"depictureboy" wrote in message
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On Mar 30, 10:27 pm, "Jim" wrote:
"ed_h" wrote in message

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On Mar 30, 6:02 pm, depictureboy wrote:

Well I was in BORG yesterday and Lowes today checking out their
hardwood plywood. My local borg has C-3 Oak and Birch Ply for 46 bucks
a sheet. Lowes has "Cabinet Grade" maple/birch and oak ply for 47. NO
edgestamps on the plywood to really tell me about grades. So I ask the
guys loading it up, what the grade is since there is no edge stamp,
and they look at me like I am dumb..."Everything you need to know is
on that placard" Um no. "Well cabinet grade means its top of the
line"..Erm well is it AA, A, B CD or E? "Huh? I says cabinet grade
thats the best". Sigh....

I'm no apologist for HD or the like, but I'm not sure I've ever seen
the A-B-C-D grades applied to hardwood veneer plywood--only to the
constrruction grade product. I believe the letters refer to the
quality of the two faces, with A sutiable for paint.

I'm guessing that "Cabinte grade" just means that it has a hardwood
veneer on at least one side, suitable for clear finishes.

No, the hardwood plywood folks use letter grades and number grades. The
letter grades apply to the good face while the number grades apply to the
bad face. And, you can buy hardwood plywood which is good on both faces.
You will pay lots more for A-A grade.

Jim

This was an edgestamp. Not a facestamp. Hardwood plywood is
edgestamped. Construction grade is face stamped usually with 2
letters. Hardwood has a letter and number...At least thats what I have
been reading in several woodworking books. One by popular woodworking
has an entire grid detailing what each means. It also details the
grades for softwood construction plywood. Just fyi..

For instance my local dealer carries B1 for about 100 bucks a sheet.
Home depot was C3 for bout 45. Lowes wasnt marked, which from what I
have read means its not really graded, because the grading is ?
required?. I am not sure if that is correct.


The grading is not required. However, nobody makes you buy ungraded
plywood.
The sheet of "cabinet grade" oak plywood that I bought from Lowe's was
marked C-2.
This was the first time that I have seen a sheet at Lowes that had any sort
of grading.
If you carefully select the sheets, you can find one which is acceptable for
cabinetry.
None of the sheets are furniture grade though. For such as that, I would
want A-2 or
better. There is an AA grade for the face veneer.
Jim