Need advise making 1/8" plywood

[john hejmanowski]

So, I got an RV fridge for a song for the Airstream. It works great. However, the fridge needs a 1/8" x 24"x36 door panel and a smaller one. Dometic no longer makes this panel and has nothing larger that could be cut down to size. The one source I can find for 1/8" plywood wants $450. That is a bit much. I am thinking to make my own, but, how to do it?

I have some cherry that I think to slice into 1/16" x 6" wide strips and glue two layers at 90 degrees.

Do I glue both sides?

I have no vacuum press so I will use some dead weights.

Ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks. John H

[Jeff Roltgen]

Should be 3 layers for balance, if you go the veneer route.
Would it look strange to put a shallow, raised panel there? Plane to 3/8 to 1/2" thick, use any raised panel or cove bit you have on hand to form and reduce edge thickness to 1/8" = you've got your target edge thickness for panel retainer brackets, a panel that is much more stable, and no adventures in veneering with limited implements.
Even simpler: a short rabbet at the edges if a more contemporary look is preferred over a raised-panel sweep.

jeff

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Making your own would be cool! I would think about using 3 plys.
1/8 plywood is usually available.

Screen Shot 2022-08-25 at 9.56.36 AM.png

[Jim Becker]

Consider veneering some other kind of thin panel as an alternative to "plywood". It will likely be "better behaved" than trying to glue up your own multilayer construction and as Jeff mentioned, you'd likely want at least three layers anyway. A thin substrate veneered with nice material on the front to match the Airstream interior and a simple backer veneer on the back side will do the job. For something that small, you don't need a fancy veneer system...just some simple plattens made from MDF and a bunch of cauls and clamps.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Two ply veneer is a nice product and is available in several species. It ships rolled up. The image is oak and Mahogany. Two layers glued together will be around 1/8. I think this is from Rockler.

Photo on 8-25-22 at 10.13 AM.jpg
looking again this is 3 ply Oak, Fiber, Mahogany. Two layers without glue = .085. It might be too thin.

[Dan Cameron]

So, I got an RV fridge for a song for the Airstream. It works great. However, the fridge needs a 1/8" x 24"x36 door panel and a smaller one. Dometic no longer makes this panel and has nothing larger that could be cut down to size. The one source I can find for 1/8" plywood wants $450. That is a bit much. I am thinking to make my own, but, how to do it?

I have some cherry that I think to slice into 1/16" x 6" wide strips and glue two layers at 90 degrees.

Do I glue both sides?

I have no vacuum press so I will use some dead weights.

Ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks. John H

Home Depot sells 1/8 "utility panels" for about $17. 3ply, mystery wood.

[Frederick Skelly]

Home Depot sells 1/8 "utility panels" for about $17. 3ply, mystery wood.

I was just about to say the same. Go to the cabinet section. They sell a veneered plywood intended for covering an exposed side of their cabinets.

[Walter Plummer]

Aircraft spruce has plywood starting at 1/64" up. https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catal...nnishbirch.php

[john hejmanowski]

Gentlemen, thanks. I will check out buying the baltic birch.

[John TenEyck]

I have been making my own multi-ply walnut plywood for a wood gear clock project. Some of the parts are only 2 mm thick, that's about 0.080". For that one I used 3 layers of veneer. Some others are 3, 5, and 8 mm thick. For those I'm using 5 layers. I edge glue the veneer first to get the layers as wide as I need. Then I put the layers in the vacuum bag using TB II and leave them for about 2 hours. Then I remove it from the bag and clamp it between 3/4" thick plywood with some window screen in between to facilitate drying. Even the 2 mm stuff is amazingly rigid, and of course stable because it's plywood.

If I didn't have a vacuum press, I'd lay the veneer between a couple of layers of plywood on each side and clamp it up with some thick cauls on both sides, or down onto my bench top with cauls just on top. OP, your project is very doable using commercial veneer, even easier if you can slice your own and drum sand it to whatever thickness is needed.

John

[Tom Bender]

Definitely 3 or more plys, 2 plys will curl

How about just using 2 sheets of laminate back to back?

[Lee Schierer]

Have you tried this source?

[Alex Zeller]

I've made thin plywood using titebond 2. I had some skate board veneer sheets (1/16) that I glued together. The titebond has water in it so the wood wanted to expand. The panels were small so I just put some steel blocks from my hydraulic press on top of them. Over all they came out nice. Once the titebond dried the panels were flat. I did exactly what you asked about, grains going opposite direction. But they went into a mission style frame so that holds them from warping (but I don't think they will).

[john hejmanowski]

with veneer, or making my own plywood, do you glue one side or both sides?

[Jim Becker]

with veneer, or making my own plywood, do you glue one side or both sides?

Balance is important when you are veneering a panel substrate...as I noted above,"good stuff" on the show side and backer veneer on the non-show side. So it's a sandwich with the veneer as the "bread" and the substrate of your choice as the "peanutbutter".