How to judge a Good Plywood

Today the plywood market is crammed full with numerous brands and types of plywood. Once you enter a shop for purchasing plywood, you cant just choose like that. Several points' need to be kept in mind before buying plywood. As one gets a plywood first thing that needs to be followed is the brand and further it has to be checked whether it has got quality certification mark like ISI.

Besides this other factors that one can opt for judging good plywood are surface quality, its thickness variation, number of layers in plywood, its bonding and bending strength, its working environment, species of face/back, resistance to termites and borers etc.

Check Surface: Surface should be perfectly even and finished well that determines its further glue ability and paint ability properties. Surface should be very clean and devoid from bumps, cups and any other deviation from normal flatness.

Uniformity: Thickness of the plywood should be uniform through out the plywood. Non-uniform thickness may result from delamination in certain areas of plywood due to poor bonding or steam pockets because of non-uniform moisture content during pressing of plywood in factory. By the use of a useful tool,‘micrometer' the uniformity of the ply can be checked easily and appropriately.

Bonding Strength: Hammer Test or Sound Test: Beating the plywood with a hammer at several places can present the toughness and solidity of plywood. This test gives a fair idea about sturdiness of plywood and also depicts whether it has any major gap or not.

Right Selection: Along with all these factors, check for the bending property of plywood, check whether it possess good bending strength or not, it should not be very stiff and brittle.

Check how many layers plywood have, whether it's a 3-ply,5-ply or 7-ply construction. If somebody has enough time, he can perform all these tests to make himself satisfied.

Selection of plywood also depends on the end use of plywood in which location it is going to be used, if you want plywood for exterior/outdoor location then go for only BWP grade plywood. For interior application where there is no contact of water to the ply you can take MR grade. main deciding factor while selecting a decorative plywood. Ask for the species used, whether it is Birch, Maple Oak etc. A very important factor is determining the bonding quality of plywood. Performing a very easy test can check bonding that is known as Knife test. Knife test is also done to check brittleness and toughness of plywood. Cutting a narrow strip of plywood's surface layer performs it; if the layer comes out easily it means that the bonding of plywood or adhesion of adjacent layers of plywood is not proper enough. Thickness of the plywood should be uniform through out the plywood. Non-uniform thickness may result from delamination in certain areas of plywood due to poor bonding or steam pockets because of non-uniform moisture content during pressing of plywood in factory. By the use of a useful tool,‘micrometer' the uniformity of the ply can be checked easily and appropriately. Its plain and uniform face can judge surface quality of plywood.