Wholesale prefinished plywood, how cheap is too cheap?

[Jared Sankovich]

Planning out my kitchen build, I'm working on wholesale sourcing of prefinished plywood. I called a local wholesaler (Chesapeake Plywood out of Baltimore) and was quoted $44/sheet for 1/2" C2 rotary cut natural birch prefinished 1 side and $54 for the same in 3/4. I asked and no real suprise at that price it's imported. I asked and they don't cary domestic prefinished.

The price seems low, though I don't normally purchase 40 sheets at once either. The last thing i want is a truck load that looks like the potato chips they pass off as plywood at the Borg

[Eric Rimel]

Prices in my area are about the same and all prefinished is imported from my normal suppliers.

[Ken Grant]

Seems high to me, but I live in a flyover state...I pay a little under $30 a sheet for 1/2" birch prefinished one side, and could get it cheaper if I ordered more volume. It can be a little warpy sometimes, but I think the stuff is great for cabinet boxes. Around here prefinished domestic is also available for an upcharge.

[Brodie Brickey]

At 1/2" I assume you are doing panels and drawers with it. You may want to find out how many ply it has and how many voids.

[mreza Salav]

I don't touch imported ply for cabinets. Spend a little more and get a NA birch or maple pre-finished. Yes, they are more $ but much much better quality.

[Rick Potter]

Another thing to consider is the interior ply material. My dealer tells me that some 'Baltic Birch imitators' look like the right stuff, but the interior plies are softwood, as opposed to all birch in the real stuff. It is pretty obvious when you look, and it weights much less also. The real stuff also has a much thicker outer layer, where the cheap stuff has a veneer so thin it often shatters when you crosscut it.

[michael langman]

If I were building my own cabinets I would only use the better made plywood. Too much work involved to be disappointed with the results.

[Keith Hankins]

Planning out my kitchen build, I'm working on wholesale sourcing of prefinished plywood. I called a local wholesaler (Chesapeake Plywood out of Baltimore) and was quoted $44/sheet for 1/2" C2 rotary cut natural birch prefinished 1 side and $54 for the same in 3/4. I asked and no real suprise at that price it's imported. I asked and they don't cary domestic prefinished.

The price seems low, though I don't normally purchase 40 sheets at once either. The last thing i want is a truck load that looks like the potato chips they pass off as plywood at the Borg

Whats the grade of the ply?

I get a lot of cherry ply and baltic birch and I go to industrial ply in Reading PA. Good stuff and they are good to deal with

http://www.industrialplywood.com/

They deliver to MD so check em out.

[Jared Sankovich]

At 1/2" I assume you are doing panels and drawers with it. You may want to find out how many ply it has and how many voids.

The 1/2 is for the backs, and drawer bottoms. Though I considered just going with all 1/2 for the construction.

I don't touch imported ply for cabinets. Spend a little more and get a NA birch or maple pre-finished. Yes, they are more $ but much much better quality.

I've been unable to locate any wholesale suppliers so far, local retail is $130/sheet for 1/2 maple (A1)

Whats the grade of the ply?

I get a lot of cherry ply and baltic birch and I go to industrial ply in Reading PA. Good stuff and they are good to deal with

http://www.industrialplywood.com/

They deliver to MD so check em out.

Its C2 grade from Chesapeake for the prices I was quoted. Thanks, I'll have to call industrial ply their selection seems good.

[Jim Becker]

Jared, I also buy sheet goods from Industrial Plywood in Reading and while I haven't bought pre-finished anythings, they have only ever delivered one sheet I wasn't happy with...and cheerfully replaced it a few days later when the truck was back in my area for a normal delivery day.

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

Menards sells 1/2" for $38 and 3/4" for $40.
Not in Virginia yet, though.

[Jeff Duncan]

Imported from where? Just saying imported doesn't help as a LOT of sheet product comes from Canada. Also the Garnica brand is really good product that I believe is imported from Spain, and arguably better than most of the domestic products.....though not sure if they supply pre-finished or not. So I would get some clarification before making a decision one way or the other.

good luck,
JeffD

[Steven Pearson]

Menards sells 1/2" for $38 and 3/4" for $40.
Not in Virginia yet, though.

That's exactly what I was thinking... My HD sells 1/2" birch 2 sided for $30 and 3/4 for $40. Same for Oak. Quality is about what you would expect from a big box store.

[Jim Dwight]

For a major project like a kitchen I think it is wise to buy from a distributor but I often get a sheet or two from a big box store and I don't agree that there is anything wrong with all the plywood they sell. I have used half a dozen or more sheets of pine plywood, for instance, in my shop for a workbench and cabinets from Home Depot and I think it is good stuff, expecially for the price. It is 7 ply (19mm) and has one side that is consistently good, the other side is often clear but sometimes has tight knots, and few voids. It's all softwood but for shop stuff that is fine with me.

I did a kitchen 20+ years ago with big box plywood but in those days, I could get the oak I wanted with poplar inner plys. Pretty good stuff. The veneer was rotary cut but my wife didn't object. I made solid oak raised panel doors, full overlay, and we were happy with the result.

My least favorite plywood came from China and stank. It had quite a few voids and whatever wood it was was soft and unstable. So I would agree, there is plenty of imported junk too.

The number of plys and what they are made of and the glue are important things to know. Nominal 3/4 (really typically 19mm) can be as few as 5 plys and I would not want it. If you could find poplar inner plys that would be a plus to me but if the softwood is sound (not voids) I think it is OK. I want exterior glue but the stuff from HD (and Chile) I talked about above is interior glue - but in the shop it should be OK and has been so far. I like baltic birch (1/2) for drawers but wouldn't use it for boxes. Too heavy and I don't like the exterior plys. I'd rather have good big box stuff with an oak or maple veneer (cherry is too dark for my wife but it is beautiful wood).

[Jared Sankovich]

That's exactly what I was thinking... My HD sells 1/2" birch 2 sided for $30 and 3/4 for $40. Same for Oak. Quality is about what you would expect from a big box store.

That the exact reason I was questioning the quality. The couple of sheets I've picked up from HD Have been absolute garbage. They were full of voids and internal stresses to the point of warping a few inches on a 24" peice right off the saw. Even if they paid me to take it i would use something else.