box store plywood..yuck!

[Salty]

Has anyone else been disgusted with the odor from this plywood?
I just finished some cabinets using some birch cabinet grade plywood from the blue box.
When I got it I had them cut it lengthwise so I could haul it home. Note to self...get a pickup truck soon!
Anyway, it stinks from the glues or the wood used to make it. It is especially bad when cutting it. I have to use a dust mask and take frequent breaks while the air cleaner clears the shop.
I do not have this problem with other plywood from a real lumber yard.
Even when it was sitting next to my computer it gave off an odor, like a strong chemical.
Is that stuff made overseas? I wonder?

[rboggs888]

BORG wood

Made in China, Stuff makes my face break out. Must be allergic to the formaldehyde.

[Tom Slick]

it probably has formaldehyde in it. Formaldehyde is slowly being phased out in the US, sheet goods have very little in it when they are made here. imported stuff who knows how much they use.

[cabinetman]

More than likely an import. What you are smelling is probably the UF (urea-formaldehyde) glue, or possibly a questionable core material. It's touch-n-go on how long it takes for the smell to dissipate, if it does at all.
.

[JimD]

I was checking out the plywood at the local Home Depot since I will need some for a project soon. They had a chinese "birch" plywood for about $30/sheet. I won't get that. I have used it before and it would be OK for non-critical applications but the inner plys are not straight and it is kind of nasty to work with. I do not remember a strong odor but the inner plys fuzz and there are lots of voids.

The next better stuff was "handiply" which seems to be made of wood similar to luan. Again I have used it before and for some things it is OK but my next project is a new kitchen island and I want something better. I do not like the dust it gives off. Seems like it is bad for my alergies. The only other thing they has was the oak veneer. The parts that show of the island will be cherry so I do not see the logic in using oak plywood for the interior parts. I did not check out the plys. Sometimes they are poplar which I prefer but sometimes they are softwood.

I will use baltic birch. 3/4 for the structure (really 19mm) and 1/2 for the drawers. It wasn't much more last time I got a sheet but the sheet is smaller so on a square foot basis it is more. It also is worth more. I used 3/4 bb for the slats on my daughters full size bed. They work fine. The five foot width was necessary and minimized waste (on a 4x8 I would have gotten less usable wood and a 3x4 foot scrap).

Jim

[steve-norrell]

Check out this thread about Agathis. Got it at the "orange Borg".

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=37081&page=2

I am in the process of cutting it up for cabinets and so far it is proving to be OK. I haven't noticed any particular odor, but I am not a good smeller (Some folks say I'm a stinker, but not a smeller.) Takes dado and rabbet cuts well and, as noted in the other thread, has relatively few voids. Maybe I just got lucky.

Regards, Steve

[Salty]

Jim, you said it all. Lots of voids and I see lumps in the plys. I'm wondering if later on these will begin to swell. Check the local lumber yards and you will probably get a better product without the high cost of Baltic birch.

?? formaldehyde huh ??
Well, that about does it for borg or blue. Imported? Makes you wonder how they can make a 3/4" sheet, add the cost of fees and shipping and still be only a few dollars different than domestic. There's probably rice or bamboo in the plies! And anything else they want to 'dispose of'.

[Uncle Cracker]

If you want quality, you'll usually have to go to a lumber yard and pay more. What the box stores buy is what they can get cheapest, and in large committed quantities, and also about what the average homeowner is most likely to buy. Good material doesn't fit this MO at all. This is why the box stores best dimensional lumber is #2 (pun intended). If you want to frame around a corner, then buy it, but if you need lumber that doesn't turn around and come back at you, then grab your wallet and "go to the yard". Get used to it, 'cause it ain't gonna change anytime soon.

[dkhoward]

Seems like I remember a magazine article about the Chinese having a very large factory ship that they park off shore in some of the areas of the world where they can buy cheap trees which they process right on the boat into plywood, strandboard, etc, offload it to container ships and send it on its way. IF this is true, they could be parked offshore South America, Indonesia, etc.

[180x]

I bought a sheet of the $26 "cabinet grade" ply the other day just to get a feel for making cabinet boxes using a couple different techniques (dado and Sommerfeld's tongue and groove). I may be new to this but could tell that this wasn't very good for kitchen cabinets. Voids in abundance, plys coming apart, veneer less than paper thin, etc. But it did serve the purpose of practice and allowed me to see my deficiencies.

[Pappy]

If the 'handiply' Jim mentioned is the same stuff I am thinking of, it used to be in their computers as "Homerply". Looks a lot like mahogany but often displays some great grain patterns in the veneers. The veneers are a wood called Acume.

[jonmulzer]

I must be lucky, the Birch ply here at our Lowe's is pretty decent quality. Not what I would call great, but good. I made some utility cabinets with it and was not disappointed. Chinese also, and I hate to think what I might have breathed in when I was cutting it, but c'est la vie.

[pecker]

Just this weekend I visited Hardwoods, Inc in Frederick, MD. http://www.hardwoodsincorporated.com/
This was the first time I'd been to a well supplied retailer of furniture grade lumber, plywood and millwork. The prices for plywood were really dismaying. This was all made in the US, and I think the lowest priced 3/4" stuff, like oak,was around $85 per sheet. And prices rose quickly for maple, cherry, etc. Most of what I saw was well over $100.

Even 60" x 60" x 3/4" Baltic Birch was $75.
A lot of projects that used to seem economical to DIY are starting look like they will remain "virtual". Even just buying a sheet of BB for jigs is getting out of my range.