Plywood

[dance]

Hi

Tips on plywood purchasing, please.

I want to make some reasonably basic items from plywood. The plywood doesn't need to be utterly, utterly beautiful and flawless (for which I would try and find some 'baltic' ply?) but neither should the plywood be of a construction grade. It should be flat and have good surfaces on both sides.

Can anyone put me out of my misery and tell me what to look for and ideally where to find it?

THANKS

 

[custard]

It should be flat and have good surfaces on both sides.

Unfortunately, that's a big ask! Ply is rarely dead flat, even the very best grades can be permanently rippled or warped unless they've been stored carefully at every stage in the distribution pipeline. Furthermore, getting a good surface (i.e. one without any patches) on both sides doesn't come cheap.

I think you might need to revisit your spec.

 

[RobinBHM]

Your best chance is if you are a reasonable size buyer of sheet material and an established relationship with a supplier that you can trust to supply what you want.

As custard says, it is a big ask because both storage and delivery have an influence on the flatness of a sheet of plywood.

Buying 1 or 2 sheets from a local timber merchant that mostly supplies the building trade is unlikely to be the best option.

I tend to buy from Timbmet or Meyers and to be fair they both deliver quite flat sheets generally.

Plywood and OSB can change be warped even if they are stored flat as a change in moisture content can cause tension resulting in twists and bows.

 

[Trigs]

I'm getting so fed up with the quality of plywood this past while. The ply for my current cabinet project for a table saw is shocking, I've just had a panel completely split down the middle so I've glued, clamped and squashed with weights. They must be using prit stick in the factory

 

[marcros]

which part of north yorks are you in?