OSB or Plywood for painted shelving?

[Wade Lippman]

I am putting up some shelves in the pantry; 24" deep, 36" long. I was planning on buying 3/4" plywood, but the reviews on it at Lowes (the only place locally to buy plywood) are terrible.

The existing shelves are OSB. I always thought OSB was not stiff enough for shelves, but these seem to be doing just fine. Is it some special super stiff OSB, or am I misinformed?

[Art Mann]

The OSB with which I am familiar is about the sorriest construction material you can buy. I actually prefer particle board over it for some uses. As much as I dislike Lowes plywood, I would choose it hands down over the stuff they call OSB in my area. Surely there are other sources of building materials in your area besides those two options.

Actually, I have bought some fairly decent plywood from both Lowes and Home Depot on rare occasions. It all depends on who their supplier of the week is.

[Carter Forbes]

Osb for a pantry does not sound right. Even painted, wouldn't be very smooth or cleanable. Lowes has a 4x8 sanded cabinet grade pine for $29. . Or $31. Can't recall.

[Mike Heidrick]

Wade, You mean particle board and not OSB maybe?

I would hardwood edge glue the ply if I was doing plywood shelves like that. Biscuits or dominos or kreg screws underneath into the hardwood.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Well - all 280 pounds of me waddled around on a roof covered with 1/2" OSB sheathing w/out going through it.
When I say waddled - that's more figurative than actual - crawled on all fours, is more like it ;).
(The good Lord never intended anything of my girth be more than 8" above ground ;)).

I'd still use plywood though.
Aside from looking like 100 miles of bad road when you try to stain or paint it, OSB is nearly as miserable as MDF to work with.

I have some real nasty looking cut edges on a small bench top box I made to mount my Kreg K3 jig on & I used my Festool TS55EQ to make most of the cuts.
I'm not sure it's possible to get a nice smooth edge on OSB. It seems to want to "crumble".

[Cody Colston]

OSB is a great sheathing material but I certainly wouldn't use it anywhere it would be visible. Even painted, it will not be a smooth surface and it will delaminate if it gets wet.

The big box plywood gets a bad rap but for shelving, if a hardwood face is attached, it will work fine. A 3/4" x 1 1/4" wide face of hardwood that is rabbeted to accept the ply will greatly add to the strength as well as hide the ply edge.

[Wade Lippman]

I am sitting here looking at the OBS on my floor joists as I post, and the surface looks like the shelves upstairs; but they ARE painted...
So maybe I DO mean particle board.

How does particle board compare to plywood for a shelf.

------------------------
FWIW I just visited the sagulator.
It says that plywood is good, OSB is boarderline, and particle board is unacceptable.
They all improve with an oak strip.
Curiously, it says it doesn't matter if the oak strip is aside the board or under it. I would think that under the board would be rather stronger. No?

[Dan T Jones]

Wade,
If cost is a factor you might consider a quality sub floor material like AdvanTech. Available at Lowes. Pretty smooth and very strong.
Dan

[Bradley Gray]

The sag in particle board shelves in big box cabinets is a great selling point for solid wood or wood edged plywood shelves.

[scott vroom]

Forget the reviews of Lowe's plywood. Go down there and hand select a sheet of their hardwood veneer or cabinet grade 3/4" ply. You don't want either OSB or particle board pantry shelving.

Have you used Sagulator to determine sag:

http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator.htm

I plugged in 36W x 24D, 30 lbs/ft load, 3/4" fir ply and it says you don't need structural edge banding, although you might want to glue a narrow pine or poplar strip to hide the plywood edge.

[Sam Murdoch]

I agree with the first part of Scott's post - above - but my experience leads me to dispute the sagulator estimate. In my experience - any 3/4" plywood shelf spanning more than 30" (maybe up to 32") will eventually sag. Yes, of course, the amount of load will make a difference but it seems that the nature of cabinet grade unsupported 3/4" plywood is to sag without much help past the 30" mark. Always a good idea to add a 3/4" x 1" to 1-1/2" solid edge or a side to side cleat set under the shelf about 1/2" back. IMHO.

As for the OSB or particle board or Advantech shelving - yeah, they could all work but will be rough and unsightly, even painted. I suppose you could add a solid wood edge and some shelf liner of some sort but there goes the economy of using those sheet goods.

[Jak Kelly]

Depending upon the application, weight and span, if you are wanting to an inexpensive shelf or shelving unit, then I am a big fan of MDF. The shelves would could require some additional framing, which you can rip down framing strips out of the MDF if you think it is necessary. That would be an inexpensive approach. I would totally pass on the OSB, even painted and sanded there is going to be potential for splinters in the future. Or you could do as others suggested and go with a 3/4" plywood, just go with a good grade, when at the store if it is not sitting flat and straight stacked up, well it isn't going to get any better at home, usually a BC or an AC grade.

[David Eisenhauer]

I would use 3/4" ply (rather than OSB or even MDF) and add a 1-1/4" hardwood face (rabbet, glued) to the front edge of the shelf to help prevent bowing. 36" is the max allowable/recommended for an unsupported shelf - especially one that is 24" deep - and canned food can get heavy. Cheaper builder homes from the 70's used MDF in pantry and laundry shelves that I have been paid to tear out and replace with something better many times.

[johnny means]

Duh, the obvious and best choice is Melamine coated particleboard. Stain, chemical and water proof. More durable than any finished surface. Cleanly enough to be almost the only thing short of SS allowed in a hospital setting. Oh, and it comes in pre-ripped and edgebanded shelf widths.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Duh, the obvious and best choice is Melamine coated particleboard
I was going to suggest that - but - the OP needs the shelves 24" deep.
I don't recall ever seeing them that deep anywhere.

