Tales of the repair guy

 

1. One job yesterday was to repair a leg on the back of a sofa that had collapsed.  I'd say "medium quality" market.   Open it up and find the frame and the support block made of that terrible Chinese plywood that must be held together with duck spit.  You know, the kind that is 7-12 layers, depending on where you look?  Overlaps, voids, plies that look like fine straw?  I could literally pull that corner support apart with my fingers and the side frame was not much better.  Not to mention those structural staples trying to hold it together.   Replaced it with some solid hardwood.   Lady watching me was impressed and thought it would be better than new.   Yep. 

 

 

 

2. I made a couple of free-standing linen cabinets last year.   The lumber store led me to their premium ply, what they call "Dragon Ply."   This is a large commercial distributor.   Told me they have an inspector in the plant, assure high quality, they import a bunch of it and "the Amish love it."   So I decided to give it a go.  Every time I touched a fresh cut edge, I got these microscopic splinters from the thin face veneer.   So fine I could fell them, but not see them, which made removal a problem.    Had to back order the 1/4" stuff for the back.   When I got it to the shop it looked like a Dorito to the point It was hard to even cut it and keep it against the fence.   Never again.

 

 

3.  I used to have a retail customer that would fly to Mexico, pick up "marble" (limestone) circular table tops and rent a truck to haul them back.  He'd have me cut plywood in his warehouse to attach underneath so we could screw on the bases.    Most were more than 4' diameter so it would involve a couple of pieces.   He was telling what a great deal he got for this plywood at Home Depot.    Didn't think much about, but I was not really impressed.   He grabbed the cutoffs there and took them out to the covered loading dock in preparation for hauling to the dumpster.   Just a light mist but he wanted to wait and make trips when it stopped.   I needed to cut a second piece for the table I was working on and I remembered one of the cutoffs would probably work so I walked over by the loading dock.   The piece was there, not really wet, but delaminated complete in the high humidity.   Like I said, "duck spit" adhesive.

Side story:

A few months later, he lost his store lease and decided to close the store, have a clearance sale and he and his wife would take some time off.   Couple of years later, they bought the lease for a store that was another customer and restarted the business.   About six months later, he was busted for hydroponically growing marijuana in his warehouse and working with a ring to sell it at a local high school.   Wife kept the business running while he was in the slammer, got out in a few years, and shortly thereafter, gave up the second store.  So maybe he was not just bringing tables back from Mexico.    His grow operation was in a warehouse that I never worked in.

 

Edited November 19, 20178 yr by Ron Dudelston
Added tags

The millworks where I buy most of my lumber also has plywood. It used to be great quality. Now it's just what you described. Seems to be almost impossible to get quality ply anywhere locally.

chinese ply...

that's deplorable ''stuff''.. ain't it...

I'm working with the stuff right now, it's horrible. Building truck boxes for my day job, we got some new crew trucks in and they gave me a bunch of Home Depot ply to build them with, it's called "Sanded Pine" but the stuff splits if you look at it. Can't even get a screw in the end plys or the whole side splits out. Pics in another topic very soon, the boxes came out nice, but the ply was horrible to work with.

BB, guys.  Or apple ply. 

8 minutes ago, Gene Howe said:

BB, guys.  Or apple ply. 

yup....

but watch out for chinese counterfeit...

Most of the stuff I've used stinks badly when sawn. the only use I've ever found for it was to build a mock on a very large TV cabinet I built' This was a corner cabinet and I wanted to get the sizing and angles correct when using the real stuff. That was the only time I had ever done a mock up, and it became firewood the following turkey season on my spring hunt. But it seems lost of the box store stuff now is Chinese...except maybe the construction grade ply....so I now get all of mine at Frank Miller, they sell Columbia Forest Products stuff and "real" BB. A couple of years ago there was an article in FWW about this new material: phelonic ply. The article went on to sing the praises of it and how it simplified making RT tops etc., etc. Listed White Cap as the best supplier. So on a trip to Cincinnati on day I stopped by and got a piece. Here's what I found when i cut it open:

Edited April 28, 20178 yr by Fred W. Hargis Jr

look to NorForm too...

and careful when selecting BB that you don't get Birch ply...

