MDF and Plywood - Cheap cop out or acceptable

[Greedo]

when veneered properly?

 

[Benchwayze]

Depends upon what you are making, and if a pro, for whom.

E.g. If it's a drawer for my own kitchen, then I know plywood drawer bottoms look fine, and won't move so much that they interfere with the operation, or longevity of the drawer.

 

[Bluekingfisher]

I like working with both ply and MDF, I'm not a pro so I can use it without having to worry about making a living from it.

 

[morfa]

For some things, it's great really. Quick and dirty shelves in the shed/garage/utility room. If you want a modern look for your house and you're going to paint/veneer everything anyway, then why not. What ever works for you really.

Personally tho, for the furniture I'm building for myself, I'm going to make it out of real wood using traditional techniques where possible.

 

[mickthetree]

I understand the likes of David Savage are happy to use it as a base material to be veneered. And why not. Its flat, stable and inexpensive.

Like Morfa, most of the stuff I make as a hobby I use real wood for. But I've got a veneered box lid coming up that I intend to use MDF as the substrate for.

 

[Lee J]

I was looking at a fantastic piece of furniture a little while ago, like a merchants chest, beautiful walnut, absolutely stunning.

It was MDF with walnut veneer. Made by a well known furniture maker.

even the best are not afraid to dabble with mdf.

 

[Jelly]

It's all about how you use these sheet materials... For carpentry they're pretty much indispensible these days; in Joinery and Cabinetry it's a case of choosing carefully when its appropriate to use them, especially to balance the quality/authenticity against cost.

I'd be reticent to use MDF for most purposes as its not all that impact resistant, and I'm given to assume everyone is as careless as myself. However as a kindof collector of carvings and other assorted wooden nick-knacks one of my favourite pieces is made out of OSB, sanded, varnished and buffed up to a mirror sheen, actually very beautiful; I'm tempted to use that in one of my projects, just to see if it's transferable to Furniture.

 

[No skills]

I do wonder what will happen with the availability and price of 'real' woods in the future, the faster growing stuff pine/spruce etc I would hope to stay easily available and of reasonable cost. But what of the rest? will my grandkids have to sell their houses to own a solid oak piece of furniture? who knows, much as many of us might not like the man made materials they might become much more of a necessary evil than they already are.

 

[mailee]

I am quite happy to use MDF for a lot of applications. I make a living out of painted MDF furniture so can't complain about it. I do however like using real woods but the price puts most people off.

 

[Jelly]

I do wonder what will happen with the availability and price of 'real' woods in the future, the faster growing stuff pine/spruce etc I would hope to stay easily available and of reasonable cost. But what of the rest? will my grandkids have to sell their houses to own a solid oak piece of furniture? who knows, much as many of us might not like the man made materials they might become much more of a necessary evil than they already are.

Scandinavian and North Asian softwood supplies should last indefinately under current regimes, though demand, and the cost of replenisment regimes could cause prices to creep up.

From what I understand from our buying dept, the russians can't physically harvest the entire of their "annual allowable cut"* let alone find a market for it; their felling regime is interesting too, they fell a 1km square area, and then for the next 10 years no felling is allowed within 2km of that area, I'm still trying to find out how they arrived upon that model of silviculture.

Does anyone know about plantation grown exotic hardwoods? Is supply likely to increase in time as plantations mature, or are they too small to fully meet demand?

* The annual allowable cut is the maximum amount of timber that can be harvested in any given year, without causing a net decrease in the forest resources of a country or region over time.

 

[No skills]

Thats interesting, I would imagine the 2km rule is to allow for migration of wildlife.

I'd imagine demand will rise sharply rather than slow and steady, going to depend on how well the population explosion goes

 

[RogerP]

Woodworking is my hobby. I enjoy working with wood but I don't enjoying working with man-made substitutes so I don't use them. If it was my livelihood it would be quite different and no doubt I'd have to use them.