[Wade Lippman]

They have this
http://www.lowes.com/pd_79611-99899-339307_0__
Is it significantly stiffer than particle board?

[Greg Woloshyn]

If you buy 3/4" cabinet grade from Lowes make sure you don't use your nice blade to cut it. I ran into a staple in the middle of the sheet last time I cut through it. My local Lowes is selling 3/4" maple plywood on sale for $40/sheet and I'm using it to make some shop cabinets.

This plywood says made in Canada on the side, not sure if some is made in Canada and some made elsewhere.

[johnny means]

If you buy 3/4" cabinet grade from Lowes make sure you don't use your nice blade to cut it. I ran into a staple in the middle of the sheet last time I cut through it.


One staple will not ruin a good blade. But, a bad blade will ruin as much plywood as you let it.

[Greg Woloshyn]

One staple will not ruin a good blade. But, a bad blade will ruin as much plywood as you let it.

One staple will not ruin a blade, how many more staples are in these sheets? I'm not saying to use a bad blade for plywood but not the best one in your shop. I use the stock blade that came with my saw most of the time. Beats waiting 2 weeks for my good blades to be re sharpened.

[Dan Rude]

Depending on the size and length, I actually have used 3/4 " pine in my pantry. Just put a coat of shellac over it and and a solid wood edge. They have held up now for 14 years with no problem. Dan

[johnny means]

One staple will not ruin a blade, how many more staples are in these sheets? I'm not saying to use a bad blade for plywood but not the best one in your shop. I use the stock blade that came with my saw most of the time. Beats waiting 2 weeks for my good blades to be re sharpened.

Reminds me of my grandmother's clear plastic sofa covers. She treated herself to a plush velvet living room set, only luxury she ever bought herself. For forty plus years, she never once actually sat on her plush velvet furniture. She lived on that sticky, hot vinyl for half her damn life, happy with the knowledge that she owned a beautiful, luxurious velvet living room suite. One of the first things her children did after her death was cut off those hideous clear vinyl covers. The set was still like new, in fact would have definitely passed for brand new. God they were comfortable. A real joy to lay on, curl up in, nap on. Grandma never nee what it was like to live with anything nice, workes hard and paid a lot of money to sit on hot, sticky, noisy plastic furniture.

My point is, if you don't use your good tooling because your worried about it dulling, what do you use it for?

[Moses Yoder]

The plywood gets bad reviews because it really is not something you would want to use for fine woodworking. Those reviews are probably from people like James Krenov. For a utility shelf it is fine. Every shelf sags, it is just that some are not perceptible. Unless the plywood bow up the shelf obviously sags due to gravity. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a shelf sagging. My kitchen was built by a guy who worked in a trailer factory and brought the cabinets home in his lunch box. Here is a picture of our tea and spice cabinet which has been perfectly functional now for 14 years with sagging shelves.

289016

[Greg Woloshyn]

Reminds me of my grandmother's clear plastic sofa covers. She treated herself to a plush velvet living room set, only luxury she ever bought herself. For forty plus years, she never once actually sat on her plush velvet furniture. She lived on that sticky, hot vinyl for half her damn life, happy with the knowledge that she owned a beautiful, luxurious velvet living room suite. One of the first things her children did after her death was cut off those hideous clear vinyl covers. The set was still like new, in fact would have definitely passed for brand new. God they were comfortable. A real joy to lay on, curl up in, nap on. Grandma never nee what it was like to live with anything nice, workes hard and paid a lot of money to sit on hot, sticky, noisy plastic furniture.

My point is, if you don't use your good tooling because your worried about it dulling, what do you use it for?

Your grandmother treated herself to something nice, something to take care of to last a long time. Now, more people are enjoying it. I'm not worried about my tools dulling, but would rather save them for the quality plywoods and hardwoods. I don't make a ton of money but buy good tools and take care of my stuff much like your grandmother did. Just my personal opinion.

Bottom line is there shouldn't be thing kind of quality control in plywoods were are already paying an arm and a leg for.

[johnny means]

Your grandmother treated herself to something nice, something to take care of to last a long time. Now, more people are enjoying it. I'm not worried about my tools dulling, but would rather save them for the quality plywoods and hardwoods. I don't make a ton of money but buy good tools and take care of my stuff much like your grandmother did. Just my personal opinion.

Bottom line is there shouldn't be thing kind of quality control in plywoods were are already paying an arm and a leg for.

I've run in to nails, rocks, and even bullets in $25 a bf hardwoods. It happens, I'm not going to put away my good tooling because I might chip a tooth. Blades are consumables, plain and simple. When I cut a sheet of plywood I'm looking for as clean and easy as cut as possible, not to preserve carbide. When the blade gets dull or damaged, I put in a fresh blade. Further more, plywood especially calls for the best cut possible. It's not like you can sand out any tearout or chipping. One of my early mentors told me, "Sandpaper is cheap, labor is expensive, the more you spend on one, the less you'll spend on the other."

[Greg Woloshyn]

A good blade will produce a clean cut in plywood with little tearout, and expensive high end blade with produce an even better cut. It doesn't sound to me like the OP is a high end cabinetmaker, but I could be wrong. It also doesn't sound like the OP works in a production shop environment where he has lots of blades laying around to use up. Like my shop, I have only a few blades that I use for different applications, and really can't afford to consume blades as if they are sheets of sandpaper.

To each their own, but bottom line is it all depends on the situation.