Charlie Plesums
Member
- Messages
- 1,521
- Location
- Austin, Texas
A couple projects ago my delivery of furniture grade plywood looked just fine, until I started using it. On close examination, the outer ply was the usual super-thin furniture wood, but the next layer was much like masonite... the old fashioned non-tempered masonite. Then the rest of the layers were the usual plywood layers of ply core plywood.
I work alone, so when I bumped a corner, instead of getting a little ding, I got delamination back a couple inches. When I drilled a hole with a Forstner bit, I got some delamination in the front, but worse, the back pushed out before the point came through, so I could reverse the bit and cut the back layer. A couple of the hinge screws pulled out - a problem I "never" have with traditional plywood. One flat side had a slight bulge that you could only feel when checking the finish. I suspect that the panel got twisted or something when I was horsing it around alone.
I called my lumber yard and complained. The manager said most of his customers loved the new material, since it was especially flat - no ghost of the under layers through the ultra-thin veneer. He said he would have laughed at me except that I was the second complaint that day, after weeks of rave compliments. We talked about it, and finally realized that the complaints had come from the one-man shops, and the complements had come from the larger shops with multiple people handling the material and CNC routers rather than hand-operated tools.
I don't know what the new type plywood is called - it has some of the advantages of MDF core (super flat), but it sells as a type of ply core. My lumber yard now promises to keep this new plywood for the CNC customers, and stock the regular ply core for the "ordinary" customers like me.
But I make sure I ask for "real" ply core when I place my orders now!
I work alone, so when I bumped a corner, instead of getting a little ding, I got delamination back a couple inches. When I drilled a hole with a Forstner bit, I got some delamination in the front, but worse, the back pushed out before the point came through, so I could reverse the bit and cut the back layer. A couple of the hinge screws pulled out - a problem I "never" have with traditional plywood. One flat side had a slight bulge that you could only feel when checking the finish. I suspect that the panel got twisted or something when I was horsing it around alone.
I called my lumber yard and complained. The manager said most of his customers loved the new material, since it was especially flat - no ghost of the under layers through the ultra-thin veneer. He said he would have laughed at me except that I was the second complaint that day, after weeks of rave compliments. We talked about it, and finally realized that the complaints had come from the one-man shops, and the complements had come from the larger shops with multiple people handling the material and CNC routers rather than hand-operated tools.
I don't know what the new type plywood is called - it has some of the advantages of MDF core (super flat), but it sells as a type of ply core. My lumber yard now promises to keep this new plywood for the CNC customers, and stock the regular ply core for the "ordinary" customers like me.
But I make sure I ask for "real" ply core when I place my orders now!