Plywood

[kmmcrafts]

I've always been on the lookout for plywood suppliers that sell thin (1/8" ) plywood in other species than just Birch, that is good on both sides.. Always been impressed with the quality of the project panels from Home Depot, however they're only 1 side good... which is okay for many projects but I sometimes have a need for good 2 sides.. I'm not sure where one would find good 2 sides even if the back was not a A or 1.. probably a B or 2 back side would be fine.. but like the Walnut from H.D. has some light colored wood for the back.. maybe looks like birch.. 

I run across a site that claims to be good both sides and guaranteed to be flat so I ordered some a few days ago and just received my order which is nice because estimated not to be here until Thursday.. so I'm impressed with the fast shipping. The plywood is prefinished which is another thing that I like.. open the box and it looks like decent plywood for sure however the Walnut appears to be maybe stained maple or some other stained wood.. looks great anyway but me being a woodworker I know the difference so to me is a turn off.. To be fair they did not claim it to be walnut and it is mentioned it's "colored"...so I knew this before purchasing.. tell tail is the good 2 sides prefinished is cheaper than the H.D. single side stuff, LOL.. Well worth the money.. I've seen it being highly recommended among the laser forums so I was going to buy a couple sheets of each species to see how it was. 

Guaranteed to be flat.. the name is called TruFlat.. certainly was not 100% flat when I open the box.. looks like the box was setting on a smaller box as the bottom few sheets were bowed in the middle.. Flat plywood is a big concern for a laser machines as the curve will make the laser beam out of focus if it's closer or farther from the laser head. While this is bowed it's not a deal breaker for me because I'm able to use it with clamps etc.. just the idea of them claiming it is guaranteed to be flat and stay flat.. maybe it'll flatten out  after setting in the shop for a while.. as it was just delivered about 40 minutes ago, LOL

Anyway, thought I'd share my experience with the plywood as it may be of some interest here in the scrolling community. Back when I was scrolling a lot or portrait style cuttings etc.. I always wanted some other species of thin plywood to work with as for some project the BBply is / was just too bland sometimes. I think the TruFlat plywood is sold by a few different companies but I ordered from MakerFlow and was shipped from Arizona.. I ordered on Friday and got it today ( Tuesday ) and that was over the Labor day weekend so very timely shipped. 

Ideally I'd like to find 1/8" stuff like this locally where I could pick up a full or half sheet.. my laser can run a 24 x 30 piece of plywood and some of the projects require larger than the 12 x 19 that is so common. Shipping cost for those larger pieces kills any great deal on the wood.. so local is probably my only option for the larger sheets.

MakerFlow

 

 

Edited September 2, 2025 by kmmcrafts

[barb.j.enders]

I got a sample pack of TruFlat,  in multiple colours, from KJP Hardwoods (in Ontario).  My niece picked it up for me - she lives in Ottawa.  I haven't actually cut anything yet with it.

[kmmcrafts]

I had a whole list of different places to check out plywood from and one had just opened a brand new location right here in Michigan not too far away.. almost seems like it was KJP Hardwoods.. My computer crashed and I lost my bookmarked sites that I had done research on and was going to check out.

Yeah KJP Hardwoods has some more options and I also placed an order from them last night of the sample pack of craft plywood. They also offer larger sheets and free shipping on orders over $185? or something around that price.. IF I order I always liked ordering bulk so the shipping might be expensive for them.. they'll need a semi truck, LOL.. Anyway.. will see how their sample pack is.. says it's usually good on both sides but back side could have small blemishes.. at least it's the same species on the back..

Pretty easy to find good plywood on both sides for 1/4" thick material but 1/8" seems to be hard to find. 

[ChelCass]

I wonder if L L Johnson would do 1/8 for you.  If you buy in bulk then perhaps.  Worth asking.

[nrscroller]

I buy mine from Rockler Woodworking in the twin cities, they have a catalog but not sure if they do mail outs. It is like 4 x 4 sheets

[kmmcrafts]

18 hours ago, ChelCass said:

I wonder if L L Johnson would do 1/8 for you.  If you buy in bulk then perhaps.  Worth asking.

Yes they will, I asked about it a few years ago.. at that time it wasn't cheap and I still don't know the quality of the ply.. Hate to do a bulk order on something I don't like or don't know if I'll like it.. Laser work is quite popular in our state and many of them mention LL Johnson so maybe they offer it now..

BTW the wood expo is tomorrow and Saturday and they have awesome deals on lumber so it's a great time to go buy your lumber and plywood needs.. or new tool deals.. they do demonstrations and a lot of big stuff going on.. I haven't been there in 2 years because of some health things I had going on.. I've sent my wife to go pick up some BBply for me so I can try to keep working. I'm feeling pretty darn good now.. might be able to go get me some deals on plywood.. could use some Cherry  lumber but otherwise I'm stocked to the hilt on most anything else that I normally use. If you go I wouldn't get any walnut as I'll hook you up with that hopefully in a couple weeks.. Daughters wedding is another week away and after that I might actually have time ( maybe not energy after all this wedding prep ) to start digging the stuff out of the rafters.  

