Thread: Poisonous Price of Ply

I just did a quick calculation - I can mill solid softwood panels for about about 1/3 the price of pretty ordinary softwood ply. I can mill mixed hardwood panels for about 2/3 its price and can mill Tallowood, blackbut, flooded gum etc for about the same price as BC grade ply in raw materials!! What cost convenience, eh?

the solid-timber edged particle board

Our storage shelving in the shed is made of this with a crapiata frame - all painted in (non-matching) left-over paint from a friend's reno . Tho we did put it together over 5y ago and I haven't tried to purchase the timber-edged board since?

Steph

Originally Posted by RossM

Over $120 for a 2400 x 1200 x 16 sheet of pretty ordinary quality hoop pine faced ply. Don’t even TRY to buy AA grade without taking your bank manager!!!

Ross you need to look at another supplier. Same here in Melbourne is around $60 and same size in British Standard Marine ply is only $98

Thanks Lignum.

I can get T&G flooring at about $60 a sheet but this is crappy CD grade stuff - a lot of sanding & filling that I don't want to do!! As mentioned if I have to do that amount of work I might as well do it properly & joint some panels out of select hardwood!!

Yep that price is out there, last sheet I brought was 12mm CD $28... and I thought that was overpriced!

Hey Lignum -

What do you think of the Domino as a carcas joint making tool (into 16mm particle board)? When I get around to buillding these shelves, I was thinking of using it as an excuse to SWMBO to buy a new toy (But dear, if we got the wardrobe company to do it , it would have cost $4000).

As well as joining the basic boxes (rather than screw & glue), it also looks like an ideal way to build the face frames & attach them to the cabinet front - no nail holes & great alignment.

Originally Posted by RossM

Hey Lignum -

What do you think of the Domino as a carcas joint making tool (into 16mm particle board)? When I get around to buillding these shelves, I was thinking of using it as an excuse to SWMBO to buy a new toy (But dear, if we got the wardrobe company to do it , it would have cost $4000).

Im possitive your SWMBO would be delighted if you took her out for a nice candle lit dinner and handed over a beautifully wrapped box containing a Systainer with Domi inside. She will be yours forever

And its perfect for such carcase work. Put the stop on 12mm for the sides so it dosnt plunge through and 28mm on the other side for a perfect 40mm tenon. Go for it

Go to the Trading Post site.
Type in plywood you will find exactly what you want.

Agree with Lig, better ply prices around.

Chipboard has gone out of favour relative to MDF, everything on those DIY shows seems to be made from MDF so I think the average purchaser of panels for DIY looks for MDF as they feel more familiar with the product.

If you got the same vibe from the vendors it is probably a reflection of the above, or just ignorance, or both.

Agree with the POV that chipboard is a better material to work with & better mechanical properties (with the exception of routed edge treatments; & density for speaker building).

More margin in MDF - no, don't think so.

Timber edged chipboard is around, best way to track something down is to talk to the supplier (in this case, say Laminex industries or Carter Holt) & ask for the phone number of a local rep, they will usually know which of their customers stocks the timber edged stuff.


Cheers....................Sean

Scooter
See here...
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ad.php?t=49526
posted today
2400 x 1200 @ $7.50 a sheet
Be quick...
Jedo

Thanks Jedo, but I work in indoor timber at a big green box & do OK for myself

Originally Posted by Lignum

Ross you need to look at another supplier. Same here in Melbourne is around $60 and same size in British Standard Marine ply is only $98

Where from Lignum?

TIA,

Firstly it is very easy to buy ply badly.
Up here the small tradies are very agressive and numerous ,and insist on getting a deal.

in the southern capials where the larger & medium shops are more common and more the norm I would expect it can be harder to get a decent price on sheet goods.

Hoop isn't a low grade material If it was BB hoop you will be paying more than CD radiata, or BC luan.

If you want to do well you need to know What is being stocked and how it stacks up.

I used to rely like the norply CD radiata because it was way above spec and the filled on the good face with timber patches rather than bog. Witha alittle work it cam up very nicely. and similar price to the horible slash that hancocks were trying to sell.

I agree that a lot of the market is tending toward MDF..... there is a stigma attached to chipboard that partly comes from a time in the past when a lot of non moisture resistant chip was being used......that matertial is now showing up as degraded broken items and the customers see this as a problem.
My local board supplier certainly sells a lot of chip, particularly as melamine board. and he certainly points out its benifits over MDF.

For the hobbiest MDF is a far more attracrive product, it is easier to work and edge finish and has a smoother cleaner more marketable look.

MDF and modern chip both have their place.

I certainlt see there is a perception that MDF is superiour in every way to CHIP.

There may also be an agenda from the suppliers too.
There was a take-over/merger/ break up a few years ago between wesfarmers and laminex in the board market and the chipboard and MDF mills were divided up and all sorts of cross purchasing agreements were made.
subsiquently there were other shenanigans with board plants and market share.
It wouldnt surprise me that some suppliers ended up pro MDF and others pro chip because the company they were aligned with had either one plant or the other.

now
wesfarmers own bunnings.... what board plant do they own?

cheers

Try having to pay $100 for a 8' x 4' sheet of 12mm builders bracing ply and no where else to go buy it!!! and $130 for a sheet of 16mm Form Ply, and i'm just to scaerd to ask about a 18mm sheet of genuine Marine Ply at the local hardware...