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making plywood

Started by hackberry jake, January 03, 2012, 09:11:31 PM

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hackberry jake

I would like to build a house in the coming years. Probably post and beam. I think one of the biggest expenses will be plywood and I just hate giving box stores my money. I keep pondering in my head how I can make plywood myself. Everything from cutting thin sheets on my mill, drying them, planing them, and glueing them. To glueing shavings from a hand plane together into sheets. Maybe build a homemade veneer slicer or something?  It all seems too labor intensive and time consuming. Anybody ever have the same thoughts?
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123maxbars

I was actually talking with my father about it last weekend, sounds like a good project and I wonder if it's possible.
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Dan_Shade

why bother with plywood?

if you have a mill, why not use boards nailed down at a 45 degree angle like the carpenters did prior to the plywood?

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POSTON WIDEHEAD

It's possible or we wouldn't have plywood.

Great idea, hope your thoughts come together. I'd like to see what you come up with.
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Magicman

The one very important thing that you left out of your plywood ingredients was pressure.

Dan's suggestion was spot on if you want to go back to the "old days".
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tyb525

I agree with dan, skip the plywood and use real lumber, it can't delaminate ;D
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WDH

I agree with MM, Dan, and Ty.  If you try to make it yourself, you will need a whackmongus press unless you want to use every cement block in your county!

However, when you consider the cost of the boards and the time and cost to put them down, plywood is a bargain.
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paul case

Quote from: Dan_Shade on January 03, 2012, 09:21:25 PM
why bother with plywood?

if you have a mill, why not use boards nailed down at a 45 degree angle like the carpenters did prior to the plywood?
Thats what I did when we built my house 3 years ago. Time was no issue, but it didn't seem like it took long to me. PC
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jueston

after all the effort you put into trying to make plywood i think your much better off cutting 4/4 for sheathing and subfloors....

POSTON WIDEHEAD

Quote from: WDH on January 03, 2012, 09:40:27 PM
.... unless you want to use every cement block in your county!    :D :D :D

The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

pnyberg

I'm not up to date on techniques for sheathing and insulating a post and beam structures.  Last I knew, stress-skin panels were the way to go.  I don't think you want to be trying to make those in your workshop either. 

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tomsteve

i've built about 100 houses and out of all of them i was able to build one the old school way, with 3/4" ash for the sub floor and on the walls in place of the plywood, ran at a 45 to the floor joists and to the wall studs. it was a lot of extra work, but the most solid house i ever built.

captain_crunch

Plywood is made with special glue heat and pressure so not back yard project. Sheathing at 45 deg makes triangles with studs and anytine you make triangle stronger structure becomes
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What about a vacuum press?
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Todd

then, with all the sawdust we can make particle board!  Sounds like alot of work for enough to sheet the house..I agree going with solid wood, or just buying the plywood.
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Hilltop366

There is also the method of putting braces in the corners and running the boards horizontal, Braces can be nailed in between the studs, or use strapping let in to studs or you can buy "T" shaped metal braces that fit in a saw kerf, Braces can also be added to interior walls that connect to the exterior walls. Might try the Timber Framing/Log construction section.

ely

i am building my entire house without one piece of plywood or sheetrock in it. oops i lied, there is one piece of plywood laying the floor about 14 inches square. i used it to cover the stovepipe hole in the wall last summer... i think my dad shoved it into the stove last week though. ;D

Magicman

There were many construction methods that went by the wayside when plywood/OSB became the building material of choice.  Many steel straps, etc. are no longer available.

Addressing the OP's original question, I think that 4/4 lumber and 45° construction is the best and cheapest option.  At least that is what I would do.
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Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Kansas

I think the 45 degree would be the way to go as well. But I have wondered about having plywood custom made. Years ago a logger I know of had some specialty plywood made out of a figured log, elm, I believe for his own use. He also put logs in and got paid on how they yielded. Is it possible that there is a veneer mill in your area that would custom make plywood for you? I'm thinking more for interior use. There could be some darned interesting possibilities if you have plenty of high quality logs. I don't know what is possible, or if there are any mills in the country that would do it on a custom basis. I doubt you would save any money for just regular plywood. But still, imagine some birds eye maple plywood, or quilted curly oak. Obviously you wouldn't use that for outside sheathing. But inside, you could have a lot of fun.

DouginUtah


I guess there are places in the country that still use plywood. Around here 99% of the houses built use OSB.

OSB is so cheap (7/16 is under $7) that you would be money ahead to sell the lumber you could get from your logs and buy four times as much OSB.

Plywood and OSB have become successful replacements for boards because they are superior in most applications. If they weren't they would not be so widely used.
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Dave VH

you might find a lumber store that you can trade good rough sawn from your mill for plywood.
I cut it twice and it's still too short

jueston

Quote from: DouginUtah on January 04, 2012, 11:42:12 AM
Plywood and OSB have become successful replacements for boards because they are superior in most applications. If they weren't they would not be so widely used.

osb is successful at reducing price and meeting the absolute minimum requirements..... that is why it is so widely used....

i was searching for some data on the strength of osb and plywood vs pine, but there are so many veriables i didn't find much to report....

Ianab

I agree with the others, just don't use ply.

Older houses (most of which are still standing) never did. My house is ~50 years old, no ply in the construction. Walls are braced with wooden angle braces inside the walls as needed. Outside is clad in wooden weatherboards, floor is sold wood. Walls are 'sheetrock" of some sort, but would have been wooden panelling in an older house.

You might need to get a structural engineer to go over your "old school" plans to satisfy the building inspector who is going to want to see conventional modern construction materials.

The ply and chipboard are used because they are cheaper and faster than messing about with solid timber bracing, cladding and floors etc. That's why they are used now, not because solid timber has any serious problems. But if it's your own wood, and time, this isn't such an issue.

Ian
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jueston

trying to find a comparison between plywood/osb and wood that isn't published by the plywood/osb funded lab is like trying to get information about capitalism in china..... but with enough research....

off of the University of Massachusetts Amherst site:
http://bct.eco.umass.edu/publications/by-title/choosing-between-oriented-strandboard-and-plywood/
"The National Oak Flooring Association (NOFA) in Memphis recommends either 5/8-inch and thicker plywood, 3/4-inch osb or 1-x6-inch dense, group1 softwood boards installed at a diagonal under hardwood flooring. The NOFA recommendation is based on research conducted by Joe Loferski at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA. In his study, Loferski simulated what happens on a real construction site. He built several full-sized floors out of boards, plywood and osb and weathered them for 5 weeks before installing hardwood flooring. Finished floor systems were cycled in an environmental chamber to simulate the changes that occur in summer and winter months. The study showed that solid boards installed at a diagonal were far and away the best system"

this is specifically about subfloors not external sheathing and roof decking, the majority of the artical is comparing the osb and plywood not wood...

hackberry jake

Thanks for all the replies. Where i live I don't have to meet codes... Thankfully. If I did have to have an inspector or an engineer to build my house, I know one of each that wouldn't mind helping me meet the requirements. I believe ill do more research on the 45 degree angle construction. I love overbuilding things. I have only under built two things so far and have been royally disappointed in myself. My only fear is about having a solid hardwood house is fire. Maybe I'll use sweet gum for everything, everybody know that junk won't burn.  ;D
https://www.facebook.com/TripleTreeWoodworks

EZ Boardwalk Jr. With 20hp Honda, 25' of track, and homemade setworks. 32x18 sawshed. 24x40 insulated shop. 30hp kubota with fel. 1978 Massey ferguson 230.

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