Chris Friesen writes:
blueman wrote:
I am putting up some wainscoating and a bench in our mud room that I
intend to construct out of white oak (veneer plywood for the
wainscoating and solid for the bench). The finish will be light stain
and poly for protection.

White oak plywood is available in both "Quarter Sawn" and "Flat Sawn"
with the Quarter Sawn costing 2x as much. I am willing to pay the
extra money if the result is worthwhile but am not sure how noticeable
this is in paneling having never used Quarter Sawn. Any pointers on
the right way to do this?

Quarter-sawn is more stable when exposed to moisture variations, and
it will show a "ray fleck" pattern, while flat-sawn will not. You can
google it to get an idea of what it looks like.

Which type of plywood you use depends on what look you're going for,
and whether you plan on using quarter-sawn for the bench itself.

If you do go with quarter-sawn, you might want to consider a finish
that will do it justice better than just stain and poly.

Chris

Based on the input and picture references, I am leaning towards
quarter-sawn.

I am a novice at best in the world of finishing. What would you
recommend that would "do it justice" while also giving it a hard and
durable finish since the veneer is by definition thin and this will be
used in our mudroom where things will get banged around?

(I had only mentioned poly because I figured that with several coats
of satin, I could get it pretty hard but I am open to better solutions)