Hot take: I think prefinished plywood is overrated for most jobs

Met a guy at a shop in Portland who insisted on using nothing but raw birch because he said prefinished stuff causes more trouble than it's worth. He showed me a job where the factory coating chipped on every cut edge and he had to spend 2 hours fixing it. I pushed back saying it saves time, but he handed me a sanding block and said try it yourself. Ever had a similar interaction where someone changed your mind on a material?

2 comments

2 Comments

grayw3216d ago

Yeah that thing about the chipped edges is real. I read a blog post from a cabinet maker in Vermont who said prefinished plywood is basically a gamble because you never know how the coating will react to your saw blades or humidity in the shop. He had a whole breakdown of how the factory seal can peel right off if the glue isn't perfect. It made me wonder if the time saved is really worth the risk of having to redo half your edges. I still use it for quick shelving jobs but for anything where the edges are visible I'm leaning more toward raw birch now.

harris.vera16d ago

All about getting the right blade and cutting slowly, @grayw32, that cuts down on chips a ton.