Where to get custom cut plywood?

March 5, 2006 10:31 PM

I want to get thin birch plywood pre-cut into small pieces.

Getting large sheets of it is not a problem, but I don't really have the space or ability to cut it nicely and precisely. (I've tried.) I want 1/8" thick sheets cut into 4"x6" rectangles. Ideally I'd also like the pieces sanded.

I've tried several big and small box home stores, and they won't really do this. At one place the guy really freaked out at the thought of cutting something more than once or twice so it would fit in my car. Apparently at his place they get in serious trouble for doing this. Hobby places sell smaller sheets, but not 4"x6" smaller that I could find.

Where should I be looking for this kind of service? I've googled but either I'm not using the right terms (probably) or these places aren't online (probably not.)

Oh yeah--balsa wood or basswood won't work for what I want to do.

posted by sevenless to sports, hobbies, & recreation (14 comments total)

Lumberyards around here (NYC) charge $1 per cut. Cutting the panel into 4" strips is relatively cheap. Cutting each strip into 6" pieces will add up more quickly. Sand it yourself, unless you want to hire a woodworker and pay more.
posted by StickyCarpet at 10:38 PM on March 5, 2006

I googled diecut
posted by hortense at 10:48 PM on March 5, 2006

Laser Cutting?
posted by Tenuki at 10:50 PM on March 5, 2006

Dude -- aren't you in the heart of timber country? Surely there's a woodworking shop nearby, or a neighbor with a table saw. (Though I guess if there were you wouldn't have had to post this to AskMe, huh?) Also, how many 4"x6" pieces do you need? Three? Or three thousand? If it's a small number, I'd have the big box store cut it into 4" strips and then do the rest myself. If it's a large number, well, call acarpenter or woodworker and see if you can work something out to use his or her table saw for half an hour. Based on your location in your profile, I found this.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:15 PM on March 5, 2006

Have you tried an art supply store? They might know where you can get offcuts or smaller, snaded pieces of wood.
posted by fshgrl at 11:41 PM on March 5, 2006

You might also try hobby shops that cater to dollhouse makers. Online, MicroMark sells 1/8 x 6” x 12” plywood, you could cut that in 3 sections with a hand saw pretty easily, but I the cost would probably be higher this way.
posted by Tenuki at 12:15 AM on March 6, 2006

BitterOldPunk - if I were a pro shop, I wouldn't let any goon come in off the street and use my tools. The liability is crazy. Before I set up my own shop, I did find a local cabinet maker/specialty wood store that would do some small stuff for me if they weren't busy. I bought the wood from them as a courtesy.

What would I do? Contact a local school that still had a wood program or a vocational school and see if you can get help from them.
posted by plinth at 6:54 AM on March 6, 2006

You are looking for "job shop". I found the following:
http://www.arizonamodels.com/special_job_services.html
http://www.litkoaero.com/services.php
http://thelasershop.net/
http://www.lasermarkstudios.com/

You can do this yourself with a router table and a template cutting bit. There is also the overarm pin router.
posted by gearspring at 7:20 AM on March 6, 2006

You are either going to have to pay a premium for the pre-cut wood or bite the bullet and get yourself a good quality table saw and radial arm saw. In the end the cost will even out.
posted by Pollomacho at 7:39 AM on March 6, 2006

Lumber yards won't give you the accuracy even if they wanted to do the cutting and unless you need literally thousands of these squares you are going to have trouble finding a commercial place willing to take this job, the setup costs for a sheet or two is going to be more than you are willing to pay.

Look for a local woodworking club or guild, and ask them to put the word out that you have a small job you need done. They may even have a notice board or newsletter you could place an ad in. You'll probably end up paying $1-2 per cut and you want to use Baltic Birch plywood which comes in 5'X5' sheets so you'll need (5*12/6 -1)+(5*12/4-1)= 23 cuts giving you 126 4X6 pieces plus 24 waste pieces per sheet.

I'm sure this won't be necessary, but if you can't find anything locally drop me an e-mail. I'd charge C$2 a cut + materials and shipping (which wouldn't be that bad even though I'm in Canada, an 1/8" sheet of plywood masses less than 10 kilos). BB plywood comes sanded from the factory but if that wasn't quality enough we could work out sanding.
posted by Mitheral at 7:55 AM on March 6, 2006

Took a while to find: Previously.
posted by Mitheral at 8:55 AM on March 6, 2006

You really don't need a tablesaw to do this, buy the sheet of plywood, a cheapo circualr saw with a decent plywood blade, a 2x4, and a couple of clamps. Clamp the 2x4 to the sheet and use it as a fence for your circular saw. Super easy.
posted by zeoslap at 1:52 PM on March 6, 2006

If you go the skil saw approach, a couple cautions:

Use a melamine blade, a regular 16-24 tooth $6 construction blade is going to splinter the heck out of 1/8" plywood.

A 2X4 has rounded corners. Make sure the base of your skil saw is riding on the flat side of the 2X4 not along the rounded corner. If your skilsaw is like my Makita the base is just the right size to jam in cove where the 2X4 meets the plywood. Either add a plywood base to saw or use a piece of S4S instead of the 2X4 as S4S material has square corners.

Verify the guide is actually straight.

If you can use a miter saw to cut the pieces to length once you have the strips ripped to width. It can be challenging to cut 90s across material that narrow.
posted by Mitheral at 2:54 PM on March 6, 2006

Thanks for all the comments and tips. I knew there must have been search terms I was missing. I think, for now, checking out and pricing something like gearspring suggests or finding a custom woodworking place by me that will do what I want is best for me. I just don't have the space, and frankly the desire, to invest in power tools and struggle in my apartment with getting nice cuts. Maybe if what I want to do turns into somethat that I need a steady stream of this kind of thing, then I'll rethink things.

I appreciate the attempts by some of you to turn me into a woodworker. If I had a garage or something even resembling a yard I would be more inclined.
posted by sevenless at 5:16 PM on March 6, 2006