Home Depot Cabinet Grade Ply?

[Brandon Weiss]

The HD in my area started carrying project plywood, cabinet plywood, whatever it's called. 23 bucks a sheet, which is 10 bucks cheaper than Lowe's Aruaco Ply. Anybody know any more details about this plywood at HD? Is this a special time item, or is this going to be there for good?

[Michael Weber]

The HD in my area started carrying project plywood, cabinet plywood, whatever it's called. 23 bucks a sheet, which is 10 bucks cheaper than Lowe's Aruaco Ply. Anybody know any more details about this plywood at HD? Is this a special time item, or is this going to be there for good?

I saw some at my local HD yesterday. Not sure if it's what your talking about but it was 23.00 a sheet. Looking at the edges I saw a lot of voids and it was being sold as A-C plywood. Had a pretty smooth sanded surface and was listed as a 'special buy'.

[John Daugherty]

My local HD had a bunk of ply a couple weeks ago for this price. It looked like it had pine for the face. I'll see plywood every so ofter for this price a HD. It doesn't tend to last long before it's gone. I heard many stories about movement, delamination and such. A guy I know that works there told me that a cabinet shop bought all they had one of the other times they had any for this price.

[Brandon Weiss]

I saw some at my local HD yesterday. Not sure if it's what your talking about but it was 23.00 a sheet. Looking at the edges I saw a lot of voids and it was being sold as A-C plywood. Had a pretty smooth sanded surface and was listed as a 'special buy'.

Roger that on everything you said. I don't know what truly qualifies something as cabinet grade ply, but this would work great for a toy box I want to build for my 8 month old and some book cases to be painted. I just hate to buy wood until I'm ready for the project. Here in my AZ garage, wood likes to twist and warp like no other. If this is an item that's not going to last though, I'll collect a few....five....sheets and hope to deal with the warping later.

[Brian Effinger]

Home Depot Cabinet Grade Ply?

I think that is what they call an oxymoron. :D

[michael case]

Hey Brandon,

I believe I know the ply you're talking about. Its a well sanded fir ply correct? I bought a sheet for some rolling cabinets and stands I wanted to build for my shop. It looks very nice, but the sheet I bought warped severely when I ripped it in half. I ended up with two 8x2' bowed half sheets that had way too much curve to use for the sides of the cabinets I wished to build. I ended up stapling them on as backs. Sometimes this happens with more expensive ply too. It may have just been the luck of the draw. But, for what its worth thats what happened with my HD $23.00 cabinet grade ply.

[Ed Parker]

When I worked in a cabinet shop, our plywood rep sold us on an order of much cheaper imported Chinese plywood. Initially it looked okay. We gave it a try and it bowed like crazy once we started cutting it up. Additionally, it was very poor at holding screws. This was pre-finished maple plywood. Saw the same thing at another shop. Went back to the dead flat domestic variety and used the imported stuff for shop cabinets and jigs. Never bought it again. The core in that Chinese stuff is not very suitable for cabinets or furniture IMHO. At $23/sheet, you can bet it's imported crap.

[Nathan Callender]

I've used the stuff - 2 sheets of it. It's stayed pretty flat after cutting, and apparently it's also exterior grade, but I wouldn't push it. :-) The A side is nicely sanded, the other is ugly. Lots of voids, and I wouldn't compare it to a good cabinet grade plywood - not in the same league, but it's nice stuff, and about the only good deal going for shop-grade plywood for stuff that doesn't have to be really perfect.

I've used it as couter top sub-base and some shop workstation tops. So far so good. I'm in the south so depending on where you are, it could be a completely different plywood they're selling for the same price.

[Chad Easterling]

I picked up a few sheets recently. Main thing to watch is where you cut.... I had to cut around a few football plugs to get pieces that both sides looked good on. I was cutting into 7x29 pieces and got minimal warpage. Nothing I couldn't remove during assembly.

I haven't tried finishing it yet, but I imagine grain lift will be pretty significant since it is pine-faced.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I don't think HD sells "cabinet grade" plywood. Cabinet ply has no voids, and are generally slightly larger than 4x8, to allow for cuts. In HD's defense, as far as I know, they do not label the hardwood ply as "cabinet grade". Thier hardwood ply is full of voids etc. But, it's not 850 bucks a sheet for koa ply..... Oh yeah, you can hand sand through the veneer, so be careful.

[Dan Forman]

The feedback on this stuff is all over the place. There was a thread about it a few pages back. BORG plywood (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=130119). There is also some confusion as to whether people are talking about the same product, as something called auraco (?) is also being talked about in the same threads, but that is another product entirely.

I bought a few sheets of the cab grade based on the positive comments, haven't had a chance to use it yet, have the sheets clamped together with a couple sheets of 1/4" luan ply on either side to prevent movement from uneven moisture loss, just to be on the safe side.

This was flat on the pallet, has no visible voids, one good side and the side has a few knots, but they are tight. It was labeled "cabinet grade, special buy" and was $23.99 a sheet. It's made in Chile, not China.

Intended use is shop cabs. I'm hoping it stays flat, at least long enough to build the cabinets. If not, I'll return it. Either way, I'll report my experience with it.

Flat plywood is very difficult to find these days. Even the Baltic birch available here isn't flat.

Dan