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A handmade home for woodworkers and admirers of woodworkers. Our community icon is submitted by @[email protected] whose father was inspired to start woodworking by Norm and the New Yankee Workshop.

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OSB or plywood for general cabinet making? (sopuli.xyz)

submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I need/slash want to build a few pieces of furniture for my house.

After visiting a shop, I had the carpenter go on a long tirade on how my choice on OSB was poor, when compared to the standard plywood the shop uses for their work, being weaker and not as "clean" looking.

We personally like OSB, here. We already have a few pieces and the rough look of the material is our style.

But is it really a poorer choice when compared to plywood?

The next project will be a bookcase and it will have to withstand a heavy load.

I brought a small strip of plywood home with me, as a sample. The material is made up of five layers. If necessary, I can upload a picture later.

I intend to use 15mm material for the sides of the boxes that will compose the bookcase, with 9mm for the back. These specifications exist for OSB; on plywood, I was told the closest is 13mm and 6mm.

Can someone share some advice and knowledge in what can be the better choice to build this project?

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I think everyone has answered your question correctly so far. You can't beat plywood for strength, but it is expensive. There are middle ground alternatives.

There is Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF) which is between the two on strength but takes paint brilliantly. Many cabinet makers use this exclusively for mid range quality furniture.

Even cheaper is chipboard which is about as bad, or worse than OSB but you can get it laminated. Most very cheap furniture from places like IKEA use it and it can do a reasonable job.

All of these materials have their quirks, mainly on how you finish end grain (even plywood). Both MDF and chipboard suck at taking a screw so you have to get special screws and use them carefully. Make sure you do some research, there's plenty of YouTube videos on using the products.

[–] callcc 1 points 7 hours ago

MDF bends easily and will keep its saggy shape. Would not use it for the horizontal planks.