Sourcing Wood + Conversion to Imperial

Discuss any topics realted to woodworking DIY projects
akjzmaderaEU
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue May 12, 2020 4:48 pm

Sourcing Wood + Conversion to Imperial

Post by akjzmaderaEU » Tue May 12, 2020 5:00 pm

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to PS Woodworking and, despite some general carpentry experience, am relatively new to woodworking. We just purchased plans for both the Plywood Workbench and the Modular Workbench and I have a couple of questions for all of you:

1. In the provided cutting lists, reference is made to "Hard Plywood" and "Soft Plywood" of varying thicknesses. Does anyone have more clarity on the kinds of plywood products that would work well? We live in North America and the products we have access to may be different than in EU and elsewhere. I am planning on using the "Baltic Birch" for the "Hard Plywood" but am not sure what do use for the "Soft Plywood." What do you think?

2. Living in North America, we also need to confront the delta between metric and imperial measurement systems. If anyone else has successfully dealt with that problem, I'd certainly appreciate any tips you can offer.

All right,

Thank you,

- Jay

Suso
Posts: 2228
Joined: Thu Oct 22, 2015 4:51 pm

Re: Sourcing Wood + Conversion To Imperial Measurements

Post by Suso » Wed May 13, 2020 8:14 am

hello Jay,

birch plywood is perfect to use as hard plywood. For the soft plywood you can use Cedar, Douglas, Pine, Spruce, Redwood, Poplar, Okumen etc...Here you'll find more info:

you can change the measurement system to imperial on SketchUp under the command "window/model information," although it's not completely effective at converting. In Autocad, under "format /units" you can change units easily. Of course, all Pdf sheets will still be in metric system.

Here you'll find more info about the conversion:

akjzmaderaEU
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue May 12, 2020 4:48 pm

Re: Sourcing Wood + Conversion To Imperial Measurements

Post by akjzmaderaEU » Thu May 14, 2020 11:23 am

Gracias. Seguimos adelante.

TommyH27
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2021 6:52 pm

Re: Sourcing Wood + Conversion To Imperial Measurements

Post by TommyH27 » Sun Jan 31, 2021 11:52 pm

I have a related question to this topic...I'm also new to woodworking.

Can I use Poplar plywood in the Modular Workbench where it requests hard plywood?

Or will I run into issues later with contraction/shrinking of the frame components please?

Thank you

Suso
Posts: 2228
Joined: Thu Oct 22, 2015 4:51 pm

Re: Sourcing Wood + Conversion To Imperial Measurements

Post by Suso » Mon Feb 01, 2021 8:02 am

you can also use soft plywood. You will have a lighter and little less robust module, but I think enough to make woodworking projects

TommyH27
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2021 6:52 pm

Re: Sourcing Wood + Conversion To Imperial Measurements

Post by TommyH27 » Mon Feb 01, 2021 11:57 pm

Thank you!

TommyH27
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2021 6:52 pm

Re: Sourcing Wood + Conversion To Imperial Measurements

Post by TommyH27 » Wed Feb 10, 2021 10:39 pm

Suso, I had one other question please on the Modular Workbench:
-What is Piece 14 please? The diagram points to the top but I believe it's on the back of the bench
Thank you...I'm making progress on my bench!

Suso
Posts: 2228
Joined: Thu Oct 22, 2015 4:51 pm

Re: Sourcing Wood + Conversion To Imperial Measurements

Post by Suso » Thu Feb 11, 2021 9:10 am

hello Tommy,

It is one of the three spacers for the rear tool holder. Remember that in SketchUp you can easily locate all the pieces in the layers section:

Image

TommyH27
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2021 6:52 pm

Re: Sourcing Wood + Conversion to Imperial

Post by TommyH27 » Thu Feb 11, 2021 5:16 pm

Thank you!

Andrej
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2022 2:44 pm

Re: Sourcing Wood + Conversion to Imperial

Post by Andrej » Fri Apr 22, 2022 2:51 pm

Hi, I am new to woodworking and I want to build your modular workbench and table saw stand plans. With the current high plywood prices I can get much cheaper rough sawn oak, (european) beech or soft pine wood. Would it be much harder to joint my own boards and build your style workbench with non-plywood? If yes, what type of wood would you recommend? Thank you!

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