blueman wrote:
"George E. Cawthon" writes:
You should have said the sides would be plywood!
Sleeves would have to be metal at least an inch long which would be a
pita.

Forget the pins and move to a different system if you stay with
plywood.

Per your excellent suggestion in another post, I do plan to do a test.

However, how much would I gain in moving from say plywood sides to
poplar sides? Would the resistance to pin tearout be significant
enough to justify the significant premium for 1x12" poplar?

I would also do the test with a small piece of
good plywood. A 9 ply plywood ?might? survive you
test

In my opinion you would gain a lot with solid
wood. OTOH, I don't much like poplar. But....
depends on prices of different woods where you
live. In choosing boards that are relatively
clear and straight, the difference in prices of
cheaper and more expensive woods is often slight.
Where I live poplar is not much cheaper that
much better woods. Again, though, in my opinion,
it would be criminal to put paint on oak, maple,
cherry, mahogany, etc, so poplar would probably be
a good choice. Check the prices where you are at
a real lumber store, you might be surprised at
what you can get.