Hi all. My name is Federico and i am living in Italy.
I’d like to ask a question.
I’m not use to work with plywood but i understand the opportunity to use sheets of plywood for a lot of good reasons.
Reading some articles of the magazine (like user’s guide to plywood for instance) i found that the joint that are described are the simplest one like dado, rabbet or biscuit. Question is: dovetails are useful for joining plywood ? If yes, do i have to pay any particular attention ? I was making a project for some pieces of furniture for a kitchen, therefore the question is related to the construction of cabinets and drawers. I was choosing plywood made out of Okoumè wood glued for navy applications and with veneer lauers of evaporated beech wood.
Thank you very much and best regards.
Federico
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Replies
Hi Federico. It's great to hear from our international audience.
Plywood has a lot of great attributes in furniture making, as you have discovered, especially for cabinetry. It is inexpensive, stable, and veneered plywoods allow you to still work in a variety of wood types.
There is no reason you can't apply the same joinery to plywood as you would to hardwood, but you should make sure you're doing it for the right reasons. Dovetails in hardwood does more than just hold two piece of wood together. It also controls wood movement. Plywood, however, doesn't have any problems with movement there are easier ways to join two plywood pieces with a strong connection.
Another problem is cutting dovetails in plywood. You might struggle with chip out when cutting with power tools and plywood will quickly dull your hand tools.
From a design standpoint, I think dovetails in plywood can look really neat. I'd say try it out with a test project then make your decision.
Matt Berger
Fine Woodworking
Hi Matt,
thank you very much for your opinion and the encouragement.
I'll try with a test project according to your suggestion.
Best Regards
Federico
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