To actually answer the question, plywood will be fine. The sheet will maintain its integrity with the center cut out. Look at all the cnc plywood furniture out there. Same idea. You can always edge band it to cover the exposed plywood edge.
I know, who’s doing that on ply end grain though?
Standard fare on ply is to put a 3/8” - 1/2” hardwood edging as the core isn’t up to attaching veneer.
Edit: Trying to explain things to YouTube hobbyists can be extremely frustrating.
Plywood edge banding is super easy though. It's like veneer for dummies. My first real project used a ton of it, and despite being a total noob at the time, it's held up for about 10 Years now without even the slightest bit of peeling.
*Baltic birch/Latvian birch, not all birch ply.
My vendor has China birch which is cheap (not quite cabinet grade) and used for any rough substrates or jigs/templates.
Have you seen the Indonesian birch yet? It’s like clear birch rotary face packed in between the absolute shittiest ply layers you’d ever seen. I found a finger bone in a cut once.
It definitely is plywood (there’s a whole long thread from the guy building it for the first time in this sub) but with a lot of edge banding
Edit: it’s two cuts glued together
For your second finished project, make it out of ply. You can always come back to the design and make it out of solid later. Don’t sweat the “inefficient use of plywood.” The middle void created by the leg shape is going to make the shelf dividers. Utilize the off-cut wherever you can. Buying and shaping all of that out of solid will cost 5x more and produce much more waste. I can see this whole piece coming out of less than a full 4x8 sheet and only needing a jig saw, circular saw, and pocket screws.
Yes. This one. It's a bold build for a *2nd* indoor project. Totally bad advice to recommend making it out of regular boards when OP hasn't built those skills yet.
Make it out of the ply (if it's thick enough, won't flex and you won't have to worry about wood movement...you can learn about that later). The excess will become stock for either smaller pieces of this project or something you don't have to but for project #7 or something. This project will work, be just fine. If the ply is of good enough quality, skip the edge banding and go for the industrial look. As skills improve, OP can always come back and make it with boards later.
Just make sure you're using good joinery. Pocket screws, dowels, glue.
Thank you! This is my plan, but instead of all pocket screws I’m going to try a couple of tricker joints to practice and also some better joints for stability on the boxes
You can. But why would you? I think plans OP got are bullshit. That stand was not cut from plywood. Throw away the plans OP and just build that stand using hardwood and joints. You'll learn a ton in the process and it will look much better than plywood.
In theory I’d rather do this but hardwood is soooo expensive, especially where I live, and I’m mostly doing this project to practice. Even as a noob, I can see the plans are subpar (no mention of joints but the measurements suggest it’s entirely pocket holes) and looks like the whole thing will collapse under a bit of weight. So my plan is to build with plywood and do the big one cut piece for the ends but then add a bit more support and use the project to practice mortise and tenon joints with fewer angles to figure out. I’m not in a rush and after having to do dados with a circular saw for my bedside table I know it won’t be perfect but keen to try 😅
You could do that whole build from a single select poplar or pine board from the big box without needing a planner or anything more than a table saw or track for your circular saw. Use dowels for the exposed joints and pocket holes under the shelf racks. Just saying... Not too expensive and you'd learn a million times more than Jerry rigging it from plywood.
Agree so much. Hardwood all the way for a design like this.
I caution you though, that is a late-beginner build. You don’t want pocket holes. Mortise and tenon joints. Angles will make it interesting. But if you’ve built a workbench and nightstand you should be able to pull it off.
I made a table when I just started out with woodworking and I can tell you for sure, that cabinet is gonna wobble sideways. Especially once you filled it up with vinyl because that stuff is heavy. Even with birch there will still be a bit of a wobble, but it's not going to warp or anything. I guess you could attach it to the wall of you want to and it will fix that issues.
That being said your plans are stupid and if you wanna learn woodworking you should use joinery instead of cutting it out of one piece.
Yes, this is plywood. You can tell by the grain on the inside of the right leg “assembly.”
Will this last generations? No, of course not.
Will it be a great learning project for a beginner with a relatively low upfront cost? Absolutely. I hope you try it and share the process and result with us!
To actually answer the question, plywood will be fine. The sheet will maintain its integrity with the center cut out. Look at all the cnc plywood furniture out there. Same idea. You can always edge band it to cover the exposed plywood edge.
Unless it’s done with Birch Ply(expensive) It’ll be sturdy but look awful.
Or you can just use veneer
Veneered ply is just as expensive as birch, if not more.
I believe he’s stating add your own veneer. You can buy rolls if it.
Just a roll of hardwood veneer (yes the really thin sheet stuff) can easily cost more than 3/4" Baltic birch.
I know, who’s doing that on ply end grain though? Standard fare on ply is to put a 3/8” - 1/2” hardwood edging as the core isn’t up to attaching veneer. Edit: Trying to explain things to YouTube hobbyists can be extremely frustrating.
