Tip O' the day from the Village Idiot.

[Rick Potter]

Read on a post below about three prices of plywood at HD, and that the cheap stuff delaminates. Wish I had seen that earlier.

Starting to make shop cabinets for the new shop. Went to get particle board at HD, and saw a stack of 3/4 ply for about $5 more per sheet. Decent looking birch, with eight plies. Why not, it weighs less, looks like cheapo baltic birch, and besides I'm gonna paint it anyway.

Bought 6 sheets and brought them home two months ago. Last week I started building eight new cabinets. Got them all sized, ran dados that fit like a glove, and start assembling the first cabinet. The wood didn't fit in the dado!!

Tried several joints and one out of six fit?? What's going on here? Went back to my test piece and it fit all the dados perfectly. Now, I don't know about delaminating, but it turns out these sheets have different thicknesses.

NO! I am not talking about different sheets having different thicknesses...the thickness varies within the same plywood sheet. You can actually see where one layer is doubled on the edge of some of the sheets.

Now I have to go back and, as I assemble each cabinet, trim the dado's with a router and jig to fit the various components. I also had a lot of trouble with the face layers being so thin that if you are not carefull just picking up a piece may take a chunk of birch off the edge. Good thing they are just for the shop, and I am painting them. Shoulda bought the particle board.

The tip??

If it looks to good to be true, there is usually a reason. Buyer beware.

Rick Potter:mad:

[Alfred Clem]

Rick, you have voiced a common complaint about an all-too-common experience with Borg materials. My question: what makes you believe their particle board would not give you problems, too? I've bought some that had crumbly spots within it. Stuff that seemed to have less glue or stickum than others. You could rub it away with your thumb. Yukko!

[David Cramer]

Rick

I've had major problems with their particle board and I won't buy it there for half off sale!!! It can turn convex or concave, depending on where you're standing, and turn a flat laminated project into "bow city". I go to a true lumber yard now, and I've yet to have a problem.

Dave

[Al Willits]

""""""""
If it looks to good to be true, there is usually a reason. Buyer beware.
""""""""

I think a better saying might be, "ya get what ya pay for".

I buy plywood at the borg and I know I'm gonna have problems with it, to me labor is cheaper than the wood, so it doesn't matter.
Also all I've made so far is garage stuff and a storage cabinet for the basement.
None of it is what I'd call furniture.

When I start the kitchen cabinets the borg will be the last place I'll look for furniture grade plywood.

Remembering I'm a newbie, I might suggest that ya look for the shop grade plywoods the lumber yards sell, usually runs in the $45-55 range, (here anyway) and is a lot better to work with.
Others may have better suggestions.

I'm learning Borg wood is learning stuff, so ya don't make scrap outta the good stuff....:D
Enjoy.
Al

[Rick Potter]

Interesting comments. I never knew they had particle board that bad.

As I said, these are just shop cabinets, and I was cheaping out. I get ply for real cabinets from a hardwood lumber supplier (Reel Lumber in Riverside, for you locals).

An interesting note about particle board...I used to buy Melamine from a store that specialized in hardwood and stair railings (now gone). The told me that there are 9 grades of particle board. I bought melamine for closet organizers from them, and it was really hard, dense particle board, nothing like you see at the Borg. The melamine coating was also much better, slick and super hard. I hope I can find some again.

Rick Potter

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

It doesn't help that they cut and glue the wood green

[Pete Brown]

Bought 6 sheets and brought them home two months ago. Last week I started building eight new cabinets. Got them all sized, ran dados that fit like a glove, and start assembling the first cabinet. The wood didn't fit in the dado!!

Tried several joints and one out of six fit?? What's going on here? Went back to my test piece and it fit all the dados perfectly. Now, I don't know about delaminating, but it turns out these sheets have different thicknesses.

NO! I am not talking about different sheets having different thicknesses...the thickness varies within the same plywood sheet. You can actually see where one layer is doubled on the edge of some of the sheets.

The material I have been using for my cabinets is from Lowes. It has maple on one side and birch on the other. The sticker says "Sam Ling USA" (the USA part is funny)

Anyway, I found the same problem: The number of plies differs significantly, the factory edges are not square, the thickness is not even across a single sheet, the moisture content has made the ply bow significantly etc. The price was relatively cheap, but the more important thing for me was that I could get it quickly without involving a trucking company (I have had several bad experiences now with trucking companies and it has made me avoid getting lumber and even tools that way)

So, to quote someone else "I feel your pain" :)

Pete