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Plywood brands

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 11:43 am
by Christer
Hi,

I can't lay to rest planning my planning to build a boat, so I've looked up what seems to be the sole provider of Okume plywood in Norway.

They offer BS1088 Robbins Elite marine ply in 4, 6, 9 and 12mm thickness, with 3, 5, 5 and 7 plies, respectively. I can't find pricing for 18mm ply, but laminating two sheets of 9mm should do the trick if 18mm is needed. No idea what those correspond to in imperial.

Prices are NOK 450, 600, 900 and 1200 per 1220x2440mm sheet, or about twice as expensive as regular exterior plywood.
That is approx US$52, $70, $105 and $139 per sheet, respectively, which is in the same ballpark as what BBC charges.

They also sell epoxy and fibreglass for maritime use (it's a boat builder shop), and shipping a pallet or two with ply, glass and epoxy within Norway is cheaper than from the US, if epoxy even can be shipped internationally.

So, the question is, is Robbins Elite BS1088 acceptable for Bateau boats? The epoxy they offer is Aeropoxy, which I've never heard about. The other major supplier of epoxy in Norway is West System, which I've used before and had no issues with. Price-wise they're about the same.

Re: Plywood brands

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 2:18 pm
by OrangeQuest
As far as epoxy goes, go with what you are accustom to using if it's the same price. BS1088 is a standard that the plywood has to meet to get the BS1088 certified stamp. Okoume is the lightest and most flexible of the marine grade plywoods. But it is also the most expensive. Meranti on the other hand weighs a little more, is a little stiffer and can also meet the same BS1088 standard. They are both types of wood like pine, oak, cedar etc. Some marine grade plywood manufacturers exceed the British Standard grade of plywood but the 1088 is the highest standard. Between the two Meranti is gentler on wood working tools but Okoume is more resistant to bugs and rot. You can get either woods under all kinds of brand names but the BS1088 certified stamp may be fake on some brands. One thing that you really want to look for is the wood has the FSC certified stamp on it.

General use plywoods that you can get from most lumber yards will also have different standards on them but may not hold up to the BS1088 boil test for the glue that holds all the plies together, the thickness consistencies of the plies, the size of voids on the inners plies and the surface of either or both outside plies. All that plies up to how well the wood holds together, how well you can tool it, how well it bends and flexes and how well it takes stains and epoxies. Save money when building only to cost you more a few years down the road.

Re: Plywood brands

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 2:28 pm
by Jeff
OQ, Thank you for that thorough response!! I completely agree with you!! Christer should not have a problem finding Okoume as there are two large mills in France that produce Okoume!! Jeff

Re: Plywood brands

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 2:48 pm
by Capt UB
Jeff wrote: Tue Nov 27, 2018 2:28 pm OQ, Thank you for that thorough response!! I completely agree with you!! Christer should not have a problem finding Okoume as there are two large mills in France that produce Okoume!! Jeff

What a great road trip that would be.....

Re: Plywood brands

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 2:59 pm
by joe2700
OrangeQuest wrote: Tue Nov 27, 2018 2:18 pm Between the two Meranti is gentler on wood working tools but Okoume is more resistant to bugs and rot.
I think you may have swapped the two in this line.

Re: Plywood brands

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 3:57 pm
by OrangeQuest
joe2700 wrote: Tue Nov 27, 2018 2:59 pm
OrangeQuest wrote: Tue Nov 27, 2018 2:18 pm Between the two Meranti is gentler on wood working tools but Okoume is more resistant to bugs and rot.
I think you may have swapped the two in this line.
Can I blame it on age? :roll:

Re: Plywood brands

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 6:19 pm
by TomW1
No you have to be accurate on here. :lol: :lol: Just to be clear Meranti is more disease resistance and waterproof than Okume. But it weighs about 1.1 times more.

Re: Plywood brands

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 8:46 pm
by OrangeQuest
Well since we need to be accurate, meranti wood is used in a lot of cheap furniture and cheaper plywoods sold in the big box stores as Launa/Luan plywood. Is considered moderate durable for rot resistance but poor for insect attack. Has less silica so less on dulling tools than Okoume wood.
Okoume wood because of it's high silica content has a tendency of dulling tools. It can cause tear outs and fuzzy finish. It is rated poor and non-durable on rot resistance.
As marine grade plywood both are very good but not all grades of them are. And as I said some of the marine grade brands are better than others. These are the more common plywoods used in boat construction. I am surprised no one questioned my comment about the FSC certificate. That would be an indicator of what kind of company you are buying from.

And is no one going to say anything about the good and bad of fir? Thought I would leave that one for ya'll instead of the splitting hairs of the accuracy of my information. :wink:

Re: Plywood brands

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 9:14 pm
by Aripeka Angler
I’ve probably cut up a combined 500,000 sheets of Indonesian meranti, okoume, domestic fir, China birch, Chilean radiata pine, Russian birch as well as crap loads of Honduran mahogany, us birch ply and red oak ply over the last 30 years building cabinets.
I don’t see much difference in blade life between sharpenings with any of the above types of wood.
Ditto with marine ply.
We document blade and bit life in all of our cnc equipment.