Hi Guys~
I got some 1/2″ birch ply (not apple ply) that’s 7 ply, and darn but it’s fairly warped. I’ve cut it up to roughly 2’x2′ chunks, thinking it might not look as bad in smaller pieces – wrong, lol.
Would anyone advise wetting them down then weighing them down (pressing them) on a flat floor??
Thanks and cya!
Replies
I doubt if many people go to extraordinary measures to rescue half inch Birch plywood unless you've got a whole heck of a lot of it.
I'm a little surprised you cut it up into smaller pieces. I guess you're sure you won't need it in bigger sections.
I don't know that I would wet it, but you could give weighting it down a shot.
Can't be done, the only thing you can do is screw or glue the plywood down onto something that is flat and strong enough to resist the warpage.
The only other possibility is that the plywood currently has a much higher moisture content on one side compared to the other side, in which case the plywood will flatten out in a few days if you stand it somewhere where air can reach both sides. Typically uneven moisture content will cause the sheet to cup or bow, twisting is usually a sign of poor quality control by the manufacturer.
Birch plywood comes from a lot of sources lately, and some of it is poorly made and prone to warping. It pays to stand the sheets on edge and sight down them before you buy and to purchase from a source that will take the sheets back if they warp after gaining or losing some moisture once they get into your shop.
John W.
Thanks John,
that's just the bad news I wanted to hear... I had a suspicion that making a quick purchase at the local Depot might not be worth it... The darn sheet didn't look bad when I picked it up!
Have a good one.
I recently purchased a few sheets of 1/2" and 3/4" Baltic Birch - the stuff warped and moved like crazy - it was a pain to use.Any recommendations for better sources of plywood? I can take use the stuff in small sheets 4'x4' or 2'x4' is OK.
Use appleply or marine grade plywood.
This past fall I picked up two different batches of 3/4" birch ply from my local building supply house. Both batches were 12 ply made in China. The first batch worked well, the second I could not even get a 2' x 2' square peice out of the sheets. I returned it, like another local shop had done. The plys were wavy within each sheet which I think may contribute significantly to the warpage factor. I will not purchase China made plywood again if I can help it.My current project I opted for the 5' x 5' baltic birch ply. Much better to work with. Takes a little rethinking in the planning and cutting aspect to be most efficient. It's also a little harder to wrap ones arms around a 5' wide sheet. Local suppliers don't carry it so I have to order from supplier 70 miles away, but delivery to my shop is free.Cost difference, .....for "triple B" 5x5 3/4" baltic birch $35.00 vs $47.00 for crappy 4x8 sheets.At this point, my thought is to re-orient myself with the 5x5 sheets and forget the local suppliers selling what is essentially 3/4 birch bendee wood.My two centsBill
Plywood from China?I've also seen stacks of this stuff at my local big box. Does this make sense to anyone? Do we really need to import plywood to the US? We can't find a way to make this stuff at reasonable quality/price ourselves and then sell it a reasonable profit? This is ridiculous!Someone up this thread mentioned "appleply" or marine plywood. Can anyone recommend a source of "appleply". I understand that the "apple" is supposed to indicate "apple pie" as in "made in USA".
Sawdust -When I began building the drawers for my kitchen cabinets I opted for 'Baltic Birch' plywood. Smelled a rat when I saw Chinese characters stamped on the sheets. Ripping the sheets for the drawer sides, etc. I find voids which I thought were supposed to be non-existant in this material. OK, so it's head and shoulders above ordinary plywood, it still ain't what I've seen in published examples of projects that use it. Where and how can a body find the good stuff?Yes, it warped as well. Even the 3" wide x 21" long sides showed visible curvature. ...........
From Beautiful Skagit Co. Wa.
Dennis
This is, sort of, a new one on me (Chinese ply) but, this summer I needed some 3/4" dowels.... Now it so happened that in the finished product the dowel would need to be 2' long. HD had 3' dowels, and 4' dowels for less money. Now there was a no brainer... Turns out the 4' 3/4" inch dowels weren't, so to speak. They fell through the 3/4" holes like they'd been on a diet.
Dennis,
You need to find a wholesale plywood supplier that sells to manufacturers and pro cabinet makers. Any good size metropolitan area should have at least one, check the yellow pages. If you have no luck finding a supplier, I'm sure somebody here can give you some leads for where you live.
Policy varies from company to company, but most of them don't require that you be in business or order very large quantities. If the wholesalers won't deal with you directly, try to find a local cabinetmaker who will help you out by adding your order to his.
Your local lumber yard can probably order better grades of plywood also, but they are only going to get the stuff from the same wholesalers and give it a big mark up in price.
