Agreed, and at my local lumber yard, they restack the ply on edge, which
I believe is the reason I don't have that problem with their stuff
(since there is room for air), but do with the HD. I have not been able
to ever get the bow out of the HD stuff. It's just set.

On 4/10/2012 3:11 PM, John Grossbohlin wrote:

"Mike Marlow" wrote in message
...
Jack wrote:

High Quality is straight and not twisted. These HD crap are
already surfaced on four sides. How can you clean them up if they are
twisted like pretzels.


They are not twisted, they don't need cleaned up. Very good stuff.

Maybe it's a regional thing, but the red oak, maple, and poplar I've
examined in the store, when in a pinch to finish a project, hasn't been
very good given the premimum prices. Cupped and crocked to various
degrees and some twisted. Short of taking it down a 1/16-1/8" in
thickness to straighten it out it wouldn't be useable for furniture...
trim/casing where you are nailing it down yes, furniture no. It might
have been "perfect" leaving the mill but after experiencing the
environment it isn't.


All the ply I got from HD twisted
like a pretzel. How stable is a piece of ply that has a huge bow in
it... Pretty stable. I can't get it flat again.


I think I would check into my shop wood storage practices if I were
you. It seems everything you buy twists up like a pretzel. How is it
that this wood does not twist up in their stores, but it does once you
get it home? The stores are not terribly climate controlled so
whatever you see on the floor is pretty much what you will have when
you get it home. Pretzels?

I find that you have to let the moisture equalize on both sides of the
sheets for a few days before they come close to straight and flat. Even
in the store the top sheet or two is often not flat due to the moisture
difference across sides. The last couple sheets of cabinet grade ply I
grabbed at HD took about a week to settle down in my "winter dry" shop.
Before they settled down it would have been very difficult to work with
as the sheets wouldn't lay flat on the table saw, shaper, or any other
surface. The source doesn't seem to matter, it's more an issue of
pulling sheets from standard shipping units that trap moisture and gases
on one hand and keep moisture out on the other.

John