Fine Plywood for Dummy Cabinetmakers

edge of veneer core plywood

When you come right down to it, sometimes half an answer is worth less than no answer at all. Say you are completely ignorant of the word "tiger" – pretend you're a Martian who just arrived. Someone explains to you that a tiger is a cat, and points to the kitty in Grandma's lap. You're in for one heckuva surprise when you find out that tigers get up to six feet long and weigh more than 300 pounds! Well, it isn't tigers and we ain't Martians; but eHowian Rebecca Mecomber still only gave half an answer when HomeSteady asked "What Is Cabinet-Grade Plywood?"¹

This title must have been in one of Demand Media's five-dollar categories, since Mecomber devoted only 125 words to the topic. Most of those were about grading plywood, a half-assed job of rewording a chart about plywood grades from a BigBox website. Her problem, unfortunately, was that she didn't actually look for information about cabinet-grade plywood, just about plywood in general. That's probably why she ended up telling her readers that,

"Cabinet-grade plywood receives an A or B grade for both sides... The surface of cabinet-grade plywood is sanded smooth and contains few defects."

Well, no, Rebecca. Cabinet-grade plywood has an A grade on both sides. Furthermore, the A grade is subdivided: the front side of the plywood is graded A1, the back side is usually A2. Furthermore, the face veneer of cabinet-grade plywood is not peeled from the log with a rotary knife, it's a slice through the wood. That's why cabinet-grade hardwood is costly, not

"...the finer materials and more attentive [sic] manufacturing process."

Mecomber also manages to ignore any information about the core of cabinet-grade plywood, which is usually MDF instead of softwood veneer. We're gonna bet that's because she was in too big a hurry to notice... idiot.

We guess that when you ask a "professional blogger" and "former radio personality" who specializes in travel and blogging (isn't that circular?) about lumber, you're gonna get what you paid for: a Dumbass of the Day.

¹ The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   ehow.com/facts_6851993_cabinet_grade-plywood_.html

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