Good quality plywood & where to buy it (in Surrey)

[macleod92]

Hi there,

I was hoping to get some advice regarding sourcing good quality plywood. I’ve been getting more in to woodworking and making furniture but have only ever made stuff with solid wood rather than a composite. Online lots of people refer to ‘Cabinet grade plywood’ or ‘B/B grade’ as being good quality for clear finishing. But I a) seem to struggle to find anywhere that sells it near me (Guildford) and b) it seems to be very expensive (£100+ for 8x4 sheet).

Am I just being naive on the price? A lot of the information I’ve got is from the USA and they talk about getting sheets for somewhere between $40-$60, therefore £100+ seems like a lot.

Also am I looking for the wrong thing? Should I be l looking for a different type of plywood?


I’m sorry if this is a very beginner question, up until recently I didn’t realise that plywood was as complicated a topic.


Thanks in advance!

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Hi,

I'm not sure if they'll have what you're looking for (or at the prices you might be hoping for), but two places worth looking at in Guildford, if you haven't already, are:

Wickes http://www.wickes.co.uk/store/8385 - decent choice of surprisingly good quality malaysian/south american ply, and;

Champion timber http://www.championtimber.com/branches/branch-guildford - could probably order in stuff for you if they haven't got it.

Cheers, W2S

 

[custard]

I'm not sure I've ever seen Birch Ply in B/B grade, if it does exist then it's certainly not a common grade. For furniture you want S/BB or B/BB, the S or the B face is the show face, and the BB face goes on the back/interior.

Plywood price have shot up as the pound has fallen, but £100 a sheet for 18mm is still a bit steep. Even if you're only buying a single sheet, you shouldn't have to pay more than about £70-80 for S/BB or B/BB (the price drops quickly with the grade, but don't be tempted, any of those rugby ball shaped ply patches on a show face will look absolutely terrible). You'll get what you're looking for at SL Hardwoods in Croydon, I usually buy from Timbmet but I'm not sure they'd deliver to Surrey for just one or two sheets, if they do then you're in luck as their quality is about as good as it gets.

 

[skipdiver]

Yes, birch ply goes up every time i order some. Reckon i am paying 40% more than i was last year and i suspect a bit of cashing in going on. It's because of brexit they keep telling me. I've just paid £205 for three sheets, one 12mm, one 15mm and one 18mm B/BB and to be honest the quality aint all that great. It's from Arnold Laver and i won't be using them again if i can help it.

 

[Stanleymonkey]

Never head of SL hardwoods - might pay them a visit.

Thanks for that tip Custard

 

[Woodcrafts]

Haven't used them for a long time but always got good service and reasonable prices from Richard Russell Panels in Beddington, Croydon.

 

[macleod92]

Wow, that's a lot of great suggestions. Thanks very much everyone.

Places like SL Hardwoods and Timbmet suit me perfectly. Although apparently Timbmet's doesn't handle orders less than £400 (in case anyone is wondering)

 

[pcb1962]

Champion Timber on the Slyfield estate keeps good quality birch ply in stock. Their prices have always been off the scale but they're a nice bunch of lads, they'll let you walk around and look at the stock, and the prices do include free delivery if you need it. They're also open all day on Saturday which I find very useful.