HD Ply

[Greg Plouvier]

My local HD started carrying a 1/2" fir ply. It has 4 equal thickness plies, reasonably void-free. I think it would work fine for internal sub parts - braces and most panels. I wouldn't use it for baffles or spacers or external panels. $32/sheet. About the same price per sq ft as baltic is here, but lighter.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

Fir is OK, but heavy, and as you noted four ply isn't good for the main panels. I've used five ply fir, stopped in favor of Arauco for both the weight and fir grain is very difficult to cover without a very thick coating of DuraTex.

[Rune Bivrin]

By accident I went into the local Hornbach store and strolled past the plywood section. To my astonishment they actually carried Auraco ply. Clearly marked "Fir ply"!

Now, to my understanding, Auraco is a company, so recommending Auraco over fir is like recommending Nike shoes instead of running shoes.

Fir can be heavy or light, depending on how quickly the trees have grown. From a botanical point of view there are approximately 50 species of fir, but I'd wager the lumber industry uses a different definition. In Sweden, for example, spruce and pine are collectively termed "furu" which is the same word. In reality it's predominantly spruce since that grows more quickly and thus has better yield over time.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

By accident I went into the local Hornbach store and strolled past the plywood section. To my astonishment they actually carried Auraco ply. Clearly marked "Fir ply"!

Now, to my understanding, Auraco is a company, so recommending Auraco over fir is like recommending Nike shoes instead of running shoes.

Arauco is a brand name, the only product they make is Radiata pine plywood. Your Hornbach store is clearly operated by someone who don't know diddly about wood. Curious, to say the least.

[bzb]

^ +1

They're actually based out of here in Atlanta and I've called them a couple times to figure out where the heck to get their stuff locally. My local Lowes started carrying it a couple months after I called Arauco and asked them why it's only at certain locations (to which they didn't have a great answer).

They have a distribution center that's about 5 miles from my house, but they won't sell any to me

They have a few products now, but they're all Radiata pine, even according to their Europe website:

AraucoPly® Sanded Panels are laid up on a composed core using exterior PF resin and 100% plantation grown Radiata pine for consistent quality and performance.


The Home Depot that's across from Lowes carries a 5-ply fir 1/2" sheet, but it's total crap for this. I used it for a cabinet project and it was full of voids.

[Greg Plouvier]

The problem with Arauco, at least here in Colo, is that it warps like a potato chip practically as soon as you pull it off the bunk. The fir has been very stable and seems to be as light or lighter than the Arauco.

[Jon Barnhardt]

The problem with Arauco, at least here in Colo, is that it warps like a potato chip practically as soon as you pull it off the bunk. The fir has been very stable and seems to be as light or lighter than the Arauco.

If your humidity levels are anything like they are here, most all wood does that.

I finally invested in a de-humidifier for my shop (biggest one I could buy at Wally World) that runs 24/7

Humidity is now around 43% all the time and much less warp-age...

[bzb]

I found the same issue with most Arauco. You just need to keep pulling sheets off the top until you get down a few sheets. Cut it immediately when you get home and store it flat on racks or stickers, never flat on concrete, and ABSOLUTELY never standing up leaning on a wall.

Personally, I think it's great for experienced builders who can throw together any of the cabs in a few hours. At least for the bigger cabs. Tops don't matter nearly as much, as the smaller panels don't seem to warp much, if at all. You just don't want Arauco just sitting around waiting... sucking in moisture from the air and letting gravity pull it around.

[Rune Bivrin]

By accident I went into the local Hornbach store and strolled past the plywood section. To my astonishment they actually carried Auraco ply. Clearly marked "Fir ply"!

Now, to my understanding, Auraco is a company, so recommending Auraco over fir is like recommending Nike shoes instead of running shoes.

Arauco is a brand name, the only product they make is Radiata pine plywood. Your Hornbach store is clearly operated by someone who don't know diddly about wood. Curious, to say the least.

Not really. I should have written "clearly marked "Furuplywood". As I said, as far as the building industry is concerned, "furu" in Sweden is essentially any kind of wood from coniferous trees. However, juniper is rarely used and larch or fir doesn't grow here in lumber quantities, so generally it will be either Pine or Spruce.

So the labeling used by Hornbach is consistent with terminology used throughout the country. The issue is simply that "furu" isn't really a specific kind of wood as far as the lumber industry is concerned but rather SPF (spruce-pine-fir), so" furu" ply may very well be Radiata Pine or Spruce. In some applications where it matters such as window frames and other outdoor uses, furu is specifically Pinus Sylvestris due to the higher resin contents and greater hardness compared to spruce. "Furuplywood" of Swedish origin will very likely be spruce.

All that said, I think I drew the conclusion that "fir" and "furu" were direct translations, but that appears not to be the case. Sorry for the treatise and the confusion.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

All that said, I think I drew the conclusion that "fir" and "furu" were direct translations, but that appears not to be the case. Sorry for the treatise and the confusion.

Here the two classes are softwood (coniferous) and hardwood (deciduous). While many broadly classify any coniferous trees as 'fir' the lumber industry is far more specific with regards to spruce, pine, fir, and even sub-species, such as White Pine and Douglas Fir.

[Doug Hart]

I'm done with Arauco. At least where I buy it, the product keeps getting worse. More voids and warps like crazy. I like the fact that it weighs less than BB, but it's not worth it to me anymore. It's all baltic birch from here on out for me.

[Harley]

I'm done with Arauco. At least where I buy it, the product keeps getting worse.

The stuff we get here varies.

I find out when our specialist ply stockist gets it in and I go in the day after to pick through it. I never buy it the week before he's ready to restock.

[LelandCrooks]

I'm done with Arauco. At least where I buy it, the product keeps getting worse. More voids and warps like crazy. I like the fact that it weighs less than BB, but it's not worth it to me anymore. It's all baltic birch from here on out for me.

+1

Too humid here in the midwest. You can't even get it home before it's warped.

[Greg Plouvier]

I'm done with Arauco. At least where I buy it, the product keeps getting worse. More voids and warps like crazy. I like the fact that it weighs less than BB, but it's not worth it to me anymore. It's all baltic birch from here on out for me

+1000

I am going to use the fir for internals to lose some weight. I've had some pieces I purposely left leaning against a wall in the shop and they've stayed pretty flat.

[Doug Hart]

Too humid here in the midwest. You can't even get it home before it's warped.

No kidding... then when you cut it, it's twice as bad.
I love working with BB, I just hate the fact that I can't haul it in the back of the truck... have to take the trailer. (no 4x8 around here, all 5x5)