The home-improvement and design shows make it look easy:Take a simple sheet of inexpensive plywood and presto! In a few minutes, you'vegot a table, a cabinet or a lounge chair.
It's not that fast or dirt-cheap, but it can be that easy,according to woodworking experts who speak fondly of plywood's many merits.
"Plywood is the starting point for many of the things Ibuild," says artist and designer Jimmy DiResta of New York City."With some imagination and inventiveness it can become anything."
Plywood is cheaper and often stronger than solid wood, easyto find at home-improvement or lumber stores, and it looks good.
Plywood is made from thin layers — called plies, or veneers— glued together under heat and pressure, with each ply laid perpendicular tothe next. This "cross-graining" gives plywood its strength andstability, says Philip Schmidt, author of "PlyDesign" (StoreyPublishing, 2012).
Since plywood comes in more than a dozen standardthicknesses and twice as many grades, check a buying guide — Home Depot has oneonline — before purchasing it. Schmidt recommends using a cabinet-gradematerial, such as Baltic birch, for do-it-yourself projects. The plies are thinand even, and the exterior is smooth, sanded and blemish-free.
"Beluga caviar notwithstanding, Baltic birch plywoodmay be Russia's finest export," Schmidt writes in his book.
"PlyDesign" includes 73 projects for novices andexperienced builders. Do-it-yourself project magazines such as Ready Made andMake, and online sites such as Instructables offer many other ways to useplywood.
"Plywood is inherently modern, if you think of modernas starting in the 1920s," says Schmidt, of Denver. "It's stillbeautiful wood . and it's really easy to work with."
A jigsaw can cut straight lines and curves, so that's yourprimary tool, says Schmidt. After that, invest in a good-quality drill. If youwant to go deeper into plywood DIY, get a circular saw and a router, whichhelps cut out multiple pattern pieces.
"I don't own a table saw or any stationary powertools," says Schmidt, a project designer and author of 17 design books."I'm more into DIY."
DiResta recommends the jigsaw and circular saw for mostplywood projects, and suggests starting out by building a storage box or simplebench. He offers video tutorials on YouTube, sponsored by Make magazine.
Plywood has its drawbacks. Schmidt warns againstsand-papering through the thin top layer, ruining the look of your piece. Toavoid this, use a fine-grit sandpaper, and be careful.
DiResta warns against splinters. A few years ago, heinadvertently brushed a palm against a cut edge, and a matchstick-size splinterwent through his palm. He recommends wearing gloves when cutting plywood, andsanding cut edges with a sanding block.
Then there's "the edge thing," as Schmidt callsit: Do you cover the exposed plywood edge or let it be?
Design will dictate, both DiResta and Schmidt say. Somemodern-looking pieces look great with their plywood edges exposed, and the betterquality the plywood, the better it'll look. For other projects, you may want tocover that edge with veneer.
"Exposing the edge strata of the panel is reallycool," says Schmidt. "It's a nice design element that you can workwith."
For some, a project is too delicate or the plywood toohigh-end to entrust the cutting to one's own hand. If that happens, find alocal furniture-design business to cut the piece for you. They usecomputer-controlled routers that make precise cuts.
Denver furniture maker Scott Bennett works withbirch-and-alder plywood to make storage and shelving pieces for his company,Housefish. Occasionally, he's asked to cut a one-off piece for a designer orDIY enthusiast.
The cost is less than most people expect, he says, averagingabout $100 per hour of work.
"Considering how many hours you might spend trying tocut a complicated shape with hand tools . spending a couple hundred dollars tohave a computer cut out your parts can be a good way to get into DIYprojects," Bennett says.
He recommends investigating the online sitePonoko, which provides laser-cutting services, but says most cities will have afew businesses that can handle an outside precision-cutting job.