1 hour ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

The article went on to sing the praises of it and how it simplified making RT tops etc., etc.

 

follow the money...

Here in AZ, we have 4  distributors of domestic ply. From cabinet grade to CDX. And, Lowes sells State Industries Appleply. So, make that 5 dealers, though AFAIK, the Appleply is the only domestic in Lowes. 

Of the other 4, Hood Distributing carries the widest selection of cabinet grade stuff. Unfortunately, their centers are mostly only in the southern states. 

So, I can get decent plywood, but except for Lowes, it's all 100+ miles away.

 

 

Dang, I wish my Lowes would sell Appleply. I called States Industries a few years back and couldn't find a close retailer. I think HD sells it mail order, but they cut it up for shipping.

Edited April 28, 20178 yr by Fred W. Hargis Jr

4 hours ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

Dang, I wish my Lowes would sell Appleply. I called States Industries a few years back and couldn't find a close retailer. I think HD sells it mail order, but they cut it up for shipping.

Does your HD do free ship-to-store?   I've gotten several obscure items (chemicals) from there.   One was less than $5 and they UPS'd it to the store, had the box, and all the handling with no additional charge.

 

I got Columbia at one of the big boxes recently, but can't recall if it was HD or Lowe's.    There's also a place called DSI in town but I've never tried to shop there (strictly industrial stuff.)   BB and domestic ply from Frank Miller when I have a load coming this way.  But they do carry some imports, too, so have to read carefully.

 

RE: phelonic ply

the only thing missing there are large areas of voids and layers that crumble apart.   I'd say "Don't bother with alignment -- the press will even it all out."  Just slap those plies on there, Chi Ping.

The HD store I go to carries Columbia Forest Products plywood, made in USA, in maple, birch and red oak. Sizes are nominally 3/4, 1/2 and 1/4 inch. They also carry Sandiply, which I avoid. I get baltic birch from Capital City Lumber in Raleigh. They also sell marine grade BB that comes in 4x8 sheets vs. 5x5 sheets. I can't get 5x5 BB in my van but I can get 4x8 sheets in it. Have to have the BB cut to get it home or get a truck. 

13 hours ago, scarletjim said:

They also carry Sandiply, which I avoid. I get baltic birch from Capital City Lumber in Raleigh. They also sell marine grade BB that comes in 4x8 sheets vs. 5x5 sheets. . 

 Good call on the Sandiply, that is some real crap.

1 hour ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

 Good call on the Sandiply, that is some real crap.

 

then some..

In the not too distant past, (the last 5 years or so, and more recently) I have purchased a ply from Menards in the upper midwest that goes by the brand name Arruco (spelling?)  It seemed to be relatively void free and straight, though you may need to pick through the stack a bit, and most of the offerings had one decent face if not both. Those football shaped plugs were not present in rediculous quantity either as long as one wasnt working with the last sheets of a picked over unit of material.

 

Pricing was on par with what is seen for panels in it's grade range. 25.00 or so for 1/4" to +/- 45.00 for 3/4" in our area.   

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In an interview with CFIF, Kasie Brill, Senior Director of Brand Protection at the Global Intellectual Property Center of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, discusses the U.S. Customs and Border Protection campaign, "The Truth Behind Counterfeits," and the negative impacts of purchasing counterfeit goods.

 

Listen to the interview now.

Chinese plywood isn't bad if you get the right Chinese plywood.  The stuff you get from the big box is junk...

Agree on both counts, Billy. I received some delicate instruments from China and, the plywood shipping container, inside a card board box (??) Was top quality stuff.

But, I've not seen that quality for sale...at least in large sheets.

 

 

 

On ‎4‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 6:28 AM, Gene Howe said:

Here in AZ, we have 4  distributors of domestic ply. So, I can get decent plywood, but except for Lowes, it's all 100+ miles away.

 

 

You might check out Timber WW in Mesa.  They appear to have some good stuff.  Their BB is much better than ... others nearby.

www.timberww.com/