Particle board vs. plywood: an experiment
I get asked numerous questions on the relative deserves of cabinetry built with a particle board container rather than cabinetry constructed with a plywood container. I find that maximum folks that ask that query are looking for me to trust whatever their opinion is so I don't argue. It's a topic like religion or politics in a variety of ways. I even have my opinions of path and I know what I assume is proper, however within the hobby of peace (and commerce) I hold my mouth shut and nod my head sure.
Some humans in reality, truly want to know what I suppose and my ordinary solution is that plywood construction isn't always an automatic indicator of high-quality or superiority. I tell human beings that every technique has its positives and every has its negatives. Left to my very own gadgets I use both, relying on the process at hand. Particle board tends to cost much less and if I can not see it (in the case of a drawer base) why spend the money? Plywood is lighter and may be altered in the discipline higher. See? Each has a electricity and a purpose.
Now when I talk about particle board and plywood, I'm talking about the grades of those materials used in better cabinetry. I can't vouch for the inferior versions of those materials because I never deal with them. By better grades I'm talking about 3/4" veneer plywood and 3/4" 165 lb. furniture board that's pressure laminated with a PVC film. Each of those materials carries the same lifetime warranty so I assume they're of equal quality. Further, because the 165 lb. furniture board is held together with solvent-based glues, I've always believed it to be more resistant to water. In fact, I've been told by more cabinetry reps than I can count that it is in fact, more water-resistant than plywood.
When pressed, this is my opinion on the topic, but I have to say that I've in no way in reality examined both of these materials nor have I ever read of the sort of examine. I've constantly wanted to test it for myself and this week, it truly is precisely what I'm going to do.
Yesterday at 11:15am, I took a six-inch by six-inch square of 3/4" veneer plywood and a six by using six square of laminated particle board and I dropped every of them in a bowl of water.
I've been fishing them out and photographing them at regular intervals and the results have been interesting. I'm going to let them soak for a couple of days and then write everything up in a separate post some time later this week.
In the period in-between, everyone care to undertaking a guess about how this can come to be? What do you watched happens when those substances get moist? I had all varieties of assumptions approximately how this will move and so far most of them had been wrong. Who desires to go out on a limb right here?