Type of plywood for cabinets

[chowdan]

Hey all,

As i gut my head to rebuild a bulkhead, I am thinking more about what I should use for rebuilding the cabinets.

I am probably going to make the trek over to Eden Saw lumber yard tomorrow to pick up a sheet of 15mm hydrotek plywood for the bulkhead, and as such I think I'll pick up a few for the cabinets.

I was planning on using some Sande 6mm marine grade ply(Link to Ply here) as the structure of the cabinets. These "faces" will be screwed into 1.5"x1.5" strips that shape the cabinets. This ply should never see standing water, however it will be in the head, so it will be a humid environment. This makes me question if it is the right choice and if i should go with something like a Hydrotek 6mm BS 1088(Link here)

Ideas and thoughts?

[Cheechako]

I'd go 12mm , maybe 10 mm. You need enough to screw into. I think? or are you bonding the strips? still, it will only be rigid one direction as a result of the strips.

[chowdan]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

I'd go 12mm , maybe 10 mm. You need enough to screw into. I think? or are you bonding the strips? still, it will only be rigid one direction as a result of the strips.

Hrm, you have a point, i was thinking the ply would be more non structural but considering how thin 6mm would be(IE flexible beyond the strips), maybe 12mm would be better.

[coopec43]

For cabinets I would go for marine grade ply. I use exterior grade ply which has the same glue as marine ply but the timber could have knot holes etc and would not be as structurally strong as marine ply.
Marine Plywood vs Exterior Plywood

https://www.doityourself.com/stry/ma...terior-plywood

[Ken Z]

I would use the 12 mm sandie marine grade plywood.

[chowdan]

Originally Posted by Ken Z

I would use the 12 mm sandie marine grade plywood.

Thanks Ken, I ended up going with 12mm sandie. Cheap, light, moisture resistant.

[Mike Banks]

I agree with the 6 mm ply--and you can get it faced will any fancy veneer of your choice--but it must be MARINE glue--not that other stuff that lets go when wet. Resorcinol is the ONLY bonding for plywood that I will use.

Now--for the corners I am a skinflint--and a long time ago discovered that timbers often sold as garden stakes were mahogany, teak, and almost all of them are durable timbers. Of course I could by top quality timber and saw it down to size, but these garden stakes work well. They can be cut more accurately, sliced diagonally to make triangular moulding, or you can try a trick I use and instead of using timer in the corners, clamp the timbers in a right-angle steel scantling lined with masking tape to make a corner jig, so that one sheet fits against the other. One then glues them together using an epoxy fillet, in my case made from expoxy-cabosil. It is much easier to use the frames though. Stick to those for a start. For built-in furniture that abuts the hulls and bulkheads, then epoxy cabosil fillets come into their own.

Of course all of these sheets are previously epoxy saturated using an epoxy timber preservative. If you can not get hold of a two-part epoxy preservative, or you can make up your own by using mixed slow cure epoxy resin, then when it is thoroughly mixed and before it begins to exo-therm, thin it down with appropriate epoxy thinners. The longer it soaks in, the better the penetration, and the better the preservation.

I used about 25%-30% thinners for the first soaking, and because it goes off slowly, one can do a lot of sheets at once and have them cured and ready for the other side to be sealed next day. Each side needs to be sealed at least twice--and any edges need to be sealed maybe more than that because the edge grain REALLY soaks it up. Any cut sheets will also need to be re-sealed on the cut edges.

[chowdan]

Originally Posted by Mike Banks

I agree with the 6 mm ply--and you can get it faced will any fancy veneer of your choice--but it must be MARINE glue--not that other stuff that lets go when wet. Resorcinol is the ONLY bonding for plywood that I will use.

Now--for the corners I am a skinflint--and a long time ago discovered that timbers often sold as garden stakes were mahogany, teak, and almost all of them are durable timbers. Of course I could by top quality timber and saw it down to size, but these garden stakes work well. They can be cut more accurately, sliced diagonally to make triangular moulding, or you can try a trick I use and instead of using timer in the corners, clamp the timbers in a right-angle steel scantling lined with masking tape to make a corner jig, so that one sheet fits against the other. One then glues them together using an epoxy fillet, in my case made from expoxy-cabosil. It is much easier to use the frames though. Stick to those for a start. For built-in furniture that abuts the hulls and bulkheads, then epoxy cabosil fillets come into their own.

Of course all of these sheets are previously epoxy saturated using an epoxy timber preservative. If you can not get hold of a two-part epoxy preservative, or you can make up your own by using mixed slow cure epoxy resin, then when it is thoroughly mixed and before it begins to exo-therm, thin it down with appropriate epoxy thinners. The longer it soaks in, the better the penetration, and the better the preservation.

I used about 25%-30% thinners for the first soaking, and because it goes off slowly, one can do a lot of sheets at once and have them cured and ready for the other side to be sealed next day. Each side needs to be sealed at least twice--and any edges need to be sealed maybe more than that because the edge grain REALLY soaks it up. Any cut sheets will also need to be re-sealed on the cut edges.

Thanks for that detailed description! Would you be able to post some photos of of your corner pieces?