Arauco Ply / HD 'Cabinet Grade' Ply

I use it when I can get it. Works better than about anything else outside of true Baltic or European Birch.

Arauco is very soft, but it is flat, relatively void-free, and works well. No complaints from me at all. Gonna buy another pile here shortly.

In my area at least, Home Depot doesn't carry Arauco ply, but Lowes does. I used it for a pair of THT LPs and a pair of TLAHs, and it worked quite well. Baltic Birch is a bit nicer, but the Arauco works well and is cheaper.

I think you may be looking at "cabinet grade" based on your $30 price (it just went to $36 here in RI). I have used this for various things (some shelves and a translam mini-monitor that is under construction) and it is very void free. HD here in RI does have what I assume is similar to "Arauco ply"...they call it "sandeply" or something and i think it is 9 layer in 3/4".

The cabinet grade ply was $35 here a few weeks ago. That's what I used in my builds and it worked fine. I noticed very few voids, and those voids were very small.

Nothing here was labeled Arauco. Didn't their plant burn down? The 9-layer ply was around $50 iirc.

Tim

If it's Arauco, it will say so. It is softwood pine plywood from farm raised Radiata pines that are pruned to minimize branches, and thus knotholes. I used it for my Table Tuba. The 1/2" thick that I used did warp, but easily pulled straight for nailing. My local Menards has it.

Smoke,

Why are you going ply vs mdf for your SEOS build. If you are looking for a flat black finish, I'm thinking mdf is the way to go.

My noob understanding is ply is desired for a stained finish and/or lighter weight. Since this is for mains, not a mondo sub, weight isn't that bad.

Just my 2 cents...

Java

I've seen Arauco once at Home Depot and keep asking for it. I've always been told they've never had it and can't order it.

Then I finally realized that they call it "sanded pine", and even though it has the Arauco name stamped all over it, Home Depot employees don't recognize the name.

Once I finally figured this out and asked about availability, I was told they only get a single order once a year in November. (?!?) Oh well, it's almost November.

I've used 3/8 and 5/8. No complaints with 5/8 but the 3/8 warped terribly and due to the narrow panels I was using it was very difficult to pull back into shape during building. If I use 3/8 again I won't cut it until I'm ready to glue everything together, and do it quickly. Other than that it's lovely stuff, very light, but soft. You can dent it with a fingernail.

If anyone knows of a more consistent supplier in southwestern Ontario, let me know.

This is 1/2 inch Arauco.



3/4 looks the same, just adds 2 plies to the center. I can't get it at Lowes out here, HD used to have it. Now I have to drive up to Compton's in Seattle to get it cheap.

I get mine from the local building supply. Haven't checked availability since half the Auraco factory burned down though. Pic is 3/4" sitting on 1/2". The 1/2" is factory edge - 3/4" ripped.. These are both over a year old.

I was HD here about a week ago and they had the cabinet grade ply.. it's not $30-- I think it was $35 (maybe $39?). They also had "sand-e-ply" (I've forgotten the price) and some sort of oak ply for $50. I could see large voids in the edges of the oak ply.

Tim

Bought 3 sheets of 3/4" from the local HD (north Georgia) about 2 weeks ago for $34 per sheet. Display was marked "cabinet grade" but each sheet was labeled Arauco. Cut into about 60 pieces for a large wine rack & found only 1-2 small voids per sheet. I've also used it for several speaker builds & fill the (rare) void with wood glue.

I can, as will a few thousand builders of my cab designs. Sandeply isn't Arauco. It is poor quality, as is Blondewood. Arauco is the only big box plywood I've found to be usable.

This is what I used:

Mr. Tim, I have run about 100 sheets of exactly what you show in your picture above thru my cnc machine this past year (in the summer of 2011, it was $25 a sheet but has steadily gone up). I have built speakers, large and small, murphy beds, display cabinets, kitchen cabinets, etc. and love the stuff.

I recently built a workbench and speaker stands with this stuff. It seems like good material for the price although I hadn't considered it for speaker builds. Good to know, my HD usually has it in stock.

Dont do it, had a void that ran through the entire sheet of one, didnt find it until I had cut into it. The BB i found looks as if two sheets are perfect, the other two are going back to be exchanged for two more that appear a little better on the edges. Overall I am very impressed with the wood quality tho.


Don't expect that to change for the better as their main plant in Chile burned down.

Damn, really? I just went through 2 sheets for random stuff I built of this stuff and it was virtually void free. I'm getting ready to kick off a subwoofer build and was hoping to pick this stuff up vs. MDF since it's a bit easier to finish. I'll take a hard look at what's in stock, but I can always go back to MDF. Birch plywood is available at my local big box, but Baltic birch is no where to be found in my area.

http://www.homedepot.ca/product/5-8-inch-sanded-pine-plywood-19-32-inchx4x8/967017

Same product (except for thickness), same picture even, but in Canada they call it sanded pine.

My local HD's cabinet grade ply is full of voids. The only ply they stock which appears to have a halfway decent cross section has paper thin veneer that's certain to peel.

Solution: Don't go to HD. Go to a real lumberyard. If you're looking for cabinet grade plywood find a local kitchen cabinet maker in the Yellow Pages, ask him where he gets his wood.

The sandeply from home depot looks good to me. The sales a associate told me it was void less. Can anyone confirm? Goes for about $45/sheet

Sandeply is sub-standard.