John W.
Dennnis, I'm on the other coastline. Here's a link to the supplier I use, they may have a supplier near you, who knows. Worth a check.Otherwise like John White stated, look around for a wholesale supplier or go to a large commercial shop and ask them where they get the plywood from....Good luck,Bill
http://www.hardwoodgroup.com/products.htm
Bill - and John;Up here in the boondocks the local wood stores are mostly geared to home building contractors. I was actually surprised to find that the place where I deal even knew what BB plywood was. I think I'll end up going to Bellingham a few more miles north to a genuine hardwood dealer. There I know I can probably order what I'm looking for or .... as you both suggest, there's a custom cabinet shop in Mt Vernon where I might be able to piggyback an order on one of there's.Thanks for the info. My question was actually more rhetorical than anything ... something of a whine. But I appreciate your taking the time to reply............
From Beautiful Skagit Co. Wa.
Dennis
"Plywood from China?" Actually, it does make some sense. (Sadly.)
When the domestic supply of plywood started being bought up by the US Government and shipped to a special place known for not having an abundance of WMDs, there was a Big Gap in Supply and Demand. (Demand is ver-r-r-r-y STRONG in the SouthWest -- the new housing supply just can not keep up with the demand.) Remember when prices for ply and OSB went through the roof a short time back? (The materials were being diverted to Iraq!)
Well, the distribution chain found a way to put product on the shelfs so the retail stores could sell to "Us Demanders". Ergo... stock up on cheap stuff from China and don't even worry about anyone noticing the quality drop --- heck: consumers will be so grateful to get the stuff, they won't care!
(AND Iraq can get rebuilt with the good stuff :-) )-- Steve
Enjoy life & do well by it;
http://www.ApacheTrail.com/ww/
It isn't a common problem, but I've had 5x5 Baltic birch sheets warp on occasion also. With all of the political changes in eastern Europe, a lot of new manufacturers have built plants there and the quality control at some of them doesn't seem to be as tight as in the past.
It pays to take any plywood and stand it on edge, with both faces exposed to the air, for 48 hours before using it, just to be sure it isn't going to twist badly once it is exposed to the air and gains or loses moisture.
I don't know if it is currently available, but a few years ago I could buy top quality, real Baltic birch in 4' by 8' sheets. It seemed much more practical to deal with. You might ask your supplier if he can find it in that size.
John W.
Thanks John for your input, yes I will check out if real baltic comes in 4x8 sheets from my supplier, for those taller case peices.
Bill
I'm with you on this one, Bill :-)
The 60"x60" pieces of Russian-made Baltic Birch do take a lot of getting used to, but in comparison with the utter crap available through Home Despot and Lowes and even some Real Lumber yards in the area, it's well worth the "effort" to adapt!
I had nightmares and conniption fits all at the same time while building a cabinet carcass out of pieces of 3/4" five-ply Borg "stuff".
The BB I've been getting from my local source has nine (yep, 9) plies in a 1/2"-thick sheet. The Russian BB has (so far) been wonderfully stable -- and it even survives dovetailing without splintering all to ... smithereens.-- Steve
Enjoy life & do well by it;
http://www.ApacheTrail.com/ww/
Steve, yeh....it's alot less splintery also. I got tons of splinters from that chinese stuff. The baltic left overs are also great for auxilary fences and jigs.Great to hear you had success dovetailing with the baltic.take care
Bill
Unfortunately Mike you've come across that tongue in cheek truism which goes, "Flat and plywood are two words that don't belong in the same sentence."
As others have said it would be unlikely any attempts at flattening the stuff would succeed. Still, if the stuff is not too bad it can still be used for fairly decent to very decent work. Suitable joinery will help in making cabinets and boxes passably square, and large flat panels can be made of stuff which is less than perfect if it's held down firmly to strong enough understructures. Slainte.
Mike,
Did you, by any chance, buy your plywood at a large store known for the color orange? The reason I ask is because I had the same problem; it wasn't until I started examining the wood closely that I spied a stamp tha read, "Made in China."
-Jazzdogg-
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.
Yup - all orange, Jazzdog,
now I'm going to go look for the 'made in china' stamp!
Acutally, what I was after when I went was "paint grade 1/2" Ply". I'd had good success with that for paintable projects in the past. Does anyone know if that's the official name of birch or maple ply that has surface voids filled and sanded?
Appreciate everyones take on this - it seems to be a nasty little problem that we'll all have difficulty working around...
mike, in olympia, washington.
You can't flatten multiply, but you can flatten divide and it takes a fraction of the effort!
Oh, man, that took me a minute! guess I need to fortify my humor genes with some therapy!
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled