Birch plywood cabinet doors light specks in grain
Hi – Some years ago I did a kitchen build using Birch ply for the cabinet and drawer faces. When I finished them with oil based poly, there were considerable light colored specks in some areas of the grain, which I could only imagine was fine sawdust that had gotten lodged or trapped in the grain. It was bit perplexing, as I had sanded with an orbital, followed by vacuuming the faces well, and then used a tack cloth as a final pass. The effect was not consistent across the entire face, and am wondering if it might be a result of the grade of birch ply. The ply, while from a professional lumber dealer, not a box store, is still of a cheaper grade. Or perhaps a result of a poor finish technique on my part, perhaps sanding to too fine a grit (I seem to recall 220 as the final). I’m about to do another kitchen in a similar material, and want to prevent this problem. Thanks in advance for any thoughts.
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I built many birch plywood kitchens in the 80’s. The quality was far superior to anything I’ve seen in many years. What seems to be sold now as top quality would have been considered “paint grade” then. I wouldn’t trust any of it with stain or clear with poly. Still seems to take paint ok though.
I pretty much no longer use much sheet stock but if I do and when I did I pretty much only used " apple" ply. The manufacturer for me here was Mt. Storm. I'm sure there are other manufacturers as well. Really an excellent product, you should look into it. Comes prefinished or not. Veneer faces of a variety of hardwoods. You will not like the price.
Having purchased plywood from lumberyards that turned into a liability, plywood with a veneer so thin that any sanding would burn right through or plywood that had voids when it wasn't supposed to or had a core that was more like cardboard than wood I figured the extra cost for the apple ply was worth it.