Ocooch Hardwoods

[Brian Leavitt]

The problem as has been mentioned is the shipping. Unlike many other goods or services, where the more you order the more economical the shipping becomes, buying wood often works the other way. If you get over size limitations or certain weights the price starts to rise not fall.

And don't even think about paying the shipping to return things. Shipping both ways would almost always cost more than the wood.

I don't really work with too much wood at the moment. I'm going to check in with the local place to see if they are willing to get in some 1/8" BB, but if they won't, I won't be too broken up about it. I care more that the wood is flat than anything else. I don't think the Lowe's here carries a single piece of flat wood.

[Brian Leavitt]

If you want 1/8" ply and don't care about one side, door skins are by far the cheapest way to get it. Only downside is the odd size - 3'x6' instead of 4'x'8'.

This has never crossed my mind. I'll have to check it out.

[David Somers]

Brian,

If your sheet stock is not perfectly flat, or even if it is, store it between two thick sheets of ply. 3/4 or 5/8". And then use 2x4's on edge to clamp it together like you might clamp down a leaf press. That will help prevent a warp if it started straight. And it might reduce a warp if it developed later. Storing flat is generally better than vertical as well.

Lastly, depending on your stock, stout magnets can help hold your stock flat on the last bed if the honeycomb is steel. I use N52 magnets from KJMagnetics.com. 1/2 x 1/2 by 1" N52. The size fits easil on top of your stock and under the cone of the lens tube.

A couple of cautions though. These are vicious strong magnets and somewhat dangerous. Bare with me. First, magnets are dangerous with small kids and pets. If they swallow 2 or more they can end up in adjacent sections of the digestive track and then snap together, cutting off blood flow. Ugly things happen. And Doctors are often not cued into this as a possible. The second caution is these puppies will snap together dangerously fast and hard. They can and will shatter if allowed to do this, endangering skin if it is caught between two magnets, and endangering your eyes with flying fragments. They are really fast and strong. I keep a set of 8 (in the size I mentioned) on the left front panel of my lasers cabinet, spaced apart so they are far enough apart not to attract each other. Then I lay them on the ply as needed to hold down the sheet and remove any bend. Keep in mind how you do this too. If you are bowing from one end to another try placing it concave down. Then put your magnets in the center to pull that one point down. If you lay it concave up you have to put magnets all around the edges to pull them all down. Play and see how it goes.

A lot of folks will also use steel bars, thin enough to stay under the lens cone. That is another option and avoids flying magnets and obstructed bowels. Unless your little kid or pet is able to swallow a steel bar of course.

[Dan Hollis]

Would love to find a good source for 1/8" MDF core plywood.

[Brian Leavitt]

I have some magnets that I use at the shop for hold downs. I haven't tried them on a honeycomb, though. The bed of the Fusion is ferrous and the magnets are certainly an essential accessory. I should buy some to keep at home as well.

[David Somers]

Dan,

Since I have a good source of ply here in Seattle I have never tried mail ordering any. "When I google 1/8" mdf core plywood" I come up with quite a few places that make that in a variety of veneers including birch. I found most were doing it as Face Side with an A grade veneer and the back side being a much lesser grade veneer. Columbiaforestproducts.com lets you select what you want with facings A through D grade and back faces 1 through 4. And they have good descriptions of what each grade means if you are not familiar with them. They do them all in a variety of COre's including MDF.

Do a bit of googling and I am sure you will find more. But that gives you 1 possibility to start.

Also, although this entails more work, if you can't find what you want, for example maybe you can find a reasonably priced and shipped 1/8" mdf core Birch Face A grade but the back faces are ughhhhh. You could get some 2x8 or 4x8 sheets of veneer with a PSA backing and cover the grundgy side with that. Just a thought. Obviously a sheet of PSA veneer adds to your materials cost.

Hope that helps a bit.

Dave

[David Somers]

Brian,

They are definitely handy. And available in a wide variety of sizes. I did not have as much luck with the N42 grade magnets BTW. They were the same size but not as strong. The N52 are strong though. I have been going to weight training so I will have the strength to break two magnets apart when they accidentally pull together. I figure if I can get up to a bench press of 600lbs I will be pretty close. Even if you don't buy from KJMagnetics you might look at their site since they have a lot of good information on magnets, including a good comparable rating of their attractive strength. It is a good site just as a resource. The magnets you usually find in a hardware store are the weaker N42's or lower. They might work find for you, but try them first before you buy a bunch of them.

[Dan Hollis]

Dan,

Since I have a good source of ply here in Seattle I have never tried mail ordering any. "When I google 1/8" mdf core plywood" I come up with quite a few places that make that in a variety of veneers including birch. I found most were doing it as Face Side with an A grade veneer and the back side being a much lesser grade veneer. Columbiaforestproducts.com lets you select what you want with facings A through D grade and back faces 1 through 4. And they have good descriptions of what each grade means if you are not familiar with them. They do them all in a variety of COre's including MDF.

Do a bit of googling and I am sure you will find more. But that gives you 1 possibility to start.

Also, although this entails more work, if you can't find what you want, for example maybe you can find a reasonably priced and shipped 1/8" mdf core Birch Face A grade but the back faces are ughhhhh. You could get some 2x8 or 4x8 sheets of veneer with a PSA backing and cover the grundgy side with that. Just a thought. Obviously a sheet of PSA veneer adds to your materials cost.

Hope that helps a bit.

Dave

believe me i have tried the usual google places. all of the ones i have found so far only deal wholesale and won't sell to private individuals - only licensed contractors.

i have already contacted columbia aka purebond -- they tell you the same thing -- they wont sell direct. hit up their resellers. oh sorry, contractors only. no individauls. walzcraft - same thing, contractors only. dixieply - same.


if it really were just as simple as a google search and hitting up distributors, i wouldn't be posting here.

looks like i'll have to buy plain 1/8 mdf and veneer it myself.

[David Somers]

Hey Dan,

Another thought for you, although sneaky. Because I have been doing Craftfairs and art shows I had to get a state and city business license. A side benefit of that is that it has allowed me to deal with every wholesaler I have approached so far. Though I havent gone to a lumber wholesaler yet where they may actually require a full fledged contractors license. If the Business license tactic fails do you have a bud or at least an aquaintenance who would buy for you? The adult version of an underage teen trying to get an adult to get you a 6 pack? <grin>

If you do the veneering try a sheet of PSA backed veneer. It is way easier than playing with contact cement. PSA is Pressure Sensitive Adhesive BTW.

Dave