Why Plywood ?

(or, why not solid wood ?)

Many people ask "why do you use plywood?  Isn't solid hardwood better?"  The answer is "No.  Solid hardwood is NOT better for all situations."

First, let's get the question of cost out of the way - solid kiln dried red oak runs approximately $2.00 per square foot.  The veneer core red oak plywood we use runs $2.19 per square foot, so cost is definitely not the reason.  The costs relationship between plywood and hardwood for other species of woods are similar.

So why plywood ?  Because it is better suited to the job, producing a longer-lasting product.  The notion that "solid wood" automatically equals quality is a myth that has been perpetuated by some furniture makers, and most recently by the surge in "Amish furniture" sellers.

To understand the advantage plywood has over solid hardwood, you first need to understand something about the properties of wood:

Solid lumber is inherently an unstable material.  It expands and contracts with seasonal changes in humidity. (Remember doors that opened and closed easily in the winter, but 'stuck' in the summer months?)  If this movement were uniform, it would be something that we could work with, but unfortunately, it is not;  wood expands and contracts more across the grain than it does with the grain.  With some species of woods this difference can be by a factor as high as 17:1 !

Second is the amount of change this seasonal movement translates to.  Again, using Red Oak as the example, seasonal changes can be as much as 1 %.  While this doesn't sound like much, for a 12 inch wide board, this would equal a full 1/8 inch change in width from summer to winter.

What this all means is that, if two pieces of wood are joined together in cross-grain arrangements, one piece will change dimension dramatically, while the other will not, and over time the assembly will loosen itself simply as a result of seasonal changes in humidity.

Differential wood movement is also the reason that, at Advantage Woodworks, we will not build doors or drawers with mitered frames; they are, quite simply, destined to fail.  As the wood expands and contracts, the angle of the cut ends changes, literally pulling the joint apart over time.

Plywood, on the other hand, is constructed of multiple layers of thin veneers glued up with alternating grain direction.  This process results in an extremely stable material that does not experience the same drastic changes in dimension as solid lumber, which in turn, allows for extremely stable assemblies that will last for years.

At Advantage Woodworks, we use only veneer-core plywoods of North American manufacture for construction of our products cases.  These materials have much thicker face veneers than their Asian made counterparts, again contributing to a more durable, longer lasting end product.

So, why Plywood ?  Because we want to sell you only the best !