Moving Plywood

[Phillip Mitchell]

How wide is your door? Can you back your truck up into the shop / just outside the door and keep the plywood horizontal the entire time? Do you have space to have another table on wheels that is meant for sliding sheets out of truck bed right onto said table and processing further?

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I use the Home Depot (Stanley) plywood carrier. 8 bucks.
Since you're doing 1 at a time, that's what I do and that's what I use. I feel that you eventually have to lift the ply on to your saw at some point in time, you can carry it the short distance from truck bed to saw. With that cheeap carrier I can do it alone...... That also makes it easier to get the panel on the saw. Assuming you have it in the center of the ply when moving it. It's already balanced and not that hard to get on the saw.

[Lisa Starr]

I have a portable cut table. Slide the sheet off the truck onto the table. Make initial cuts with track saw and then move the pieces inside. I'm an "old woman" and have reached the point I do things the easy way rather than the quickest way.

[Mark Katz]

I use the Festool STM 1800 Saw Table / Work Bench to move and cut down full plywood sheets. It tilts and the wheels lock so you can easily load it / unload it.

When not in use it folds up and rolls away into a very storable, compact package.

Even though it's expensive and hard to find (limited quantities were manufactured), I think this - with a track saw - is the best approach. If I hadn't already built my own cutting grid and bought some folding sawhorses, I would have jumped at this when it first came out.

[Doug Colombo]

We used to use a couple of panel lift devices at another shop like this https://www.amazon.com/Gator-Lift-Pl...16187369&psc=1 and this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MW5M1YX...sin_0_img&th=1 You have to carry the weight but thresholds and crap on the floor are not an issue.

+1 I have one and it works great.

[Pat Rice]

It is not an inexpensive option but the Felder FAT 300 hydraulic lift table has been a fantastic option for my shop. Not only do I use it to haul plywood and lift it up to put on my saw but it is a great work surface/assembly table that allows you to raise and lower the work piece for sanding, cutting assembly etc., rather than trying to adapt your body. It will handle 600 lbs and it has been very beneficial to me being able to load and unload things from my truck.

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[Mike King]

I'm pretty sure Larry Lee stopped selling his crazy horse dolly as it was unprofitable- too bad. If they are still available I would like to know.

Paging @Joe Calhoon to the white phone -- someone else took over and is making the crazy horse dolly -- maybe at this link? https://westoakstudios.com/events/crazy-horse-dolly/

[Bradley Gray]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUPkcbb2hAI

[Dan Rude]

I have used several options. if it is mainly an even one floor area FastCap speed skate works great. Small and compact. Not great for Stairs though. Gorilla Grip, works well, but you can loose the grip if you lower it. My favorite though is the Drywall hook carrier Plywood Panel Carrier W Handle tool supplies hd heavy duty, handle is longer and offset I got mine from Lee Valley Tools. There is also the Grabro Portable Vacuum Lifter which is promoted by Izzy Swan on his site. Dan

[Alan Lightstone]

The Bora Portamate fell apart on me almost immediately and was tossed. Waste of money in my book.

[Rich Engelhardt]

One sheet at a time, off truck and cut.

My solution to that was to replace my Festool TS55EQ track saw with a Makita cordless.
Now I just cut the sheet goods to size in the parking lot where I buy it.

I made a flat work surface - a simple torsion box design - lightweight but strong. It's made of 1x3s & skinned with pegboard. It's 5' long and 2.5' wide.
I drilled holes in the four corners to accept these Veritas Platform Saddles.

I set the work surface on a pair of plastic saw horses, stick the saddles in the holes & 1X boards (or 2X) and just slide the plywood off the store's lumber cart and cut it right there at the store.


On the rare occasions I need to deal with full sheets, I made a rolling lumber cart from plans I got online that I can wheel out into the driveway and just load it up and roll it into the garage.

10 years ago, I just grabbed a sheet, slid it out of the back of the van & stuck a drywall carrier under it and muscled it into the garage.
15 years ago, I just did the same - but - without using a drywall carrier.

As I've gotten older - I've become more creative about this.

[Jim Becker]

Do you draw crowds and sell tickets for that track saw demonstration in the parking lot, Rich? (Seriously, that's an interesting idea to cut it down at the source)

[Curt Harms]

Look up "glass dolly" for an idea. Buying one wouldn't be cheap but making one would be easy. They have one large set of wheels to handle the load and a small caster on each end that are slightly higher. In the channel is rubber so the glass or wood doesn't slide. Most of the ones I've seen are made from wood but I have seen some made from aluminum. One with larger wheels like I pictured, would roll across a gravel driveway.
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I made something similar to move solid surface slabs. Just angle iron welded into a U shape and a couple stub axles welded on. I had a couple kids' bicycle wheels to go on the stub axles. Worked like a champ. When I've had to deal with plywood I just put it down on the driveway on pink foam strips. Cut it with a guided saw. Trying to manhandle 4 X 8 sheets of plywood into a basement shop seems silly.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Do you draw crowds and sell tickets for that track saw demonstration in the parking lot, Rich?

Thankfully - not yet....
99% of the time I do this it's at Menards & they don't carry Makita.
I am afraid one of these days a manager will confront me over this.

Home Depot carries Makita - but - they have pretty ugly plywood. Maybe if I offered to demonstrate a track saw HD would agree to carry better stuff?

[Cliff Polubinsky]

I used the Bora Portamate for years and I found it awkward at times. Picked up the panel cart from Woodcraft http://www.woodcraft.com/products/wo...cart-woodriver and it's much better. Pricey but very stable and rolls easily.

Cliff