Is Pineboard a good alternative to Ply for shop cabinets?

[Prizen]

Hi all

Need to build a few cabinets for the shop and would like to keep the costs down. Would Pineboard be a good alternative than hardwood faced plywood? The concern I would have is strength.

 

[MikeG.]

By pineboard, do you mean the sheets of solid but laminated pine? That is, thin strips of pine glued side by side to form a board? If so, then yes, it's plenty strong enough, but be sure to allow for shrinkage across the grain whilst still restraining against cupping.

 

[thetyreman]

Hi all

Need to build a few cabinets for the shop and would like to keep the costs down. Would Pineboard be a good alternative than hardwood faced plywood? The concern I would have is strength.

I'd say pine is perfect for the job, it's more than strong enough, just watch out for movement, and try and account for that, I've no idea on your ability but it doesn't have to be fancy if it's just workshop cabinets, try and find higher quality redwood pine if possible, the stuff you find at B &Q and wickes is not the same.

 

[Prizen]

Thanks guys. I'm at beginner skill level (have been for years!!)

 

[Raymond UK]

I'm using 18mm laminated pine on a daily basis and would say it's strong enough for building cupboards etc.

Price wise I don't think there's much difference in price between 18mm ply and 18mm pine. I'm paying £27.00 a sheet (3000x600) and I think a 8x4 sheet of ply is not far off that.

As Mike mentioned above, laminated pine is 30mm solid pine strips glued together to make up a board. If needed it's quite easy to extend the with by laminating two boards together but I'd suggest using biscuits for this.

Here you can see the 'strips' quite clearly.

 

[Prizen]

It's softwood Pineboard, which I can get at the same price as the softwood ply from B&Q (which cupped so badly I'll never touch it again).

Also I can't stand that red colour of the hardwood faced ply

 

[Raymond UK]

I wouldn't touch B&Q, Wickes and the like for timber full stop.

You'll be fine with laminated pine. I make toy boxes out of this stuff and never had a problem over the last 7 years.

 

[John McM]

Hi Raymond, where do you get 18mm laminated pine for £27 please
Thanks
John

 

[SammyQ]

Yeas, where please Raymond? As an ex-Norn Iron refugee, I am intrigued.

Sam

 

[W666]

Made a lot of shelves and cabinets out of the pine board personally, from Savoy, no issues other than it cost more than I expected. Finishes nice with some Danish oil.

 

[Raymond UK]

Hi Raymond, where do you get 18mm laminated pine for £27 please
Thanks
John

Hi John,

I get them from LBM (Lawrence Brothers Maltby) I get trade discount as I buy quite a few (10+ a week) Normal Price is £32.00 I believe.

You can get these cheaper than that from Optimum Timber in Conisbrough (Doncaster) but you have to buy 20+ at a time and I can't store that many at one time.

 

[John McM]

Ah, thanks Raymond

 

[SammyQ]

Thanks from me too.

S.

 

[Raymond UK]

You’re welcome.

This is the stuff I use 99% of the time as I make toy boxes and shelf units. I rarely use ply and don’t use MDF

 

[woodbloke66]

Pine board is good stuff and generally bone dry, but it will tend to warp and shrink somewhat, so take that into account. Even better though is stack laminated pine board, but unfortunately you've got to make it yourself, which is time consuming, convoluted but which will produce pretty much a wide, quarter sawn pine board - Rob

 

[yetloh]

Never used pineboard but I'm surprised to hear that it warps and cups. I would have expected that the relatively narrow and short pieces that it comprises would mean that the great variation in orientation would make it very stablewith the different pieces balancing each other out. This is certainly the case in my relatively linited experieece of oak and cherry kitchen worktop material which I have found to be very stable ideed. Given that pineboard is essentially the same in construction, albeit a different species, there is no obvious reason why pineboard shouldn't be equally stable.

Jim

 

[Prizen]

Pine board is good stuff and generally bone dry, but it will tend to warp and shrink somewhat, so take that into account. Even better though is stack laminated pine board, but unfortunately you've got to make it yourself, which is time consuming, convoluted but which will produce pretty much a wide, quarter sawn pine board - Rob

I've a 8x4 sheet, 18mm thick. When you say "stack" laminate, do you mean glue them to give in my case, a 36mm thick 8x4 sheet?

 

[Raymond UK]

Never used pineboard but I'm surprised to hear that it warps and cups. I would have expected that the relatively narrow and short pieces that it comprises would mean that the great variation in orientation would make it very stablewith the different pieces balancing each other out. This is certainly the case in my relatively linited experieece of oak and cherry kitchen worktop material which I have found to be very stable ideed. Given that pineboard is essentially the same in construction, albeit a different species, there is no obvious reason why pineboard shouldn't be equally stable.

Jim

Hi Jim,

It does cup now and then depending on temperature changes. Once assembled it's fine. I use the cupped ones for sides, fronts and backs on my toy boxes as the dovetail jig straightens them out when clamped in anyway.

I have a sheet of polythene covering the sheets of pine and they're generally ok.

 

[Raymond UK]

I've a 8x4 sheet, 18mm thick. When you say "stack" laminate, do you mean glue them to give in my case, a 36mm thick 8x4 sheet?

I think we're using different kind of pine as laminated pine generally does not come in 8x4 sheets but in 3000x600mm

 

[Prizen]

What I have looks identical to the photo in earlier post. I'm based in Ireland, and the stuff I have is imported from Finland