"Dan White" wrote in message
...
As a layman I always thought plywood was
cheap crap made to look like the real thing, but now I see it appears that
plywood is preferred to solid board, or is that just due to cost and
stability of the wood?

If money and supply were no option, as it shouldn't be on high end stuff,
would you still prefer a plywood veneer?

Plywood is more practical in that it does not have the problems associated
with wood movement that solid wood does.

If today's plywood was available a couple of centuries ago, I have to
wonder if the old masters would have used it. I also have to wonder about
the quality of wood from the old growth trees from many years ago compared
to what is available today. Of course, there was a lot of cheaper furniture
made that did not survive the centuries either because of inferior material
or inferior workmanship.