poplar vs. plywood

[pnolan48]

I forgot one thing about poplar. It can contain more minerals than other woods. Red oak can be the same way. I re-learned this today as I was stripping 16 Windsor-style "birch" chairs bought unfinished 27 years ago from Yugoslavia (now from Slovenia). They are made from birch, beech and, on some planks, poplar. Nice chairs, which I finished when bought. You can tell the poplar planks (only a few) because they turn black and other colors when exposed to stripper. It does sand out pretty easily.

I haven't bought "furniture grade" plywood for many years, since I stopped cabinet-making as a sideline more than 20 years ago. Even then, the plywood came from the Asian Rim, though not China. The 9-ply stuff was good. I guess things have changed since then. True Baltic birch plywood is probably overkill for benchwork.

[sparky]

True Baltic birch plywood is probably overkill for benchwork.

I don't understand your logic there, Pete.  3/4" Baltic Birch plywood runs about $2.25-$2.50 a square foot in small quantites, I actually pay much less than that.  Try finding select Poplar for less than $3.00 a board foot at the low end...  Not to mention the superior stability of the plywood.

[rschaffter]

Tom,

I have an 8' piece of Poplar 1x3 that I have used as a circular saw guide for the past dozen years, and it has stayed very straight, so if you have old poplar, use it.

However, having said that, I ripped my layout wood from plywood by having the sheets ripped at the yard into three 16" pieces, which not only fit in the car much better than a full sheet, are also quite easy to rip on the table saw with a helper to grab the piece as it comes off of the saw.

[GRSJr]

Six years ago, I bought some pieces of 1x2 poplar.  These have been out in my garage (temp. fluctuations ) for 5 years now, and they are still very straight.  Since it's difficult for me rip sheets of plywood (thanks to my sub-par table saw), is constructing a framework out of poplar sufficient?  How close should the bracing be, assuming that I go no more than 2 feet deep?  I'm thinking that I'll glue 2 layers of 1" foam on top of this.

The Big Box stores like Home Depot, etc. have a plywood cutting saw for customer use. Simply cut a 4 x 8 sheet into pieces that will work on your saw. It also makes it easy to transport.

Now you can use poplar for framing, and plywood where desired.

[pnolan48]

True Baltic birch plywood is probably overkill for benchwork.

I don't understand your logic there, Pete.  3/4" Baltic Birch plywood runs about $2.25-$2.50 a square foot in small quantites, I actually pay much less than that.  Try finding select Poplar for less than $3.00 a board foot at the low end...  Not to mention the superior stability of the plywood.

I think you misunderstood me, Sparky. I didn't contemplate comparing Baltic birch plywood with poplar--I'll take Baltic birch at $2.50 a square foot every time! I'll take good 7-ply plywood over poplar every time. Except I haven't seen Baltic plywood here in Albuquerque for at least 15 years, not that I been looking hard, since I've been out of the cabinet-making sideline for 15 years. Don't know what it would cost today as a special order through a hardwood dealer, but it was close to $3.00 a square foot 15 years ago. I've bought hardwoods in bulk, where I've gotten a 50% discount on orders as small as 100 board-feet. I've never ordered enough Baltic plywood to test the discounts and, besides, all my favorite dealers have gone out of business--a sign of the times, I guess.

[sd80mac]

I am reconsidering poplar for modular benchwork construction after using ripped 3/4" 'fake' Birch plywood from Home Depot. I have nothing against it, just don't have the means to rip it up, and do not trust Home Depot or Lowes to do it as precisely as I would need it done.

Regarding 'real' Baltic Birch ply, some in this thread were not sure about where to find Baltic Birch plywood, or how much it was. I found a Rockler Woodworking store a few years ago and saw that they carried BB plywood. A 12" x 60" piece of 3/4" ply is $19.00, which works out to about $3.80 per sq. ft.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=846

Donnell

[pnolan48]

That's $122 per 4 x 8 sheet--expensive! But it's been a long time since I bought full sheets of 11-ply plywood. "Baltic" birch sold at the big boxes is, at most 7 ply, with a thick center core, thin intermediate plies, and very thin (almost paper thing) face plies. It's not made in Europe. And it will warp.

[John]

wow .. these threads keep coming back from the lost and found

[Sokramiketes]

That's $122 per 4 x 8 sheet--expensive! But it's been a long time since I bought full sheets of 11-ply plywood. "Baltic" birch sold at the big boxes is, at most 7 ply, with a thick center core, thin intermediate plies, and very thin (almost paper thing) face plies. It's not made in Europe. And it will warp.

I've never seen Baltic Birch at a big box, just their Birch plywood.  Baltic Birch is the good stuff, and while expensive, usually isn't available in 4x8 sheets, I've always gotten it in 5x5 sheets.  We use Baltic Birch on the modules, 3/4" for the ends, 1/4" for the top, and 1/8" for the side rails. 



Oh, and we use poplar for the legs since it stays straight. 

[pnolan48]

In the early 1970s, I could get 11-ply sheets with A-A black walnut facing in 4 x 8, 4 x 10, and 5 x 9 sizes from an old dealer/saw mill in Massachusetts, somewhere along north 495, down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. I believe he had had them in his barn for many years. So perhaps it was not true baltic birch.

[ArtinCA]

Ed- sorry to rain on your parade, but that "cabinet grade" plywood Home Depot is selling is from China, and it's absolute crap.

Huh, the HD that I shop at carries cabinet ply made in Ecuador. At least on the West Coast we get it. You guys back east must be special and get the China stuff. There's also a current special for 23/32nd's cabinet ply that's $25 a sheet. Not sure if you can get it there, but ask. It's also from Ecuador, and it's really good stuff. I've used all of it for furniture projects and some modeling stuff.