# Buying plywood for newbies



## answer3 (Sep 18, 2012)

Hi
I am new to woodworking and plan to build a router table and tablesaw extension tables using plywood. 
I checked at home depot and 3/4 inch 4x8 birch plywood that seemed to be good quality was as expensive as red oak plywood (45 dollars per sheet) which seems quite expensive to me. 
Is there other places I can buy decent quality plywood for less money? (not necessarily furniture quality as I don't care about color or grain but I need something fairly flat and durable as reference surfaces for my table saw and router table). Also I plan to make a few jigs for table saw and router table using plywood, what plywood quality would you recommend for that? Classical baltic birch plywood? Pine plywood?
Thanks a lot!
Damien


----------



## JMartel (Nov 30, 2011)

I've used the hardwood ply at Home Depot/Lowes many times. There are far less voids than normal ply, but they are still in there. Gotta watch out for them. Usually it's not much of an issue though. For jigs they are perfectly fine. Or you could use MDF instead. It's a good enough option if you don't have a good source of cabinet quality ply near you. The ones close to me charge obscene prices for something that either gets painted or is just for a jig, so I don't bother.


----------



## MeasureTwice (Jan 12, 2012)

I'm just north of Atlanta. Home depot around here has what they call cabinet grade ply for $30 a sheet. I've built a bunch of jigs and shop stuff with it and thought it was fine. Now I'm starting a little bookshelf and wanted something nicer so I stopped by a lumber supplier, they had white birch plywood that was absolutely beautiful for $36 a sheet. The "bad side" was twice as nice as the best side of the HD stuff. For the difference in price and quality, I doubt I'll buy any more ply from HD.


----------



## jschaben (Apr 1, 2010)

Hi, for a router table, I don't think 3/4 is thick enough.... especially if you plan on installing a miter slot. That will eat up over half the thickness. MDF seems to be the material of choice as it's hard, flat and slick right off the bat. I would suggest a piece of 3/4 plywood for the bottom layer topped with a piece of 3/4 MDF. The plywood gives the strength and the MDF the working surface. In that application you could opt for AC or even BC plywood. Another option would be "forms" plywood. It is used for concrete forms and the faces are empregnated with some sort of resin that concrete doesn't stick to, sort of a release agent. Not available at my HD but available at the regular lumber yards...... for a price, around here around $60/sheet. It also is definately not furniture grade. :smile:


----------



## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

+1 with JSchaben. A router top of 3/4in is not thick enough.

I have a top made by Woodpeckers which is two 3/4in MDF panels glued together with a melamine top and plastic edge inlay.

If I were to make my own top I would use MDF for the upper layer and a void free plywood for the lower layer just to add more strength.

My Woodpeckers top is holding up well, I am merely commenting on how I would make a top of my own construction.


----------



## Fred Hargis (Apr 28, 2012)

The problem with the less expensive ply is that the thickness is not always uniform. So if you cut a dado and then try to fit the panel, it may not fit that well across the entire width. That may be less of a problem with shop cabinets/RT's/extension tables and so on/. But for good stuff get the well, good stuff. Here's a pic of some of the box store ply I bought...I used this for a mock up, it then became firewood on a turkey hunt the following spring. Look closely at the plies, they appear to have been pressed into a flat piece.


----------



## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Baltic birch is about the best quality plywood I've used. But even as good as it is, its important to inspect any sheet of plywood you buy regardless of where its made. In recent years I've found more and more plywood that is delaminating. Primarily its Chinese plywood that is really bad to delaminate and warp so I won't buy it anymore. A domestic plywood to look out for is Purebond plywood which is sneaky. It looks good and hard to find defects in it, and when you build something and go to finish it you find out they veneered over knot holes which weren't filled. The veneer over the knot holes will wrinkle up with nothing behind it but air to support it. The only way to check for these defects is to tap you fingers over the entire sheet and listen for the voids in it.


----------



## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

3/4" material would need to be pretty well braced.....or doubled. 

As far as finding better material for less money....I haven't had the pleasure for new stuff, but some of my local lumber yards can supply better material for not too much more. Repurposing old laminate counters and occasionally old cabinet material has worked out pretty well for me in the past. 

I made these one from used 9/8" laminated pressboard, and both were plenty strong.


----------



## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

answer3 said:


> Hi
> I am new to woodworking and plan to build a router table and tablesaw extension tables using plywood.
> I checked at home depot and 3/4 inch 4x8 birch plywood that seemed to be good quality was as expensive as red oak plywood (45 dollars per sheet) which seems quite expensive to me.
> Is there other places I can buy decent quality plywood for less money? (not necessarily furniture quality as I don't care about color or grain but I need something fairly flat and durable as reference surfaces for my table saw and router table). Also I plan to make a few jigs for table saw and router table using plywood, what plywood quality would you recommend for that? Classical baltic birch plywood? Pine plywood?
> ...


If costs are a factor, you are limited on where and what to buy. Baltic Birch, or ApplePly, would likely be good examples for consistent density, and smooth faces. A good lumber yard or plywood distributor would probably carry those.

Marine plywood would be without voids, and a more substantial glue, than most plywoods. Poplar plywood with veneer core could be a good substrate. A top of the line blockboard (lumber core) would be light, but rigid form of plywood. 

If you are price conscious and have to shop at the box stores, you could likely find a good sheet or two of Maple plywood. You would have to check it out for voids, and differences in thickness, along with any loose veneer or bubbles in the face veneer. But, it should be less in cost than other hardwood faces...like Red Oak.










 







.


----------



## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

I just wanted to say that I’ve experienced batches of plywood are not always the same at Home Depot or at Lowes. I’ve gone in and bought a sheet that was perfectly fine for what I was doing then go back a week later to find crap. My point is, don’t write it off just because you find one bad sheet. Keep looking. I once was told to come back later in the afternoon where I found a new batch came in with a lot of good sheets in it.


----------



## sardaplywood (Feb 17, 2017)

*Which company plywood should be used*

There are several brands of plywood available from mid to high segments. If you want the highest quality ply, you can go for DURO, Green or Century. In mid segment you can go for Tower Ply, Sonear or Archid.


----------

