I bought some baltic birch and some other very nice plywood and both have corners that are square and edges that are perfect. Bought from lumber supply house, not big box. Would you still freshen the edges or not?
[OP]
Contributor
I bought some baltic birch and some other very nice plywood and both have corners that are square and edges that are perfect. Bought from lumber supply house, not big box. Would you still freshen the edges or not?
Tim in Hill Country of Texas
Contributor
With that type of ply the edges are usually good enough for most of my work. Although my table saw cuts are much smoother than the factory edges. If the edges are going to show or matter I will cut them.
This pretty much covers it. If you want t true edge, make one. A factory edge is not straight enough for much that I do.Originally Posted by Robert Hayward
"A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".
– Samuel Butler
Contributor
I always make new edges.
There is a very fine line between “hobby” and “mental illness.” - Dave Barry
Member
The only time I do not trim edges is when I am framing a house.
Contributor
I never leave a factory edge. It's just not worth the hassle of finding some flaw when your knee deep in the project.
Member
If the stock piece is larger than a few feet I make the piece 1/4 larger then final easy cuts. Twice the dust but I wear a mask and also use a small fan to blow across the blade towards where the air cleaner is. I don’t really use plywood anymore except for jigs.
Contributor
If I need the edge to be better, I will recut it. If I do not, I generally don't.
Contributor
A shop-made edge is the only one you can count on to be clean, smooth, straight, crisp, and square. I also like to do a preliminary scoring run with the blade a shy 1/16 high.
Contributor
It’s not worth the 3/16-1/4” width of plywood for me to check it for square, dings, chips etc. I know my slider cuts true and so everything gets a fresh reference edge first to begin.
Contributor
You can't count on any ply being square unless you trim it yourself. downside is trim cuts are the hardest type to capture dust. Dave
Moderator
It would be a very rare situation for me to NOT put a fresh edge on sheet goods of any kind, just like with solid stock. Factory edges are never clean and true and you cannot even assume that the sheet is actually square at the corners relative to other corners.
--
The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
Member
Squarely in the if it matters camp here. I can't think of any recent plywood projects in my shop that the edges aren't getting put in a frame or hidden behind a face frame, which makes it optional. It does all get checked for square though, some isn't.
Contributor
As much as I love Baltic birch plywood, I find that it's generally a lot worse that regular plywood or MDF for not being square. Some sheets are pretty close, some are off by well over 1/8". And the quality of the cut is not great.
Contributor
Yes always.
As Dave points out, I will waste a bit of stock to avoid the extra dust that a trim cut throws at me.
I have not tried the preliminary scoring pass that Bob mentioned.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote