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Mykee

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I'm confused by the different types of plywood available. Which type could I use for making simple boxes and other small projects that I see on YouTube?
Mike O.
 
Mykee":ljztgyrv said:
I'm confused by the different types of plywood available. Which type could I use for making simple boxes and other small projects that I see on YouTube?
Mike O.
Which videos are you looking at?

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Nothing in particular. It just seems that most people use plywood to make jigs and router tables etc.
Mike O.
 
It depends on what you're trying to make. I don't know what your supply is because the ply I buy in the US (uncommon for me to buy it, but I have made cabinets with it from time to time) generally has a thicker face veneer, softwood core and little glue.

The ply that is good for jigging is often more plies, hard wood and can sometimes have a very thin face. It's my opinion that you want the former and not the latter if you're making boxes.

The 40th of an inch veneer on the ply that I get is actually thick enough to finish plane if the ply is flat. When veneer on birch ply approaches a hundredth of an inch, it is not. You may sand instead, and that's fine, but you'll have more margin for error if the face veneer is thicker.

Notwithstanding the fact that you can use a substrate and add your own face that is much thicker if you're going for something that absolutely looks like solid wood.
 
Mykee":33jj6lc4 said:
Nothing in particular. It just seems that most people use plywood to make jigs and router tables etc.
Mike O.
Not sure what type of plywood you are referring to as it could be anything.

It could be high quality Baltic Birch Plywood which is typically around £70 for a full sheet of 18mm or it could be softwood plywood.

If you are looking at US videos their cheaper plywood seems a bit different to what you might find here. The stuff John Heisz (for example) I see using is probably closer to decent softwood sheathing plywood, whereas a lot of cheaper internal stuff sold in the UK is a far Eastern plywood with hardwood faces and flakey low quality cores.

What do you want to spend a sheet?




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Thanks chaps. I can see that the quality of ply can vairy quite a bit, depending on how much you pay. So if building furniture pay for better quality, but for short lived jigs cheap will probably do.
Thanks again
Mykee.
 
Someone with more expertise will give you a better answer, but IMO you need to read up on plywood. Cheap is not necessarily any good for jigs. For instance shuttering ply is cheap & fit for purpose, but it’s purpose is keeping concrete in the place you want it to be in. For jigs in my experience you need something very stable with no glue voids and a nice solid veneer (patches are fine). I don’t think you’ll go wrong with any grades of birch or a good poplar, but everything else needs a bit more research.
 
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