Cross Laminated Solid Wood Composites…Not Your Father's Plywood - Part 2 of 3

Once again we introduce you to one of our local furniture makers and wood-craft professionals, Randy Weersing Furniture Designs, Eugene, Oregon.  In our first blog about Randy’s talents and passion for wood working and design, we shared that he creates from a vast array of materials and is a loyal fan of our own ApplePly® specialty plywood panels.  Enjoy this second feature blog and the cool designs that might be called the perfect blend of art and style.  A link to his website can be found at the end of this article.  Enjoy your woodworking and always wear ear and eye protection on your job site.

CROSS-LAMINATED SOLID WOOD COMPOSITES…not your father's plywood - Part 2 of 3

- By Randy Weersing

Thirty five years of designing, building, and selling fine furniture pieces has naturally shown me some time-saving construction methods and taught me a lot about wood; including the many merits of using premium plywood. I have started by listing just a few:

*Beauty- A wide range of matched face veneers are available, plain sliced, rift cut, and quarter sawn.  The very best and most beautiful parts of our trees are increasingly used for veneers.  Even the edge cuts of premium products such as States Industries’ ApplePly can be used as a striking design feature.

*Economy… compare the per square foot price of high grade ¾” mahogany plywood with the per board foot price of mahogany lumber for example.  The plywood material is a fraction of the cost.  Now subtract the cost of milling the solid stock also.

*Durability- modern adhesives and laminating techniques have made delamination problems, which originally gave plywood a bad rap, a thing of the past.

*Uniformity-Uniform thickness, standard sizing and matching face veneers with few defects make for more efficient use of material and simplifies building techniques.

A couple real world examples might help to illustrate some of the preceding points:

Three years ago, I was asked to design a large contemporary liquor cabinet/sideboard type piece. The design required a 3 inch thick, inverted  "U" shaped structure with a diagonal grain orientation in mahogany. The working parts of the cabinet were to be suspended beneath the "U".  After considering the possibilities, it was decided the only practical way to achieve this was by constructing a plywood box beam with internal stringers...all in 1/2" plywood. Face veneers were then applied matching the figure at the corners on a 30 degree bias. 

The result is strong, stable, lightweight, and in my (and more importantly, my client's) opinion, beautiful. I expect, with proper care, it will last for generations. I challenge anyone to make this work using solid wood.

To see more of Randy Weersing's designs, visit his website at www.weersingfurniturestudio.com