plywood weight

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Central (upstate) NY
My back is recovering from a recent injury and while I was planning to do some work with plywood in the shop this weekend my wife convinced me that there'll still be plywood at the store later and maybe I shouldn't push things. From recent experience, 50 lb (as in a bag of rock salt) is a bit more than I should be handling just yet. I'm also pleasantly surprised that my back is not telling me I am stupid from moving my carboy of must yesterday with 20 lb honey and 4 gallons water.

This has me wondering just how much a 4' by 8' sheet of 3/4" plywood weighs - does anyone here know? I will keep in mind that my body may be feeling more than just the dead weight due to torques and what not as it gets positioned for cutting.

Thanks! :wave:
 
Mark,

Given that I'm rapidly approaching my dotage, I've been having trouble with this too. I've been using a device that helps me pick a sheet up from the bottom, so much that if I forget to bring one in my car when I go to the borg, I just buy another (they cost like five bucks, but it's worth it if I have to pick up more than a sheet or two). But now, each time I have to wrestle one, I keep thinking about one of these:

http://www.gorillagripper.com/

It seems to be just the thing. At some point in the near future, my pain will outweigh my foolish vanity, and I'll break down and get one... ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
Hi

20 -25 lbs per 1/4" surprises me a bit. I don't doubt the information, though. I can only say that it feels as light as a feather compared to a 3/4" sheet of MDF which weighs 92 lbs.

Incidentally (or perhaps not), the workers comp regulations in the jurisdiction I used to live/work in stated that 90 lbs was the maximum weight any worker should lift on his own. I wish I had a nickel for every time I violated that reg!

So, by my math, if 90 is the limit for someone who is not injured, I think 75 is probably pushing it when you're still mending.
 
I'm gonna totally agree with Larry on this one.

I'm at the age where it's not going to take a whole lot of abuse for something in my body to break, and I don't need that. For whatever the small charge may be Mark, I would have your supplier cut the sheet(s) to sizes you need (or at least into smaller pieces) for easier handling. Bring your cutlist, tape and pencil with you.

Royall is right on the way we have to handle sheet goods. It may not be so much the weight, but the reach to lift and place that weight.

Be safe. Why chance another, maybe more serious, injury.

Aloha, Tony
 
This "MIGHT" Help???

I've had Back Surgery Twice, so I KNOW about back problems,:( and I have used a couple of different carrying aids, Buuuut..... they all have one thing in common, they still put an unequal strain to one side of your body, and then some muscle (in my back anyhow) starts to pull things out of whack.

Quite by accident, I discovered that if I stand a sheet of plywood or drywall on end about 6" or more from the wall, and then back up to it, I can slightly bend my knees and reach behind me (keeping the arms fully extended/straight) and grab the edges of the sheet and rock it forward against my back then straighten my knees into a standing position but bent slightly forward at the waist, I can walk anywhere I need to without any strain at all to my back (or arms) because there is no uneven side to side strain on the back muscles. YMMV (Us Older Folks gotta be Innovative sometimes). :rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
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OR you could just get it cut smaller :huh::

This. :wave:

I have a basement shop, and the stairs are in the middle of my house. Whenever I buy sheet goods I always have at least one cut made at the store, and often two cuts, to break it down to smaller pieces to make it easier to get into the shop.

Even Baltic Birch requires the cut. At 5x5, those sheets don't weigh as much, but the simple fact is that a 5x5 sheet will not, no how, no way, fit into my van. So I'm forced to get at least one cut.

...art
 
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