[kmmcrafts]

10 hours ago, nrscroller said:

I buy mine from Rockler Woodworking in the twin cities, they have a catalog but not sure if they do mail outs. It is like 4 x 4 sheets

I forgot about Rockler.. how could I do that, I've ordered a lot of stuff from them in the past.. another I forgot about is woodcraft store.. there's a woodcraft not too far from me too... hmm, I guess I better do some checking on these.

[OCtoolguy]

On 9/3/2025 at 7:03 AM, kmmcrafts said:

I had a whole list of different places to check out plywood from and one had just opened a brand new location right here in Michigan not too far away.. almost seems like it was KJP Hardwoods.. My computer crashed and I lost my bookmarked sites that I had done research on and was going to check out.

Yeah KJP Hardwoods has some more options and I also placed an order from them last night of the sample pack of craft plywood. They also offer larger sheets and free shipping on orders over $185? or something around that price.. IF I order I always liked ordering bulk so the shipping might be expensive for them.. they'll need a semi truck, LOL.. Anyway.. will see how their sample pack is.. says it's usually good on both sides but back side could have small blemishes.. at least it's the same species on the back..

Pretty easy to find good plywood on both sides for 1/4" thick material but 1/8" seems to be hard to find. 

Kev, if the hard drive is still intact you didn't lose your data. It's recoverable.

[kmmcrafts]

1 hour ago, OCtoolguy said:

Kev, if the hard drive is still intact you didn't lose your data. It's recoverable.

Yeah, I recovered most stuff but it was recovered from about 5 weeks ago so the more recent researching I did and bookmarks I had saved were gone unfortunately. 

[BadBob]

If you use Firefox for your browser and configure sync, it will automatically back up your bookmarks. You can do lots of other things with sync as well.

I run two local backups every 24 hours to external backups using software I have written. I also back up to two off-site locations on the internet. These happen automatically in the background. If I change or add a file, it gets backed up within seconds. 

[joel brinker]

i use what they call hollow core door skin. both sides are ok, but plain wood. It has like a thin foam center and wood vainer on both side, also has strands of fiberglass running lengthwise so can't sand to much or shows. I get it at homedepot for between $20.00 -$25.00 a 4'x8' sheet 

[kmmcrafts]

If I like the plywood offered by KJP I'm not certain it'll be a good source until I find this same stuff in the USA.. or I order well in advance.. My order has been in the USA now for over 10 days sitting in a customs sorting facility.. No movement at all.. just scanned everyday showing it is still there.. Then I wonder if I'll be required to pay additional tax before they'll deliver it. 

It's terrible to have things shipped in from Canada who is supposed to be our friends yet I can order supplies from China and most anywhere in the world and get them within a few days which has never made sense to me.

Anyway, placed my order on the 2nd and it was shipped out same day and arrived to a UPS facility in NY on the 5th.. and still there today the 17th..

[kmmcrafts]

Hmm, Still sitting in the warehouse in NY... I don't understand it but any time I order from any Canadian place it takes me 4 - 6 weeks to get it.. I won't be ordering more of this from these guys.. Shame too because there are several places I would order supplies from that are in Canada

[BadBob]

21 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

Hmm, Still sitting in the warehouse in NY... I don't understand it but any time I order from any Canadian place it takes me 4 - 6 weeks to get it.. I won't be ordering more of this from these guys.. Shame too because there are several places I would order supplies from that are in Canada

One would think that going back and forth across the Canadian border would be easy. I stopped selling internationally for this very reason. 

Lee Valley is in Canada, but if I order tools from them, they ship from a warehouse in the US. 

[barb.j.enders]

Sorry you have having troubles with the order.  I placed an order with KJP on Sept 13th.  They took a week to get it ready, which was probably because I ordered on the day of their open house.  Received the order 4 days later.  I would suggest the hold up is customs.  

[kmmcrafts]

Yeah it's customs for sure. They sent me a UPS tracking number within the next day and later the same day UPS said they had the package in their possession.. about 3 days and it was scanned into the sorting warehouse in New York.. it gets scanned twice a day ever since.. once in the morning and once at night saying still in warehouse.. They've had the package in NY since the 8th of September. They don't seem to scan anything over the weekends so maybe this week it'll move out of the warehouse. 

NY being not too far from MI I usually get my orders within 2 days.. or if I'm sending something they get it in 2 days over in NY area. So once it moves it should go pretty quickly.. 

[edward]

I buy my project wood from Lowes and they are good on both sides, besides H D is more expensive, just my thoughts.

[kmmcrafts]

2 hours ago, edward said:

I buy my project wood from Lowes and they are good on both sides, besides H D is more expensive, just my thoughts.

What sizes are you getting at Lowes? and is it in stock or do you have to order it? I mostly use 1/8 and it's seems much harder to find 1/8" good on two sides.. I can get 1/4" in stock at a lot of local places and cheaper than both Lowes or Menards.. I don't have a Home Depot real close and they don't even stock the stuff I do get from them, however it is free shipping so it works out to be fairly priced.. Last time I looked which has been a while.. both Lowes and Menards charge delivery and I don't think they offer to ship to home.. They just have a bunch of independent truckers that deliver but it's freight charge. Or pick up in store is a option.  

[kmmcrafts]

Well, finally today the tracking shows it is moving out of the warehouse and expected to be delivered tomorrow... today marks the one month from the day I placed my order.. 

[edward]

Lowes has 1/4'" 1/2" in oak, popular and Pine which I buy in stock..