Probably a stupid thought. Making raised panels with good quality plywood?

[David Hostetler]

I know usually folks want to avoid plywood for raised panels. I think it was here, or on LJs where I had seen a bowl, or it might have been a hollow form that was made by laminating large pieces of plywood together and then turning it. Once sanded, and the lacquer was applied and rubbed down the myriad layers and grains in the piece were fascinating to me at least... And I keep wondering how it would look in raised panels...

Has anyone done this? What do I need to watch out for if I try it out?

[Carroll Courtney]

I tried it once and it was a disaster.I had watch an episode "Modern Masters" and a ww'er made furniture out of plywood laminating them into thicker pieces,then use a disk grinder to shape them.So,I didn't work for me but it my work for you.Give it a try and post some pics----Carroll

[Neil Brooks]

Tearout city ???

[David Larsen]

You can with MDF core plywood. It shapes and routers well.

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

I made cabinet doors for a customer (her request) out of 3/4" Baltic Birch. At least 1 out of 3 was warped too bad to use.

[johnny means]

Good multiply will serve well for raised panels. I run through about 30 sheets of Baltic birch a month and most of it ends up with routed and finished finished edges. With properly sanded edges you can't even see the plies. I have a sculpture friend who works in Appleply laminations and he gets beautifully smooth finishes on his exposed edges.

Multiplies however, are extra hard on cutters and you should cut as much of the waste off your panels as possible before shaping.

[phil harold]

Wainscoted a living room and study with plywood panels, made the bevels for the raised panel out of soft maple and the panels out of birch plywood, I splined the maple on to the plywood panels

[Larry Edgerton]

I made cabinet doors for a customer (her request) out of 3/4" Baltic Birch. At least 1 out of 3 was warped too bad to use.

Its a shame too, because in the 60's it was common practice. I came up with half a lift of NOS plywood from that era and it was awesome to work with. Uniform, flat, no voids, full 3/4" and a 1/16" thick veneer. My parents cabinets are made that way and still perfect after 45 years.

Larry

[Jeff Duncan]

One way to get panels that are more stable is by laminating thinner panels together. I occasionally get jobs where I need to have a flat 3/4" base out of plywood. I take 2 sheets of 3/8" baltic and rotate 1 so the face grain is perpendicular to the other. Apply glue, toss them in the vac bag on a nice flat platen, and the panels will stay flatter than if you just went with 3/4" from the factory.

good luck,
JeffD

[Timothy Juvenal]

Many years ago - back in the day, or pert near there abouts - raised panels were commonly made using lumber core ply. Lumber core would typically have a 1/2" solid core of the same lumber as the face veneer, or poplar, basswood, aspen, or birch. So panel raising cutters, or thumbnail cutters for cabinet tops, would cut through the face veneer and crossbanding, revealing the solid lumber strips underneath. A very elegant solution, IMO.

Lumbercore is very dimensionally stable, and has excellent fastner holding ability. 20 years ago I made a saw sled from oak lumbercore that was leftover from a job. The sled is still flat and still in service.

Unfortunately, lumbercore is not common today. As with VC ply, one has to be wary of cr*pcore panel products coming especially from Asia.

I wonder if the VC panel products with the mdf crossbanding that are available now would be good for making raised panels with painted raises? Could be an interesting detail.

I'd worry that panel raising a piece of standard VC will look like a mistake. But you don't let the reservations of others stand in the way of your artistic vision - raise a VC panel, stain and finish it, and let's see what you come up with!

Timothy

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

Its a shame too, because in the 60's it was common practice. I came up with half a lift of NOS plywood from that era and it was awesome to work with. Uniform, flat, no voids, full 3/4" and a 1/16" thick veneer. My parents cabinets are made that way and still perfect after 45 years.

Larry

My experience with Baltic Birch is it either real stable or real unstable. I've had 3/4" close the kerf behind a cut.

[Dave Gaul]

Not too long ago, I made a fish tank stand for LOML. The bottom has a large drawer. I was going to panel the sides of the drawer case with solid wood panels, by SWMBO was getting... anxious, so I decided to use birch ply, and made a simple bevel raise on the table saw. Quick and easy, and they turned out great!

[David Hostetler]

Yeah, I was thinking of some sort of Lumber Core ply. I have seen some reasonably interesting stuff @ Rockler and Woodcraft recently that I have just had the bug in the brain bothering me about it...

[Charles Krieger]

200481http://www.sawmillcreek.org/Documents and Settings\all users\Documents\My Pictures\Web IMG_3461.jpg200480Another way to do it. The cabinets in my kitchen have extra wide rails and stiles which are machined to look like a raised panel. A plywood insert is inset such that only the top veneer layer of the plywood shows. Obviously these are not high class cabinets but they don't look too bad either.

I suspect the machining of the rails and stiles would need very high accuracy and some special tooling.

[Ryan Hellmer]

I would think either MDF or lumber core would yeild pretty neat results. I have a plaque (generic doohicky) that is cherry veneer over MDF, the Cherry is carved and the edges are raised with what looks like a 15 degree panel raiser. The whole deal is just finished with clear coat and it looks really good. MDF is pretty heavy for panels. If these are cabinet doors I would consider wider stiles and rails and/or longer/loose tennons to reinforce.

Ryan

[alex adkison]

There is an artist here in Tallahassee that uses plywood in some pretty cool ways. http://www.plywoodsculpture.com/

[Jim Becker]

From an artistic standpoint, this can make for a very interesting and creative project. There are two very important factors that you'll need to keep in mind. First, you must use the absolutely best quality plywood you can come up with...otherwise, you'll have excessive splintering, voids, and other issues that will be unsightly. Secondly, be prepared to have very sharp panel cutters and to keep them sharpened as you move through your panels. The glues used to make plywood are brutal on cutters of any kind and this type of work will push them to the limits. I'd only opt for this for a smaller project, too...where only one or at most two panels are involved and for a nice modern highlight.

As a potential alternative material, thinner "microlam" joined into panels would also provide a really interesting effect. I've done some turning with this kind of material and it was indeed very interesting to look at afterward!

[John Nesmith]

There is an artist here in Tallahassee that uses plywood in some pretty cool ways. http://www.plywoodsculpture.com/

Sorry for the brief hijack, but do you have any idea where he get's his ply? I'm in tally, and good ply is hard to find around here.