I'd pass on a tip/technique regarding plywood. Thin plywood like the birch that a lot of people use is not the greatest material for cutting with a laser. It is often inconsistent with junk for inner plies and unknown glue quality. Much of the work I've seen from using this material has shabby looking edges.

I decided to make my own plywood like this....

I buy veneer in bulk from the clearance shelf. Usually it has some small defect that makes it unusable for typical veneer jobs. For me though, small defects don't matter since I am using only small areas at a time so it's easy to avoid defects. You can get this stuff (I bought maple qtrd) for under a dollar per sq. ft.

I glue this veneer (three ply) with the center sheet at cross grain with the two outer plies. I use a product called Heat Lock by Better Bond. It is a PVA glue that is heat activated. You simply brush it on the two surfaces you want to join, let dry for about 20 minutes then put them together and press with a medium heat household iron. It makes a great bond.

One trick that you need to watch out for is that the glue causes a large curl to the veneer when wet. When you iron the first two sheets together you will have a curled panel. I take this curled up panel and place glue on the concave side. When you glue the third panel it counters the initial cure and you end up with a flat three ply panel that is about 0.060 thick and very strong.

This stuff cuts great and leaves an edge that is not visibly plywood if you leave it alone. If you sand the edge you have a hard time seeing the inner ply as it is good wood and free of voids that you get in junk birch.

Would love to see a video tutorial of your process. Thanks for sharing.

[Bert Kemp]

This sound interesting. I was using BB from woodworkers source but almost always didn't get a clean cut for the whole piece I was cutting out and had to get the exacto. I now buy utility hardwood ply 2.7mm from HD. This stuff cuts out 99% of the time. Also I don't have to stain it because it has a nice color to, it so for what I do with it no stain, just a couple coats of clear poly and I'm good to go. and its cheap 9.97 4x8' sheet and HD will cut it to my size for me.
But this make your own sounds like you get a better quality ply and I'm sure you can get it in different species so the color will be what I want , no stain. I'll have to see about the cost tho. Sounds expensive compared to 9.97 for 32 sq feet.

[Craig Matheny]

This sound interesting. I was using BB from woodworkers source but almost always didn't get a clean cut for the whole piece I was cutting out and had to get the exacto. I now buy utility hardwood ply 2.7mm from HD. This stuff cuts out 99% of the time. Also I don't have to stain it because it has a nice color to, it so for what I do with it no stain, just a couple coats of clear poly and I'm good to go. and its cheap 9.97 4x8' sheet and HD will cut it to my size for me.
But this make your own sounds like you get a better quality ply and I'm sure you can get it in different species so the color will be what I want , no stain. I'll have to see about the cost tho. Sounds expensive compared to 9.97 for 32 sq feet.

I run across this not that often from a lift of B/BB Baltic Birch 130 sheets I go through 6+ lifts of birch a year that is almost 10,000 1'x2' sheets and I might have to re-cut a small item once in awhile or break out the razor blade to finish a cut that a knot stopped which with B/BB is rare. As far as clean cuts not sure what grade Birch you got but the edges on our stuff is beautiful not sure if it is the difference in the quality of wood or the different brand of laser.

The layup for the plywood is a great idea for high end work and will keep this in mind thank you but would need to lay up to 3mm hmmmm.

[Chuck Stone]

(snip) ...You can get this stuff (I bought maple qtrd) for under a dollar per sq. ft.
(snip)
...I glue this veneer (three ply) with the center sheet at cross grain with the two outer plies.

Doesn't that put you over $3/sq ft? I think many here are paying about $0.60-0.70 sq ft now..
or maybe I misunderstood..

[Craig Matheny]

Doesn't that put you over $3/sq ft? I think many here are paying about $0.60-0.70 sq ft now..
or maybe I misunderstood..

That is how I took it also plus it is only .060 thick half the thickness of 3mm
But
cool none the less

[Paul Bahlin]

Here are some pics of this plywood after cutting. I used FSL 45w with 1.5 inch lens at s50/p100.

20150112_064955.jpg20150112_064825.jpg

I paid $0.25 per sq. ft. so this plywood costs me $0.75 per sq.ft. The best part is that it gets shipped to me rolled up in a little box, about 12x12x6. I got 34 sq. ft. shipped for about $12.00. You won't get BB shipped to you for that price. This is high quality veneer. The pieces in these pics cost about 5 cents with labor.

BTW contrary to lots that I've read about FSL, I love my machine and it's software. It has worked flawlessly for me.

[Craig Matheny]

Paul looks very nice. being only .060 thick it has its limited uses thanks for sharing the pics.

[Steve Peterson]

Can you share where you got the veneer for such a cheap price?

Also, can you do a 3 ply glue-up in one pass. Is it possible to spread the glue on both sides of the inner ply before pressing them together?

thanks
Steve

[Matt McCoy]

Paul looks very nice. being only .060 thick it has its limited uses thanks for sharing the pics.

I would think you could add additional veneers or a core to your layup, if you wanted thicker stock.

[Michael Kowalczyk]

so I guesss you are working for free when you glue it up and not taking utilities, rent or labor into account when you calculate your per foot costs

[Mel Fulks]

The three milimeter Italian bending ply easily found cuts "beautifully" according to another laser guy here.

[Craig Matheny]

The three milimeter Italian bending ply easily found cuts "beautifully" according to another laser guy here.

It does it cuts like butter and it is as strong as soft butter no strength to it at all.

[Mel Fulks]

Craig, I'm not a laser guy. Posted simply because the opinion was in a pm to me and I don't think any of the posts have
mentioned it. The material is made from poplar and has the strength of poplar.

[Paul Bahlin]

re: various questions

The raw material cost is .01171875 actually. The nickel includes shipping, labor, etc.

I bought veneer at certainlywood.com. Look for 'sales and specials' and items where they say "must buy entire qty" for the cheapest veneer.

I wouldn't try to build up multiple layers at once. You would risk not getting enough heat into the inner layers. The glue dries in twenty minutes and must be dry before you activate it with heat. If you do a big batch you can start bonding when you finish spreading your last sheet (after 20 minutes or so). Just run throught the batch and you won't be wasting any time.