It’s been around forever…amazing stuff …very good product for so many purposes , and a very responsible engineered product , both environmentally and economically…what do you guys use your plywood for ?
Foils.
Cheap, easy to use and reshape.
But there’s good and dodgy ply,
Kayu, can you tell us about ply, what do you know about the grades or special applications ?
… And how to find the good ply, like aircraft or light marine grade
I’m actually working on a composite paipo that has a core of Paulownia plywood I got from TH&H in SD a while back.
Templates. All my templates are made of plywood. Easy to get a natural curve with a few basic tools (block plane, sanding block). Durable. 3 mm is hard to find but 5 mm is OK.
fins
Aircraft ply with hemp+fiberglass backing. About 25%-30% lighter than a solid fiberglass fin.
I tried that, but when I went to upload it ended up looking like a link.
Never mind, I see it does upload when I post.
Rout-in install
BTW, thanks for the assist, Huck
Hi gdaddy, what’s the theory behind the rail near the fins? Looks intriguing.
Are you talking about the E-wing? The Elevated Wing is a design element that the Campbell Bros have been using some of their Bonzer design boards for many years. It engages more when the board is on rail and provides something of a pivot point once it finally does hook up.
It’s a design element that I shameless stole from my betters. Having surfed that board I can say that I think it works, although there’s also been some disagreement among shapers about that.
Here’s a pic of the real thing
what thickness did you start with?
What thickness do you guys source for fins…
I used 1/8" 3 ply on 2 boards as bottom skins. The wood is quite a bit heavier than balsa, so on the second board I tried to plane then sand it down to a 2 ply. That board wasn’t as heavy, but it was made as a wall hanger, so I wasn’t as concerned.
I’m trying it as a stringer, and I’ve used a single layer of 1/8" ply as a perimeter stringer in compsands. I use it for my rocker beds and templates.
surfoils , I have found that good quality birch ply makes excellent plywood fins…get what you pay for eh
Yeah Balsa , great for templates…and easy to scarf for longer lengths
I paneled 4 walls of my workshop with 9mm plywood (the cheap stuff) …so I can screw racks , shelves and other thing straight onto it …works great , and reasonably fire resistant .
Kayu, I’ve found if you look at say “3 Ply” , there can be 3 equal thickness layers which seems to be more rigid and there’s the crap version where the outside skins are thin but good looking and the centre portion is thicker, but rubbish.
( Ply Beauty is only veneer deep…)
Pic shows good ply on the left and crap on the right.
Good Baltic Birch ply looks like Brett’s figure on the left. I’ve made some nice work tables with BB.