Miter Bench construction - plywood thickness

[George Oak]

I am building a version of Norm's Miter Bench with Storage for my workshop. I had a bit of a problem acquiring materials for the project. For the most part the bench is built with 3/4" ply with 1/2" drawers and some 1/4" partitions and drawer bottoms.

Most of the lumber dealers' stock around here has been horrible -- badly warped in the semi-outdoor storage in the wet, raw winter we have been having, and expensive to boot. However, I managed to score a load of superb 3/4" birch ply at the nearby borg for $26 a sheet.

My dilemma is this: should I ignore Norm's specs and substitute 3/4" ply for the 1/2" stock in the plans? I would love to stick with the original measurements, but I am having a hard time justifying getting not-so-flat 1/2" ply at $55 or more when I have excellent 3/4" bought for $26 a sheet.

Would 3/4" ply drawers and drawer bottoms have any downside? Whaddya think?

[Lee Koepke]

i built mine outta 3/4. havent done the drawers yet.

i would think you would be fine. birch will be a better finish than the other i suppose.

[glenn bradley]

Other than losing the internal measurements on the drawer capacity I wouldn't see a problem. I don't know what kind of tools you have but I often resaw poplar and mill to 1/2" for drawer sides.

[Jon Bonham]

I'm using 3/4" drawers for that same reason. The Borg has 3/4" (23/32") Baltic Birch cabinet grade ply for $24.88, but a nice sheet of 1/2" is around $50. So far, so good.

[Jim Becker]

1/2" ply often costs as much or even sometimes more than 3/4". The downside to using it for your drawers is that they will be significantly heavier and you will lose a small amount of interior space.

[Jon Bonham]

1/2" ply often costs as much or even sometimes more than 3/4". The downside to using it for your drawers is that they will be significantly heavier and you will lose a small amount of interior space.


I never considered the weight difference. Good point.