If you have decided to use plywood for making your furniture, you may find it hard to tell whether you are getting authentic or imitation plywood.

Getting the best plywood for furniture in India doesn’t mean you need to only buy it from a branded store. You can buy it from any vendor, provided they suit your specifications and satisfy the necessary quality requirements.

If you aren’t aware of what the quality requirements are, check out this article “What is Plywood and How to Choose Plywood for Furniture?” for all the information you need to help you find the best quality plywood to make your furniture with.

What is plywood?

Plywood is a type of engineered wood that is made from thin layers of wood veneer glued together to form a solid composite material. Therefore, plywood is a type of manufactured wood. Plywood contains layered plies, piled in odd numbers in order to balance the sheet and reduce warping.

Plywood is known to be split-proof, water-resistant and is very strong with high durability.

Read More: Teak Wood Vs Plywood: How Are They Different?

How to Choose the Best Plywood for Furniture in India?

Here are 5 important aspects to consider when buying plywood:

1. Think about where you will use the plywood

Plywood can be used to make furniture for both indoor and outdoor use. So this means plywood can be used to make beds, sofa sets, tables, chairs, kitchen cabinets, shelves and any other type of furniture you require.

So depending on the type of furniture you are going to make, choose the right type of plywood.

If you are looking to make furniture for your bedroom or living room, you could choose commercial plywood or MR-grade plywood.

For the kitchen, bathroom or any furniture outdoors, you would require waterproof or water-resistant plywood because of the exposure to moisture.

2. Look for ISI marks on the plywood sheet

It is essential to remember that even if the store you are buying your plywood from is not branded, if the plywood contains an ISI mark on the sheet, you can rest assured that the plywood is of superior quality.

You can look out for ISI marks like “IS: 303” or “IS: 710”. These numbers indicate the type of plywood. IS: 303 plywood is commercial plywood or MR grade plywood, while IS: 701 is waterproof or marine plywood.

3. Examine the plywood sheet externally

Before you buy your plywood, just examine the sheet by the look of it. Look out for whether the plywood has a wood face veneer (whether the surface of the wood looks good enough to be used for making furniture) or not, as wood face veneer is required when making furniture.

You can also check for aspects like the flatness of the sheet, making sure that it is completely flat and doesn’t have bumps on the surface or a varying thickness along the sheet.

Also make sure that the plywood doesn’t bend, because if it does, then it will mean that the plywood is below average in quality.

Also, check if the plywood is dense by lifting the plywood sheet. The heavier the plywood sheet, the better, as it will mean that the plywood sheet is more dense.

Knock on the plywood to ensure that it isn’t hollow and make sure to see that the inner or core layers of the plywood sheet are straight.

4.  Buy your plywood from a reputed dealer

Buying plywood from a reputed dealer is always recommended not only because they sell them at a good rate, but also because they can give you a better choice of plywood to choose from.

This means that they will show you different types of plywood like waterproof plywood, commercial plywood, water-resistant plywood etc, that come in many different qualities that you can compare and then choose from.

If you buy your plywood from an amateur dealer, you will have to only look at a trade sample and then make your choice, which could turn out deceptive as you will not be able to see the entire sheet of plywood.

5. Request your dealer to give you a sample piece of the plywood

Once you have more or less decided on the type of plywood you want to buy, do a final check. This means you need to ask your dealer to give you a cut piece or sample of the plywood so you can check for factors like water-resistance, flatness, stability, strength and its nail/screw holding power.

If the cut piece or sample plywood checks all these aspects, then you’ll know that it is of superior quality and is full-core full-panel plywood.

Read More: HDHMR Board Vs. Plywood: Which One Should You Choose?

Conclusion

There are many commercial plywood manufacturers in India. Finding one that supplies plywood of the highest quality can be a hard task.

We invite you to visit AK Plywoods — one of India’s best plywood companies. We quality-test all our plywood so that you get only the best.