Thread: Ply Wood Type

Although I prefer to use genuine timber such as Pine, Queensland Kauri, Victorian Oak, and similar light-coloured timbers, I occasionally use plywoods too, and have found that the Interior Grade 6mm. Radiata Pine is the most economical, price wise, but there are several other better quality plywoods that can also be used, such as Australian Poplar, which is a very fine grained ply.
Do recommend that 6mm. is the thinnest to use, ( even though there's 4mm. plys around ), as with the thinner plys its much too easy to burn through the top ply and into the adhesive used to glue the veneer laminates together,- and that adhesive STINKS,- Don't know what the manufacturers use,- but it really, " PONGS, " on the nose !!!! Believe me,- you ONLY make that mistake once.
" Bin there,- Done that !! " - Couldn't get back into my shed till the fumes had disappeared !!!
Suggest you ask your local Timber, and Panel Product Supplier for their recommendations,- then IF they stuff up,- it's their problem, ( " Hey mate;- remember that plywood you recommended to me,- well it's,....................................!!!!! )

'ave a good day,
Roger

Thanks Roger

I have noted that you are using pine. I would take it to be radiata. Most of what I have read seem to think it's not a good timber to use. Can you guide me further on that

I am fairly new to to pyrography but I have used pine a couple of times and it seemed to be OK.

Unfortunately we only have the normal old hardware shops here and it limits me to what sort of ply I can get

Thanks for you advise

John

Hi
I use the better grade of ply. Hubby says that the ply has grade ie A/A, A/B etc. A/A means 1st grade both sides. The last ply I bought was marine ply and it works well for pyro but you must sand to at least 400 grit to get an even finish. I found that the thinner plys were okay to use but tend to warp a bit over time, and also find that the darker grain on pine acts like speed humps.
Have you tried burning on paper? Local $2 shop sells small pads of artist watercolour paper (about 180gsm) and it is great to burn.
Regards
Kaye

Thanks KCH

I read somewhere about burning paper. It sounds interesting but being a woodworker through and through it might take a bit to alter me.

Thanks for the tip on furniture grade ply. I had given a bit of thought to marine ply but also thought it might be treated in someway and so giving burning problems. Maybe someone can throw some light on that.

John

Marine ply has no voids in it such as knotty bits or splits, checks etc whereas most of the others do, except for the outer layers on A grade.

I have used Hoop Pine ply, Kauri ply and European Beech ply. All of these timbers are relatively light in colour and have a fairly even, tight grain. The European Beech has the most open grain in this list. Any tendency toward open grain will result in little crevices over the surface of the work where it is hard for the pyrography tool to leave a mark or tone.

Sand the work surface as fine as you can right up to a definite sheen on the surface and this will minimise the effects of any open grain, on open-grain timbers or woolliness on tighter-grained surfaces. Always polish the pen tip to a bright smooth finish as this too will show up in the quality of the lines and tones it will yield with the chosen timber.

Someone mentioned Poplar, I've never used this (haven't found any) but I reckon it would be an excellent choice. Radiata Pine or any pine-like timber with an alternating hard-soft grain pattern would make it difficult to produce an even line or tone.

If your working technique uses a temperature that would burn right through a ply layer (some useful and effective techniques might do this) you would be better off using solid timber. Even some quite thick plys might have a very thin face veneer and some three millimetre plys a full millimetre. The six millimetre stuff would stay straighter if the panel was large though.

These plywoods are available at Mr Ply and Wood. Otherwise just look for the best characteristics, get the better quality stuff and prepare it fastidiously.

www.whimsicalwood.com
Whimsical Wood

Thanks David

Your comments are very helpful. As I said earlier I'm a bit limited as to the ply wood suppliers because of distance and I like to see what I am buying. As a result I'm not prepared to to buy by electronic what ever.

I will take your advise and keep an eye open for tight grained light coloured material.

John