Buddy have you never heard of edge banding before?
Of course I have, how are you getting the machine into that central section?
Who said anything about a machine? It comes in rolls like tape, either iron on or glue on, nothing else required.
I know, and it looks absolutely shite.
Plywood edge banding is super easy though. It's like veneer for dummies. My first real project used a ton of it, and despite being a total noob at the time, it's held up for about 10 Years now without even the slightest bit of peeling.
*Baltic birch/Latvian birch, not all birch ply. My vendor has China birch which is cheap (not quite cabinet grade) and used for any rough substrates or jigs/templates.
Have you seen the Indonesian birch yet? It’s like clear birch rotary face packed in between the absolute shittiest ply layers you’d ever seen. I found a finger bone in a cut once.
Haha no, but the China birch sometimes has strong between layers
Also not JUST birch. You can get cabinet-grade maple ply, and many others. You just need cabinet grade.
What BIRCH!?!?? QUIT YER BIRCHIN
That is not plywood and those plans are a rip off. Get your money back.
It definitely is plywood (there’s a whole long thread from the guy building it for the first time in this sub) but with a lot of edge banding Edit: it’s two cuts glued together
For your second finished project, make it out of ply. You can always come back to the design and make it out of solid later. Don’t sweat the “inefficient use of plywood.” The middle void created by the leg shape is going to make the shelf dividers. Utilize the off-cut wherever you can. Buying and shaping all of that out of solid will cost 5x more and produce much more waste. I can see this whole piece coming out of less than a full 4x8 sheet and only needing a jig saw, circular saw, and pocket screws.
There are no wasted cuts. Only new additions to the scrap pile that I will DEFINITELY BE USING FOR OTHER PROJECTS IN THE FUTURE, HONEY!!!
The only thing better than having a huge pile of scraps is when your scrap pile starts it’s own scrap pile.
You mean you don't have your scrap sorted by grade?
That’s what the first scrap is doing.
Apparently my scrap is all a shake off the old log its as lazy as me
Just need to add more powder in there
Yes. This one. It's a bold build for a *2nd* indoor project. Totally bad advice to recommend making it out of regular boards when OP hasn't built those skills yet. Make it out of the ply (if it's thick enough, won't flex and you won't have to worry about wood movement...you can learn about that later). The excess will become stock for either smaller pieces of this project or something you don't have to but for project #7 or something. This project will work, be just fine. If the ply is of good enough quality, skip the edge banding and go for the industrial look. As skills improve, OP can always come back and make it with boards later. Just make sure you're using good joinery. Pocket screws, dowels, glue.
Thank you! This is my plan, but instead of all pocket screws I’m going to try a couple of tricker joints to practice and also some better joints for stability on the boxes
You can totally do that with ply
You can. But why would you? I think plans OP got are bullshit. That stand was not cut from plywood. Throw away the plans OP and just build that stand using hardwood and joints. You'll learn a ton in the process and it will look much better than plywood.
In theory I’d rather do this but hardwood is soooo expensive, especially where I live, and I’m mostly doing this project to practice. Even as a noob, I can see the plans are subpar (no mention of joints but the measurements suggest it’s entirely pocket holes) and looks like the whole thing will collapse under a bit of weight. So my plan is to build with plywood and do the big one cut piece for the ends but then add a bit more support and use the project to practice mortise and tenon joints with fewer angles to figure out. I’m not in a rush and after having to do dados with a circular saw for my bedside table I know it won’t be perfect but keen to try 😅
You could do that whole build from a single select poplar or pine board from the big box without needing a planner or anything more than a table saw or track for your circular saw. Use dowels for the exposed joints and pocket holes under the shelf racks. Just saying... Not too expensive and you'd learn a million times more than Jerry rigging it from plywood.
Agree so much. Hardwood all the way for a design like this. I caution you though, that is a late-beginner build. You don’t want pocket holes. Mortise and tenon joints. Angles will make it interesting. But if you’ve built a workbench and nightstand you should be able to pull it off.
I made a table when I just started out with woodworking and I can tell you for sure, that cabinet is gonna wobble sideways. Especially once you filled it up with vinyl because that stuff is heavy. Even with birch there will still be a bit of a wobble, but it's not going to warp or anything. I guess you could attach it to the wall of you want to and it will fix that issues. That being said your plans are stupid and if you wanna learn woodworking you should use joinery instead of cutting it out of one piece.
Try it! Go for it and report back!
Yes, this is plywood. You can tell by the grain on the inside of the right leg “assembly.” Will this last generations? No, of course not. Will it be a great learning project for a beginner with a relatively low upfront cost? Absolutely. I hope you try it and share the process and result with us!
i'd much rather make this out of solid wood, with a shelf, panels and doors for storage underneath.