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I've been asked many times by viewers which material is better--NATURAL WOOD or PLYWOOD? But this is one of the most difficult material comparisons to make! In this short video I'll explain what differentiates these types of lumber, and what their strengths and weaknesses are.

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WOOD VS. PLYWOOD--What's The Difference?! Which Is Better? (Plywood/Dimensional Lumber--Comparison)

WOOD or NATURAL WOOD should really be called DIMENSIONAL LUMBER!

This is wood that has been milled and seasoned straight from a tree. Timbered logs are carefully dried and cut into wide, flat boards. These boards tend to be of very uniform lengths, widths and thicknesses.

PLYWOOD is an engineered wood product that first showed up in the 1800s, but was not mass-produced until about the 1950s.

Plywood is made in mills by peeling trees like apples, from the outer edge inward, to produce long, thin layers of wood. These layers are stacked and glued together under tremendous pressure to form wide, flat panels.

Plywood was manufactured to solve the problem of LIMITED BOARD WIDTH. Before plywood production, boards could only be as wide as the trees that were timbered (roughly). Wider panels had to be formed by edge-joining boards, which is difficult and laborious.

Really wide slabs can be cut from large trees, but they're dimensionally unstable, very heavy, and hard to season and finish.

Plywood, on the other hand, comes in 4x8 sheets that can be broken down into any size you like! They're very flat, and tend to have attractive veneers.

Plywood is also strong and stable. It's not prone to splitting, like dimensional lumber, because the various layers are cross-laid in alternating patterns to counteract weaknesses between layers.

Ply panels are also much lighter and easier to work than wide slabs!

BUT, from my experience, plywood is not quite as strong as dimensional lumber across spans.

Also, plywood tends to be thin--just 3/4" or less. It does not generally come in framing-lumber thicknesses.

Dimensional lumber is often the best choice for structural jobs. THOUGH, there do exist large-scale ply products called LVLs (Laminate Veneer Lumber) which can serve as structural beams, often stronger than dimensional lumber counterparts.

I'll do more videos on the complexities of these topics soon--but I hope this basic primer helps!

Thanks!
The Honest Carpenter