Cherry plywood problem

All of the cabinet grade plywood I have purchased, from Hood Distributing, a major fine plywood distributor, has had a good side and a not-so-good side. My guess is that the cost is significantly more if you can find two A sides.

-- "Man is the only animal which devours his own, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor." ~Thomas Jefferson

Nerd, you can’t veneer only one side of a sheet of ply and if you decide to veneer both sides, the veneer needs to run 90 degrees to the face ply. I think trying to stain the sapwood will be challenging at best but maybe others will have better input in this regard. I recently bought some maple ply. It was listed as A-1, the face is beautiful and the reverse side is very good. I think that is what you have. My suggestion is that you learn to love the sapwood on the inside of the doors. FWIW

-- Art

Art,

So even though the face side is already veneered with cherry veneer, I can’t cover up the reverse side? I’m guessing it has something to do with balancing the layers of veneer on each side?

I like cherry sapwood, so I’m not the best judge of this situation. But if you let the inside of those panels see some light, the color difference will dissipate a fair amount.

-- "Man is the only animal which devours his own, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor." ~Thomas Jefferson

Hi Charles,

Yeah, I have a Hood Distribution local to me, and is the previously mentioned “other supplier” I was thinking of contacting next. I like cherry sapwood too, my main problem with the reverse side is that the seams of the veneer are very obvious. Had they done a bookmatch pattern, it might’ve looked a little less harsh.

The sunlight idea is one I didn’t consider… Maybe, After rough cutting the panels I could leave them inside the house near a window for a couple days?

I haven’t purchased any cherry plywood from Hood, so I can’t testify to that in particular, but I got some Mahogany, and there was definitely an A side and a B side, but they were not dramatically different. In Louisville you have a $100 minimum order from Hood. I don’t use much find hardwood plywood, so I usually have to buy a bit more than I want to make that amount. The quality has been good, however.

I use plain Arm-R-Seal on Cherry and let it age. In a month or two it has darkened appreciably, and within a year it is much darker, and the lighter and darker heartwood is usually indistinguishable. The sapwood is usually far less noticeable.

-- "Man is the only animal which devours his own, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor." ~Thomas Jefferson

I doubt you would have issue with veneering only 1 side of 1/2” material, captured in a frame, unless the panels are very large.

If you are worried about veneering, they sell PSA “pressure sensitive adhesive” paper backed veneer. Think giant peel and slap sticker.

-- Doubt kills more dreams than failure.

Nerd, you can’t veneer only one side of a sheet of ply and if you decide to veneer both sides, the veneer needs to run 90 degrees to the face ply. I think trying to stain the sapwood will be challenging at best but maybe others will have better input in this regard. I recently bought some maple ply. It was listed as A-1, the face is beautiful and the reverse side is very good. I think that is what you have. My suggestion is that you learn to love the sapwood on the inside of the doors. FWIW

Edit: “So even though the face side is already veneered with cherry veneer, I can’t cover up the reverse side? I’m guessing it has something to do with balancing the layers of veneer on each side?”

Nerd, that is correct. Ply has to have an odd number of veneers and they have to be balanced in terms of water absorption, i.e. you can’t use Formica on one side and a porous wood on the other side.

-- Art

Next time order A-2. This gets you good on both sides. If you got the bucks you can order AA-2.

The letters say what grade of veneer you’re going to get and the number says it’s on one side or two.

-- Alaskan's for Global warming!

I like to shop where I can pick the sheets that are best for my project. Shops like crosscut or Mr. Plywood usually stock hardwood ply. I would just replace the bad sheet, and maybe you can use the other sheet for the back of a bookcase.

-- Willie, Washington "If You Choose Not To Decide, You Still Have Made a Choice" - Rush

That is a little worse than I would expect. I think I’d either narrow the choices to 2. Learn to live with it ( a coat of garnet shellac may tone down the differences) or get a replacement piece. I know the logistics seem insurmountable, but that would be easier than trying to veneer the existing piece (IMHO).

-- Our village hasn't lost it's idiot, he was elected to congress.

Veneering two sides is good practice for large panels that support themselves. Panels captured in a frame are secured at four point and any cupping would be contained by the groove, unless again, the panels are very large.

http://lumberjocks.com/projects/38125

This project is 5 years old, veneered one side 1/4” panels, not even a slight issue.

http://lumberjocks.com/projects/29036

Another project, veneered one side 3/4” cherry ply, no issue.

However, I would never only veneer one side of mdf. FWIW

-- Doubt kills more dreams than failure.

Thanks for the input guys. I ended up getting another sheet that looked much better at my usual supplier, so they were able to cut it down to size for me. All the cabinets in my house are cherry and I have a few projects for those rooms so the 1/2” sheet won’t be going to waste. Thanks again!

I have used cherry and oak PSA veneer on the back side only on 1/4 plywood for 9 years without any problem. I run the grain the same direction as the grain direction on the plywood. I use water base contact cement on bare ply. The PSA veneer I buy has peel and stick 3M adhesive.

I have used cherry and oak PSA veneer on the back side only on 1/4 plywood for 9 years without any problem. I run the grain the same direction as the grain direction on the plywood. I use water base contact cement on bare ply. The PSA veneer I buy has peel and stick 3M adhesive.

- grass

That works too. I use PSA veneers ever so often and never regretted it. I have even hasd PSA bloodwood veneer custom made when I did the bloodwood kitchen. Used it on the side of the tall cabinets.

-- Alaskan's for Global warming!