HD & lowes plywood

[sgimbel]

What are the pros and cons of getting sheet plywood from Home Depot and Lowes, cutting it down to size, and scrolling on it. They have some beautiful luan, grain, and oak etc and it's so much cheaper that mail order. Opinions....

[Peter Wright]

Shopping there is not a problem, finding someone to wait on you, or check you out is..........

Your "specialty" or exotic lumbers are where a local lumber yard or mail order supplier comes into their own. Just watch the S&H costs

[USMC1126]

I use the ply from those stores every now and then. It is kind of hit or miss, sometimes you get nice wood with very few voids, other times you get junk. I have had better luck with the smaller pieces (2x2,2x4) than the full sheets for whatever reason though.


King

[JimSawyer]

I'd steer clear of the luan. It tends to easily tear-out, even on the top where you're cutting. I got some a million years ago, and the only thing I use it for is for making jigs and such. I was very unhappy with it as a scrolling wood.

[Bill Wilson]

Besides voids and extremely thin veneers across all thicknesses, the 1/4" thick plywoods (luan and oak, etc) will often have a solid core between the veneer layers instead of more layers of alternating grain like baltic birch. What often happens is that on delicate outside corners and points, the core will often break out and leave an ugly void. This kind of ply is more suitable for backing material rather than the scrolled part, itself, IMHO.

If you find mail order too inconvenient and expensive, I would suggest you try and locate a full service lumber and plywood supplier in your area. If you do, you will never buy scrolling lumber at Lowe's and HD again.

[wood-n-things]

I agree with Bill...

[bubbantenn]

I have been using a 1/4 inch plywood panel from Lowes intended as a "utility" panel. It is 3-ply (not a core center), is very nice on one side, and cuts very well with very little rough edges. I use a platinum no. 5 blade from Seyco and have been stack cutting most of my projects and this plywood has been working very well. When cutting single panels this plywood cuts like a dream with no. 2 or 3 blades.
Here ia a sample of the holding power of this panel...this is a recent project I stack cut with very close tolerances in some places. I never had a breakage.

Bubba

[sgimbel]

Bubba, I love the grain it gives you. Very nice cuttings.

[ubgoofy2003]

I agree with you, BIll. Lowes or HD either one has poor quality ply. Like the center core of their ply is mostly solid & not wood. If you do buy from them, make sure you look the core over very well. They don't have much in the way of craft woods, I don't think. Just my oppinion though. Good Luck. -- Perk

[m_r_dxn]

I cut wood bought from there on a regular basis. It's the most "handy" source for me where I live and I gotta say, I don't have many complaints. As long as you take a few minutes to look over what your buying. I buy 1/4 inch oak from there a lot. I can usually find excellent pieces with one dark side, one light side, with very few knots on either side. I've had very little problems out of the cores having voids. My lowes stocks several odd sizes, and I get it in smaller sheets. They are 3 ply (two thin with one thicker piece in middle)