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01-17-2006, 05:07 PM
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#1 | | 1/2 inch plywood Name: Travis City: Wake Forest State: NC County: Wake Join Date: Dec 2005  01-17-2006, 05:07 PM
Treasurer
Well, I worked in my shop some this weekend (got MLK birthday off this year) and have been making drawers for shop cabinets. I have been trying to "rework" my shop some and build in more storage and upgrade some stuff so I had built several shop cabinets including a miter saw stand, under tablesaw storage, a router table cabinet, and the cabinet for my bandsaw.
I decided I would make all of the drawers at once and had laid out all of my cuts in Excel to simplify things. Unfortunately, I added a 1/2 inch instead of subtracting a 1/2 inch so all of the drawers were 1 inch too large. I had built the drawers with a drawer lock joint and had reinforced them with staples and glued them heavily as they are shop storage so I gave up trying to separate them.
I had bought all of the original plywood at Home Depot, what they call Sandply. I like it and it does well for like drawer sides and so forth. Unfortunately, my local HD has gotten to be a dump and they didn't have any plywood out and I didn't feel like messing with them so I went across the street to Lowes.
I bought 3 sheets of 1/2 inch blond plywood (looks almost like the sandply from HD) and took it home and started cutting. Well, now comes the issue. Every sheet of plywood varied in thickness by 1/32 inch. No 2 sheets were the same thickness. 1 was 1/2 inch, one was 15/32, and one was 17/32. I looked it all over and they were all the exact same brand, had the same stickers on them and the stack at the store was fairly new so it had not been filtered through. This was a PAIN to try and do drawer lock joints with, but I did it. Dovetails would have been a nightmare. My suggestion is to beware when you go and buy plywood and make sure the thicknesses are consistent especially the imported stuff.
PS - If any body needs any wood drawers/boxes I have 14 that need a good home. | | Views: 796 | |
01-17-2006, 05:16 PM
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#2 |
Name: David City: Pittsboro State: NC County: Chatham Join Date: Oct 2005 Age: 52 Avg Visit Freq/Week
= 3.50 over 180 days | Re: 1/2 inch plywood
What a bummer  I hate doing things twice for no good reason
__________________
David
"There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea" Bernard-Paul Heroux |  
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01-17-2006, 05:21 PM
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#3 | | Advisor
Founder
Name: Steve City: Apex State: NC County: Wake Join Date: Jul 2005 Age: 65 Avg Visit Freq/Week
= 6.81 over 180 days | Re: 1/2 inch plywood
Originally Posted by DavidF What a bummer I hate doing things twice for no good reason I hate doing things twice any reason.  | |
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01-17-2006, 06:16 PM
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#4 | | Administrator
Name: DaveO City: Clayton State: NC County: Johnston Join Date: Aug 2005 Age: 39 Avg Visit Freq/Week
= 7.00 over 180 days | Re: 1/2 inch plywood
Welcome to the world of crappy BORG ply. My FIL got all excited about some 3/4" "cabinet grade" ply at HD for $28. Once we started looking close there were plys that over lapped, several voids and overall poor quality. I think that the BORGs are the clearing house for plywood mistakes. My .02 Dave 
__________________   Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile
Honestly Honey, that will cost around $100 $150 $200, and I need a few more tools. 
Heard from a client..."If I had your tools and experience...I could do it myself" 
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."
--Dr. Seuss
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01-17-2006, 06:18 PM
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#5 | | Treasurer
Name: Travis City: Wake Forest State: NC County: Wake Join Date: Dec 2005 Avg Visit Freq/Week
= 6.53 over 180 days | Re: 1/2 inch plywood
They still have that garbage. I paid $26 a sheet, but to your point, I will stick with Baltic Birch going forward. It is imported, but the quality is a lot better. | |
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01-17-2006, 06:22 PM
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#6 |
Name: Monty City: Hickory State: NC County: Catawba Join Date: Jul 2005 Avg Visit Freq/Week
= 2.02 over 180 days | Re: 1/2 inch plywood
Ouch. Hope your luck improves. Just design a new cabinet around those oversize drawers! It'll be worth it for the extra storage space - you can never have too much. You'll have to show us some pics when you get your shop all organized. | |
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01-17-2006, 07:48 PM
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#7 |
Name: Chuck City: Rocky Mount State: NC County: Nash Join Date: Nov 2005 Avg Visit Freq/Week
= 5.99 over 180 days | Re: 1/2 inch plywood
Well, if it makes you feel any better, I've done similar things a bunch of times.
The irony is that for drawers, if they were an inch too small you could shim the slides. My biggest mistake is usually cutting an inch too short so I know all about it!
Well, at least it tells me I'm not alone! 
Maybe post the sizes and see if someone could use them and make a trade? Win-win situation!
BTW, where do you get the baltic birch ply around the Raleigh area?
Chuck
Last edited by cpowell; 01-17-2006 at 08:01 PM..
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01-18-2006, 12:48 AM
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#8 |
Name: William City: Cedar Mountain State: NC County: Transylvania Join Date: Nov 2005 Avg Visit Freq/Week
= 0.00 over 180 days | Re: 1/2 inch plywood
The sandply at HD is more consistent than at Lowes. But it still isn't great. Watch for raising the grain. | |
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01-18-2006, 10:25 AM
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#9 |
Name: David City: Pittsboro State: NC County: Chatham Join Date: Oct 2005 Age: 52 Avg Visit Freq/Week
= 3.50 over 180 days | Re: 1/2 inch plywood
That's why I prefer MDF - sorry
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David
"There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea" Bernard-Paul Heroux | |
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01-18-2006, 10:45 AM
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#10 | | Treasurer
Name: Travis City: Wake Forest State: NC County: Wake Join Date: Dec 2005 Avg Visit Freq/Week
= 6.53 over 180 days | Re: 1/2 inch plywood
MDF, consistent for sure. HEAVY and DUSTY are the main reasons I didn't. | |
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01-18-2006, 11:38 AM
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#11 |
Name: David City: Pittsboro State: NC County: Chatham Join Date: Oct 2005 Age: 52 Avg Visit Freq/Week
= 3.50 over 180 days | Re: 1/2 inch plywood
I love MDF - reliable, flat and consistant - it's routable, paintable etc - more than can be said for ply. Dust and weight are an issue, but I think the benefits out weigh those and as a substrate for veneer I believe there is nothing better. Just my opinion of course
__________________
David
"There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea" Bernard-Paul Heroux | |
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