Source for hardwood plywood?

[Rick Cicciarelli]

Just watching an episode of New Yankee Workshop...Norm was building a chest of drawers using mahogany veneer plywood. I've seen oak and maple at the Lowes and HD. Where would one find good quality (better than the stuff I'm seeing at Lowes and HD) hardwood plywood varieties? I'd assume they make Cherry as well? I'd love to find some nice Cherry plywood to start building some furniture? Where can one find stuff like this? I appreciate the input.

[Jamie Buxton]

In my area (greater San Francisco) there are at least a half dozen hardwood dealers. They sell to cabinetmakers, furniture builders, and the like. They have stuff like mahogany plywood and cherry plywood. There are probably places like this in your area. You could hit the Yellow Pages, or google on the web, or you could post here at SMC with the information about where you live. Perhaps somebody in the SMC community knows your area.

[Greg Muller]

Rick, where are you located? You can put your city/state in your profile, that way if anyone in your area knows of a good supplier, they can help you out.
Unless you are willing to pay $100 shipping for an $80 slab of cherry ply...:cool:

[Rick Cicciarelli]

I'm located in Ithaca, N.Y. I've had a heck of a time just finding any hardwood dealers. The largest "city" near here is Syracuse.

[Brad Evans]

Jaime....

I'm in your area - and aware of PALS (in SF, SJ, and Emeryville), Southern Lumber, and MacBeath in Berkeley. Any other good plywood vendors to consider?

Unfortunately Jordan's in Belmont is no longer in the hardwood and plywood business.

Thanx - Brad



In my area (greater San Francisco) there are at least a half dozen hardwood dealers. They sell to cabinetmakers, furniture builders, and the like. They have stuff like mahogany plywood and cherry plywood. There are probably places like this in your area. You could hit the Yellow Pages, or google on the web, or you could post here at SMC with the information about where you live. Perhaps somebody in the SMC community knows your area.

[Matt P]

NY State:

http://www.bristolvalley.com/store.asp?pid=1430

[Rick Cicciarelli]

I figured it would be pricey...but is $130 average for a 3/4" sheet 4' x 8' Cherry veneer? It is amazing the difference between that and the no-name "hardwood" plywood from Home Depot for $24.98 a sheet. Of course, the quality of this $24.98 plywood from Home Depot does leave a bit to be desired. I suppose you get what you pay for...but still...is $130 about average for some of these nicer hardwood plywood sheets?

[Todd Jensen]

That sounds about right. Here is a price list from a Canadian distributor just north of me(Washington State), but their prices seem in line with what is available locally(maybe slightly high but not much)...
http://www.westwindhardwood.com/wood_cab.html

My local sources used to provide an online price list(Crosscut Hardwoods/Edensaw Woods) but they don't seem to anymore. Anyways, that price sounds like its not out of line - Cabinet grade ply is much more expensive than those 5 ply sheets from the big box stores.

[Brad Evans]

I've seen birdseye maple 3/4" ply for $200 a sheet. That's pricey...

Also, there's some really nice bamboo ply in San Francisco, that's absolutely gorgeous - except the price. $190/sheet...

[Steve Kohn]

Man it sounds like I am pretty lucky. I can go to a big box store, Menards, and order walnut, cherry, and a couple of other species of wood. Many time they have pine, maple, birch, and oak in stock. If you do need to special order it takes them about 3 days to get it into the store.

I bought a 3/4 inch sheet of cherry for $98 about 6 months ago. I live in the western suburbs of Chicago.

[Eric Franklin]

Steve,

What do you think of the quality of the plywood from Menards?

[Steve Kohn]

It really varies all over the place. The cherry I ordered was from a US mill. It was perfect and came wrapped with a protective cover.

Sometimes the stock stuff is junk and sometimes it is very good. Every time I am in Menards now I check. Actually I haven't checked in the last month or two. I have no more room to store sheet goods.

[Mike Cutler]

I figured it would be pricey...but is $130 average for a 3/4" sheet 4' x 8' Cherry veneer? It is amazing the difference between that and the no-name "hardwood" plywood from Home Depot for $24.98 a sheet. Of course, the quality of this $24.98 plywood from Home Depot does leave a bit to be desired. I suppose you get what you pay for...but still...is $130 about average for some of these nicer hardwood plywood sheets?

It can go a lot higher than that depending on the species.
3/4" is fairly thick. You'll find that the thinner material is a bit cheaper. It's still not going to be cheap though.
Forget the Home Depot Plywood. It's pretty unstab;e due to the voids and difference in the substrate layers. It's really not very good stuff at all. Pretty material sometimes though.