Cabinet Grade Plywood at Borg

[LarryG]

One point I want to bring up that I think we've all missed: you get what you pay for. $25 a sheet about the same cost as what you'd pay for wall building or sub-floor grade plywood. For the average project - shop cabinets, items that will be painted anyways, home improvement stuff - it's perfect.

Exactly what I was getting at. For $25, the stuff at HD ain't bad. But it is what it is. The face veneers are cigarette-paper-thin, the coloration is awful (lots of light/dark areas), and it's all rotary cut. It's about as far from AWI (Architectural Woodwork Institute) quality material (see Bruce's reply) as you can get.

[Garasaki]

I actually bought 3 sheets of 1/2" baltic birch recently at $38 per sheet. One of them delaminated badly after one cut thru the center. I was very surprised, as you always hear it's supposed to be great stuff.

Not only where did you buy it, but how many plys did it have?

Local lowes sells some BB plywood for about 38 bucks a sheet. This is not what I'm talking about. Ugly stuff, that... I'm talking about the 9 ply (or is it 13?) stuff that runs a buck a square foot and is sold in 5'x5' sheets typically....

[radhak]

Local lowes sells some BB plywood for about 38 bucks a sheet. This is not what I'm talking about. Ugly stuff, that... I'm talking about the 9 ply (or is it 13?) stuff that runs a buck a square foot and is sold in 5'x5' sheets typically....

Lowes' ply is just birch. the missing 'baltic' makes all the difference. Baltic Birch is supposedly originating from the Baltic countries (eg, Russia), and is beautiful to look at with virtually no voids. The cost for 3/4 thick BB even gets to 2 bucks a square-foot (if you are lucky), and sometimes much more than that if you need to get it shipped. Just check out Rockler for how the very rich get their plywood .

Unless you are lucky to be next door to one of those really cheap suppliers that seem to always show on google but so far away from me...

[pecker]

But, where did you buy it?

World of Hardwoods, near BWI airport in Baltimore.
I don't know who supplied it to them.

[pecker]

Not only where did you buy it, but how many plys did it have?

Local lowes sells some BB plywood for about 38 bucks a sheet. This is not what I'm talking about. Ugly stuff, that... I'm talking about the 9 ply (or is it 13?) stuff that runs a buck a square foot and is sold in 5'x5' sheets typically....

Don't know the number of plies, as I'm at work now. It came in 5 x 5 sheets and the retailer (World of Hardwoods in Baltimore) said it was from Russia.
You have to wonder why Russian plywood would have a good reputation...I don't know of anything else they are good at but Vodka and caviar.

[BigguyZ]

I know there's a Menards in the TC that carries the BB. It's like $55 a sheet for 4'x8'. The annoying thing is Menards doesn't do cuts- so I'm out with just my sedan. That leaves the non-baltic stuff from lowes cut down to rough size...

[jgscott987]

Sandeply or Blondewood

I think HD calls it Sandeply and Lowes calls it Blondewood or something like that. It has a very thin veneer that is pretty 'hairy' it is very difficult to sand the fuzzy surface to a nice finish without burning right through the veneer.

I found the quality to be just fine however- very few voids. Probably best reserved for shop cabinets and painted goods. Be prepared to do a lot of sanding after applying primer, however.

[gwyneth]

I know there's a Menards in the TC that carries the BB. It's like $55 a sheet for 4'x8'. The annoying thing is Menards doesn't do cuts- so I'm out with just my sedan.

Sounds like a good justification for an 18v circular saw. Cummins occasionally has a reconditioned Ryobi set of drill, circ saw, and two batteries for $50.

[p8ntblr]

Anyway to tell how good the ply is by just looking at it. What should I look for? Or will I need to cut into it before I can tell.