Lowes and Home Depot both rip plywood free if bought in their store. Any cabinet shop will rip plywood for a fee. Sorry,I didn't know your exact address so was unable to look up locations nearest to you.

The problem with the saws in most home centers is they are really just for cutting sheet goods down to manageable sized pieces rather than finish work and will often give a pretty lousy cut in plywood with a lot of tear out. Accurately is a function of the user but allow +/- 1/4" when planning. Both Lowe's and Home Depot will only cut wood bought in the store and I don't know if either sell white birch plywood.

So, you want to veneer white birch ply with red oak veneer? The only places to find unusual plywood species(and I have never seen white birch---have seen lots of Baltic birch) is a lumberyard(not a home improvement store).

If the end result is red oak to be stained, just buy red oak plywood and some solid red oak to use for edging to hide the plywood ply edges.

The only places to get it cut and edged(if you cannot apply the edging, are a cabinet shop or a millwork shop. Many hobby woodworkers can do that, if you can find one who will. Of course, all charge a fee.

Mike,I'm sure glad you warned us about the lousy equipment and workmanship in NY. Does your remarks apply to the intire Atlantic region or is the problem more localized? I've never had either problem you mentioned but I've only been to stores in Tx,NM,OK,AR and LA. I've never had varance more than +/- one sixteenth inch nor more tear out than I get in my shop. I feel confident in reccomending people take advantage of the free panel saw service in the states where I've worked. I often find myself wishing I owned a panel saw after seeing how well they cut compared to my saw guide. BTW,where do you reccomend op aquire material suitable for shelves?

Thank you one and all for your help. : )

Klem,

Those saws are used to cut everything from plywood to PT lumber and generally have a blade designed for rough cutting. I've seen everything from pretty decent cuts to horrible tear out depending on the wood being cut, direction of the cut, and probably the wear on the blade. As for accuracy, as I said, it's largely a function of the user but I'm sure the age and general condition of the machine factor in too. The full time guy in the lumber department know how to use the saw but the guy who started 2 weeks ago might be less skilled. My suggestion was to assume the worse rather than hope the lumber stars are aligned that day.

I have no idea where to get "white" birch plywood or if it even exists. Most home centers I've been in have rotary sawn red oak and maybe some kind of birch plywood (not Baltic) but I have no idea if it's "white" birch.

When working with sheet goods I'll generally trim the pieces I need to a rough size with circular saw and guide. Then finish dimensioning them on the table saw. If you need a panel saw, Altendorf makes some nice ones. A little pricey though...<lol>

"Those saws are used to cut everything from plywood to PT lumber "

There's your problem mike. Someone should tell those NYC folks to use radial saws for pt lumber. I agree,they are certainly knotheads for useing the panel saw to cut any and everything. One would think big city lawyers would see the liability risks in alowing every Tom, Dick and Harry to operate saws. These dumb Southern hillbilly lawyers insist only trained personel run saws. Employee must insert his id card into saw control before saw will run. ID cards are only coded after employee finishes training. Fork lifts,pallet jacks and other machinary is handled in similar fashion.

I have built a lot of plywood furniture. Using different table saws and circular saws. Wrassling a full sheet of plywood onto a table saw for sizing is not a safe thing to do.

The best DIY tool for cutting plywood is a straight edge, a couple of clamps to hold the straight edge, and a circular saw with a plywood or finish cut blade. Tape(blue/green painter's tape) can be used to help minimize tearout. Add the tape to the surface, draw the cut line on the tape and cut away.

That is much safer.

Knowing that could very well be why they call you HandyMac instead of four fingers.

"The best DIY tool for cutting plywood is a straight edge,..."

Since I don't have a track saw, nor intend to buy one for the occasional use, I use a shop-built guide to rough cut, then finish cut on a table saw once the pieces are manageable sizes.

But why not just buy oak-faced, poplar veneer, domestic plywood? There is more standing timber in the US today than there was generations ago.

Klem,

I'm pretty sure the the lawyers, hillbilly or otherwise, are mostly concerned about minimizing liability not making accurate cuts. So any training centers around keeping fingers out of blades, wearing eye protection, and a list of what not to cut. Now I've never seen a card reader attached to a panel or radial arm saw much less a lift truck but maybe they exist. Around here, they type a code into a keypad but that doesn't necessarily mean the operator can read a tape measure.