# Argentine plywood



## paduke (Mar 28, 2010)

If you live near Wilmington Delaware you can get some 3/4" 9 ply Argentine plywood. The sheets are 38"X45" and cost 4 bucks each. I use them for everything. I built my kitchen cabinet carcasses with this material. my shop cabinets I resaw it too. and jigs as well. There are occasional voids and its thiickness can vary but its cheap.

It was used to crate frozen pear juice. The species is soft wood and I have no idea what it is. When cutting it has a sour like odor. Can a South American friend give me a clue what it is?


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## splinterz (Apr 11, 2011)

Interesting. I'm a million miles miles away (Gordons Bay, nr Cape Town) and get the same ply from our local mill. Supply is erratic, so buy 20-30 whenever a new shipment arrives. Label is identical,except ours is used for importing grape concentrate. Doing the conversion, cost is about $7.50 a sheet. Cheap!. Very distinctive smell. Use it whenever I can. Jigs, bunkbed slats, kids table tops and the like.

Our guess is that is a poplar species (aka cottonwood, boxwood). Will make a point of asking the mill if they can establish what wood it is. Will pm you if I get an answer.

Mike


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## waynecochran (Aug 2, 2011)

We used to get parts from a florida company who made their crates from used 300 gallon crates that were from argentina. I found some plastic and paper labels in the ones I got from salvage. These were 9 ply with a thin veneer on each side. These previously held various fruit concentrates and were about 70 brix(sugar content). I haven't had any issues with smells but, now I am retired and wish I had gotten many more than i did.


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## Garyk (Dec 29, 2011)

The major woods forested in Argentina are pine and eucalyptus. Nothing on the laabel tells what the wood is. It's all about the company name & etc.


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## paduke (Mar 28, 2010)

Garyk said:


> The major woods forested in Argentina are pine and eucalyptus. Nothing on the laabel tells what the wood is. It's all about the company name & etc.


They also harvest Aspen according to my googling. And Aspen is of the poplar family.
The veneer has a grain similar to poplar. The juice concentrate is poured into a plastic bag that the plywood encases. Metal clips and bands hold the hold the crate together. Its good one side

I used it to make the carcasses for my kitchen cabinets. I left the stickers on the back for the guys that will demo them years from now.

In Port Deposit Md there are homes that are called Ark Houses. They were built in colonial times (1700's) from rafts that settlers floated their goods to market.

It seems these juice crates are a modern day ark house material


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## Garyk (Dec 29, 2011)

Now if Jack Daniels re-purposed their Bourbon casks into plywood that would make a aromatic wall panel. Didn't know about their aspen, we must not have Googled the same website. Learn something new everyday.


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## AndyL (Jun 3, 2011)

Garyk said:


> Now if Jack Daniels re-purposed their Bourbon casks into plywood that would make a aromatic wall panel.


That would be a terrible waste, there are much better uses for used Bourbon casks


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