If you have a band saw and know

how to resaw lumber into thin sheets

, then you can make cusotm plywood.



How to Make Handmade Plywood


Dovetailed box constructed from handmade plywood and hardwood casing
By resawing hardwood to create her own handmade plywood, Nina Childs Johnson was able to perfectly match the solid hardwood sides of her dovetailed box.

Creating your own plywood gives you total control of a project's appearance and wood species. Woodworker's Journal author Nina Childs Johnson used resawn narra to construct a lid for a large box. By baking in the edges with solid narra (an uncommon Southeast Asian hardwood) and using a 1/8" plywood core, she was able to create a book-matched figured lid that looked like it was made of a solid piece of hardwood — but it had the strength and stability of plywood.


Labeled exploded-view diagram of drawing of shop-made plywood

She used successive book-matched flitches, top and bottom, to support the "solid wood" illusion even when the lid was open. Resawing is the key to this creative joinery.