Thread: Plywood con?

Originally Posted by BamBam53

Talk to the people in the store, the delivery guy may have stuffed up and is trying to cover it up.

Thanks for all the advice on this. I thought that the delivery man was the owner, but I got in touch with the store and it turned out the owner had no idea that the delivery guy had done this. The owner said he spoke with the employee and gave him a warning for delivering the lower grade product and then telling me that I've gotten a better deal than what I paid for and that arsenic is not used any more when it is (he shouldn't have made a statement about chemicals that he clearly knows little about). I read up more on treated timber and its definitely not recommended for use on kitchen cabinets or anywhere where people's hands come into contact with it regularly. The US has banned it for interior use, but in NZ/Aust its just "not recommended". The delivery guy said its fine when painted, but paint just absorbs the arsenic (CCA) so then its in the paint layer. Even for exterior use the government has stopped CCA on children's playgrounds.

Anyway, the owner offered to deliver the correct product and offered to cut all the ply to size but I'd already bought replacements elsewhere so he said he would refund instead. I was really happy that the owner took it seriously and sorted it out.

Excellent result in the end, looking forward to seeing what you do with it.
BTW whatbtown in the Manawatu are u in?

Just to add a bit more to this thread,
In Aus, real furniture grade ply (designated as AA) with 2 softwood faces no longer seems to be available from any of the majors (Brimms, Gunnersons etc), at least not here in Sydney or us mere hobbiests. Maybe for tradies you can get the better stuff at better prices but the closest I can get is marine ply which whilst having A grade surface (ie no knots or blemishes) on both sides, the wood used, mostly a hardwood surface is not always the best for furniture. If you ask for furniture grade, most suppliers such as Mr Plywood will try to sell you BB grade Hoop Pine which will have knots and is really not up to standard. Then there is the prices - a full sheet (2400 x 1200) of 12mm marine will set you back more than the national debt, and the crappy BB Hoop pine sheets are well over the $100 where I waste a lot just to get a small good grade area.

I agree about the difficulties in getting good ply in Australia. I have found Baltic birch ply, which is great for furniture. But it's expensive. Really expensive.

I recently enquired about getting veneered ply for some cabinets. In the end it was much cheaper to make solid timber cabinets, rather than a ply veneer. If you ask me, that is completely mad.

Trav

Just to say Well done.