the story
Europly hardwood plywood is the same type of high-quality, virtually void-free plywood that is often sold as Baltic birch, except that it is made with wood certified through the Forest Stewardship Council as coming from well-managed forests. This is the most respected verification in the world that the lumber was harvested sustainably.
The core of these sheets consists of alternating layers of Northwest alder and imported birch (from Poland), with the birch layers most numerous. This makes the plywood stronger and somewhat heavier than competing products that have an purely alder core. It also creates high-contrast plies, which create a decorative edge on drawers and other cabinet components. The high-density panels machine nicely and hold screws well.
Our supplier also sells core-only sheets of the same materials. These are like regular plywood except that they are missing the top and bottom layers. Cabinetmakers can add whatever face veneers they want (even non-certified wood) and still have a plywood that meets FSC's percentage-based standard for certification.
performance
Offering the core-only option is just one signal that this product is destined to meet the needs of demanding cabinetmakers. Sheets are made to tight thickness tolerances, within 0.023 percent of the stated measurement.
The top and bottom layers of the ready-to-use plywood are maple, which is cream to light reddish-brown. The veneers are rotary cut as a single piece, which means there are no seams. The maple faces are not FSC-certified.
The top face is the manufacturer's B-grade, which has stiffer standards than the usual B-grade for hardwood plywood. The top face may contain:
- Up to six pin knots and small burls (1/4-inch maximum diameter).
- Up to four sound and repaired knots, with repairs no more than 1/8-inch in diameter.
- Slight mineral streaks.
- Two 5-inch rough areas.
- Two repaired hairline splits, each no more than 1/8-inch x 8-inch.
The bottom face is the manufacturer's No. 2 grade, which allows a few more knots and repairs than the top face can have, as well as two rough areas 8 inches in diameter.
The manufacturer uses a urea formaldehyde adhesive. Formaldehyde emissions for Europly are equal to or less than 0.3 ppm, the maximum levels allowed in plywood by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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